If you are not familiar with Oleg Volk, visit some of his websites (see below) and enjoy his photography of people and weapons. And share his work with your family and friends who may be hoplophobes and hoploclasts but whom may be redeemable. Like this one:

Guns – how politicians try to address them – are a good bellweather of the state of our society. But there are more ways people in general look at and deal with (and in) guns (and ammo) that are early warnings of disruptions in society.

There will always be a hard core of gun haters (hoploclasts) and those who fear firearms (hoplophobes) in society. Just as there will also always be the extreme lovers of firearms and fierce defenders of rights to keep and bear arms. But the attitudes and actions of those in the middle, not just the extremes, can serve to warn us about pending changes for the worse in our communities.

What is happening in America’s cities today? As the FedGov continues to melt down over global warming, government control of chip manufacturing, and “rescuing” stupid little girls who smuggle cannabis into Russia, and as more and more woke municipal tyrannies get their briefs all twisted up over monkeypox and and the latest sub-sub-variant of beer flu? The potential for more and more chaos – violent chaos – in American cities grows. This isn’t a fault or “downside” of the current powers-that-be. Rather, it is a feature. The enemies of liberty want the constant growing threat of violence against more and more people. They want to see fractures develop and widen in the cultures and communities.

Why? To gain power. To get more and more people to beg for more government control. To get more and more people to irrationally fear armed people not in uniform with badges. By further dividing communities and society, they encourage hatred and revenge. These, in turn provide excuses for more pork, more regulations, more and more. The old adage holds true: divide and conquer. Again, as we’ve pointed out more than once, it isn’t necessarily those elected to Congress that are doing this, or those elected to city hall or the county courthouse. But it is the unelected bureaucrats – both in and out of uniform and with and without carried arms – that seek to cause trouble so that they can take advantage of it. To gain power. To conquer and rule.

As stress increases, the effects of that pressure grows. Cops, however sincere they are in their service to the community, have longer and longer response times. And more and more of their time is spent on enforcing less and less tolerable laws. Laws that are made more and more stupid. The result? Whether it is being attacked in your own car by a woke “occupy” or “black lives matter” crowd, a break-in or daylight invasion of your home or business, or “just” dealing with graffiti or shoplifting or harassment, who can depend on police to stop the problem – and even save life, much less property? We see a synergistic severely negative effect on our community.

And of course, the people that have been cozened: deluded followers of the blind gods of government and chance and the people we call the puppet masters: we can only prevent collapse by increasing the severity of laws, by spending more to buy off the hoodlums and supposedly enforce the new laws. By increasing the number of enforcers – whether uniformed cops or bureaucrats.

At the same time, people are taught to fear the guns. To fear what they would do if they had guns available and are unable to control their emotions: their frustration, their fear, their anger. So then transfer that fear of their own actions to the actions of others. “Others” who are not like them otherwise: wrong language, wrong color, wrong beliefs, and so forth. Destroying mutual trust. So that people fear guns and those who have guns for their own defense. And demand exactly what the politicians want: both power to the government types AND removal of power from anyone who would think of opposing government.

But there is far more to guns and actions about guns that is an early warning system for accelerating chaos and even the collapse of society in given areas. Media is not a good indicator of a developing breakdown. Since “if it bleeds, it leads” is the standard, media constantly portrays a society decaying and collapsing. Ditto for both statistics (which are usually lagging one to two years behind events anyway) or even police and urban budget requests for more cops, more cars, more jails.

It is public perception, quantified in private businesses and residents taking additional measures to protect themselves. Yes, Ring cameras and other security system purchases and installation is one thing, but the real hard measure? The market demand for guns and ammunition: people both with and without guns buying more guns, and people with guns stocking up on ammo.

Basic economics: market demand results in increased prices as supply is unable to satisfy demand. Until more can be supplied. If the ability to supply the demand cannot produce enough (whether because of shortages of materials or equipment or labor/skill, prohibitions, or regulations), prices continue to go up. Prices are the closest thing to “real-time” measurements of demand for guns and ammo.

And across the Fifty States it appears that those price increases are far outstripping the now-accelerated general rate of inflation. But store racks and shelves continue to empty quickly, again and again.

The canary is not happy. Indeed, the canary appears to be very ill. Beware.