Gun ownership is cultural, it has historical and political implications, and sincere psychological and social motivations behind it as well. But what everyone seems to ignore is the economic factor at work here.

Guns are finely crafted, high quality, extremely durable goods. If taken care of, they can last indefinitely. They don’t wear out in typical usage. Consequently, once people have the guns they need for for sport, self-defense, etc, they need get no more, and they are passed down to the kids. I got my .45 in 1972, my .22WMR bolt-action 10 years later, and inherited my second pistol from my stepfather twenty years after that. I got the first for self-defense, the second because I was considering getting into hunting (I never did) and the third because of a death in the family.

Most people who have guns are not collectors, dealers or enthusiasts, and the firearms market generally grows at the same rate the population grows, relatively slowly. With less and less Americans living in the country and engaging in shooting sports and farm use, demand for weapons was quite stable.

But crime in general, and the crack epidemic in particular, opened up the floodgates; there was an explosion of demand for firearms from criminals, and from people who feared criminals. It started with traditional handguns, but soon shifted to 9mm semi-auto pistols and high capacity, clip fed, military-type long arms, what we call assault rifles today, guns with little or no sport or home defense application. These were guns specifically designed to engage opponents who were armed with similar weapons. They are combat arms.

Suddenly, the gun business found a very big and profitable new market, and one that was growing explosively. In an otherwise declining economy, the gun trade suddenly became insanely lucrative. It became, if you don’t mind the mixed metaphor, a target-rich environment. I could see this happening, because I was an NRA member at the time (I was interested in getting into hunting in Penn’s Woods when I lived in Pittsburgh). I saw the NRA’s emphasis in their publications and outreach shift from safety and education and the needs of sportsmen to these phony constitutional and political issues manifested through legislative and propaganda action. The gun porn monthlies (there only used to be a few, like Field and Stream and Guns and Ammo) suddenly took over the supermarket magazine shelves, with lurid publications glorying in the effects and delivery of massive firepower. The gun business became like the health industry, not a response to a need, but a rapidly growing moneymaker determined to maintain and expand its market–at all costs, and at absurd lengths. Profitable and growing businesses in hard economic times are like a town without a sheriff.

The gun debate in America today is due to the fear of criminals (a primarily, but not exclusively racist one, I might add) exploited by corporations who are making obscene profits by stoking those fears and servicing those who are vulnerable to them. They obscure their phenomenal greed by invoking all sorts of bogus second amendment arguments that are a thinly disguised cover for increasing market share and total sales, and provoking and expanding a consumer arms race of constantly new and improved products. And the NRA has morphed from a wholesome association of benign hobbyists and sportsmen to a ruthless industry lobby advancing policies which maintain weapons demand and make it ever easier to manufacture, import, sell and transport those weapons, regardless of the social devastation that results. They’re selling repeating rifles to the Indians AND the settlers.

And this is why unrestricted gun usage and distribution has become a primarily Republican and Conservative cause. Its good for business. It didn’t just happen, it was planned and designed to happen this way. That’s all you need to know.