[legion]

I hadn't heard this before. No one I know is doing this.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123984046627223159.html

Like many gun enthusiasts, Mr. Chambers, a manager for a door wholesaler here, believes President Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress soon will reimpose a version of an expired federal ban on the sale of so-called assault weapons. If such a law passes, he figures his collection -- enough guns, ammo magazines and weapon parts to assemble about 30 AK-47s, AR-15s and other semiautomatic rifles -- could triple in value.

"A guy could easily make a lot of money," says Mr. Chambers, 47 years old, while at Autrey's Armory, a gun store about 20 miles south of Atlanta.
...
But it's also clear that part of the gun-buying rally is driven by people like Mr. Chambers who are buying weapons the way others invest in a hot stock. The buying is pumping up prices. Many popular models of guns are back-ordered for a year or more. Some manufacturers are operating plants 24 hours a day. According to the 2009 edition of the Blue Book of Gun Values, the average price of European-made AK-47s -- the famous Soviet-era military weapon now made in several countries -- doubled from $350 last September to more than $700 by the end of 2008.
...
Bert Collins, an Atlanta commercial real-estate manager, recently bought two AR-15 rifles for about $1,600 each. He's keeping one in its box, untouched, with the hope of selling it at a profit should Congress re-enact the law, which expired in 2004. "It's certainly a better investment than my 401(k) has performed," Mr. Collins said.

Bubba Sanders, owner of Bullseye Supply LLC, in Brandon, Miss., said he has "a number of doctor clients whose financial advisers have told them to invest in ammunition. Beats the hell out of money markets and CDs. You can double your investment in ammunition in a year."
...
As gun-ban worries have made inventory scarce, Joshua Works, president of Mission Essential Inc., a large gun store in Hinesville, Ga., has flipped some of his own stock for a profit. Last year, he says, he sold a variant of an AK-47 for $400. He bought it back from the owner in January for $550, then quickly sold the same gun again for $750. AKs are a particularly good investment, he says. His company's sales have risen about 30% since the election, he says.

Mr. Works ran ads on local television highlighting fears of a weapon ban before and after the November election and says he's planning a new spot that promotes guns as a good investment. "You can buy gold or silver, but they go up and down," he says.

On a recent weekend, Ray Delashmutt, a 28-year-old flooring contractor in Auxvasse, Mo., bought parts to build 15 AK-47 rifles. He says he spent about $6,000 but figures he can eventually sell the 15 weapons for at least twice as much. "Military weapons have always gone up in value and those are the only guns I invest in," he said.
...
Of course, like all investments, guns do fluctuate in value. Weapons whose prices rose during the previous ban fell once it was lifted. "People I know in 2000 were buying Colts for $2,300 or $2,400," says Dennis Williams, the owner of Guns & Leather Inc. in Greenbrier, Tenn. "Now you can buy a new Colt for $1,400."

That the bubble could burst doesn't appear to be fazing buyers. "Right now even used semiautomatic rifles are selling like crazy," says Lawrence Keane, senior vice president and general counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which represents manufacturers and retailers.

Come on!

This has all the classic trappings of a bubble. Go out and buy an AR-15 if you want it to shoot, but don't buy it for an "investment". You're not going to come out on top by following the herd. This will not make up for your losses from the dot-com bust, the real-estate bust, the oil bust, or the stock market bust.

I have my doubts about whether this story is real or they just found a few paranoid individuals to write a story about and mischaracterized them as being more representative than they really are. I also think trying to predict the form of a future assault weapons ban based on the structure of a past one is a fool's errand. If the factions that desire another AWB had the political capital to get it reinstated (and they do not), they would certainly fix the loopholes on the old one such as "grandfathering" and basing the ban on cosmetic features over function.