The impact of gas prices on the shooting sports

S

steelheart

Moderator
How will $3.75 per gallon gas inpact shooters?

-More money spent at the gas pump means less money available to buy guns and ammunition.

-Higher gas prices will make traveling to and from the shooting range, gun shop and gun shows more costly and therefore a lower priority.

-Hunting trips will be more expensive as a result and for some will be curtailed.

Think about it: A $955 per year increase in gas costs is a BIG hit to anyone's budget. How much ammunition can you buy for $955? How many guns can you buy with that money?

As for me, I'd rather spend that $955 at the gun shop than the gas pump.




RNC's Mehlman Warns of $3.75 Gas with Democrats

A Democratic-controlled Congress would boost gasoline prices even more though over-regulation and cost the average American family nearly $1,000 more a year, the Republican National Committee warns.

The Democrats favor an increase in the taxes imposed on gasoline purchases, and the average price of regular gas would rise to $3.751 a gallon, according to an e-mail from RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman.

The Web site GOP.com offers a "gas calculator" to show how much more each driver would pay in a year. The figures are based on year, make and model information about the vehicle, along with the average gasoline price in the state in which it is driven and the weekly distance traveled. This information is calculated against a template of proposed taxes and environmental regulations/restictions in accordance with the Kyoto Treaty, which is favored by many Democrats.

Bottom line: The average family would pay $955 more a year if Democrats take control of Congress, according to the RNC.

"Democrats have consistently stood in the way of lower energy prices for American families," the e-mail states.

"Whether it's higher taxes, more regulation, blocking new exploration, or opposing the conservation measures in last year's energy bill, Democrats in control of Congress would mean higher prices at the pump.

"President Bush is focused on providing practical solutions to energy prices: fair prices at the pump, increased supplies of gasoline, greater fuel efficiency, and new alternative fuels . . . All Democrats offer is hot air designed to conceal their long record of supporting higher energy costs for America's families.

"When it comes to gas prices, Americans have a choice between President Bush's four-point plan for lowering prices at the pump, or liberal Democrats who consistently choose higher taxes, more regulations, and more dependence on foreign oil over safe exploration within our borders."
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Actually the impact of high gas prices will affect us even more than that when you figure your guns and shooting supplies and well everything else that has to be shipped or transported. The higher gas prices have to reflect higher shipping costs, energy bills at factories for melting lead, etc.
 
Bend over, America

Right you are, Mazza - everything that is delivered to gun shops will go up in cost due to rising fuel costs for Fed Ex, UPS, etc. One of the hidden costs of the outrageous gas prices we face every day.

I heard on the news recently that Exxon posted $36 BILLION in profits last year - $692.3 million in profit every week. Other oil companies are making similar profits.

Is anybody having trouble sitting these days??
 
Of course Mehlman would say that. :rolleyes: Last I checked, the Dems weren't the ones in Big Oil's pocket.
Increased gas prices affect every sector of the economy. Everything becomes more expensive and that has an effect on everything else. But I can still afford to purchase and shoot my guns.
 
Hillary and the dems just proposed yet another TAX INCREASE.


Won't that increase the price too. Plus, I don't want to picture who's pockets the dems are in:D
 
steelheart

The problem is not the oil companies. When you look at profits from all industries, oil companies are middle of the road. The problem we have is that speculators are driving up the price of raw crude. So don't blame the oil companies, blame oil traders and their fear mongering for driving up the price of crude. The oil companies have to pay more for the raw crude so they pass the costs on to the consumer just as any industry does.
 
I'm on a fixed income (VA disability) - last year gas prices were high so I hunted in my yard with my bow. I ate a bowl of venison chile today from that deer - I'll probably do the same this year.
 
Why is it that gas prices skyrocketed recently after having dropped back to near normal after Katrina? Before Katrina hit the gulf coast, gas wasn't really even an issue. Then Katrina hit, the gulf oil industries took hard hits, and prices rose. Then, after long debates and fumbling of the guns, things started to get back on track and prices dropped back down. But since then no natural disaster that I know of has happened that could effect prices. So why are they back up. You can't tell me that in the single year before Katrina to today, so many people started needing more gas, that it drove supply and demand to heights that weren't as bad in weeks after the hurricane. Just after Katrina, gas here in the four corners of New Mexico was around $3.05. Now it's just starting to drop, barely, from $3.15. So what gives?

It's impacted me so bad now, having two, close to minimum wage jobs, that I can no longer afford to go to the range, period. It's been months since I fired any of my guns.:confused:
 
crosshair,
The problem is all of the above.
-Spectators fear-mongering
-Oil companies raising the gas prices in proportion to the cost of oil instead of merely maintaining their profit margin
-Oil companies intentionally limiting refining capacity
-The current administration's refusal to release the strategic reserve, choosing instead to stop filling it.
- The American people themselves for choosing to drive big gas-guzzling vehicles instead of small fuel-efficient ones.

Riddle me this: If all of the oil companies are turning record profits, why isn't there a price war going on right now?
 
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But since then no natural disaster that I know of has happened that could effect prices. So why are they back up. You can't tell me that in the single year before Katrina to today, so many people started needing more gas, that it drove supply and demand to heights that weren't as bad in weeks after the hurricane.
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The oil companies are working a "three steps up, one step back" strategy on gas prices. They go up the price ladder three (or four) rungs, then back down one - and people lose sight of the fact that they are taking it in the keister because of the "price drop."

The oil traders are certainly part of the problem, but not all of the problem. I don't see any of the gas companies or their multimillion dollar a year CEOs reducing gas prices - and their profits and compensation packages - by 10% (which wouldn't kill them) to help out our nation. Airlines force working men and women - who can scarcely afford it - to take pay cuts to help the airline survive its incompetent management practices - if the working man can do it, so can the oil companies and their billionaire CEOs.

Gas companies that profit hundreds of millions each week and their executives that are paid $500,000 to $1 million each week refuse to scale back their obscene profits and obscene CEO salaries, which are built on the backs of the working man and woman.

It's starting to sound like the problem is plain old-fashioned greed.

-The current administration's refusal to release the strategic reserve, choosing instead to stop filling it.
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Go Slash, the strategic reserve is there for the military to use in times of war. It is not intended for civilian purposes. When I was in the Air Force, each air base had to keep "X" million gallons of jet fuel, diesel and unleaded in reserve for EWO (Emergency War Order) use only.

That's the strategic reserve. Ya gotta have it - fighters, bombers, cargo jets and tanks are useless if they have empty gas tanks.
 
kinda odd coincidence that our President Smirk is in the oil business hmmm I wonder if that means anything?
 
the reason the prices went up recently was the changeover from winter to summer fuel.
complete bollocks - tree huggers at work.

the oil companies take 8-9% profit from gas; the gvt takes 20-25% profit.

most of you people seem to know nothing about economics and prefer to base all your decisions on perceived victimhood...

it's like Selma Alabama!

how's it feel riding in the back of the bus?


G
 
Lots of noise here...

Go track the oil company profits for the last 10-15 years. Not revenues, but profits. Some were running on awfully thin margins in years past and cash reserves were very low (i.e. no investment in developing new sources or capacity).

re: Intentionally limiting refining capacity.
Next time you see an enviro-terrorist, thank him for high gas prices. Current sentiment in the public sector is the NIMBY (not in my back yard) syndrome. Everyone wants more gas, but no one wants a refinery built within 50 miles of their little suburban tract. And when refineries want to expand, the enviro-nuts show up with the red-legged-spotted-bullfrog-butterfly as a heretofore unknown "endangered species" that just happens to have been found fluttering in that empty field next to an evil big-oil refinery.

Current lead time to plan, aquire the land, go through permitting process and build a refinery is approximately EIGHT YEARS!

Glock31 - Gas prices are impacted by more than domestic natural disasters. A huge portion of the country's refining capacity is along the gulf and after Katrina there were concerns that it would be many months before that capacity would be operating. Anticipating a supply shortage (of refined product), the prices started to rise. As they started to settle down, mainstream media reported things in Iraq were getting worse. Prices go up when there is instability in the middle-east. As prices started to settle, out pops the Iran Nuke question and it's flouting of U.N. inspections. More tensions about UN sanctions reducing the flow of oil. Nervous investment brokers bid up the price of a barrel, thinking that supplies could be in jepoardy if more conflict breaks out.

Re: Strategic reserve - maybe I slept through class (again), but I thought the purpose of the S.R. was to provide oil to the military and essential non-military services in the event of war or other serious upheavals that interrupted our supply. (And it seems the mainstream press also forgets that the Clinton admin. sold huge amounts of strategic reserve oil to Al Gore's oil company buddies in the '90s at bargain rates).

Profits: The biggest profit makers on oil are the state and federal governments. Last I looked there was about 40 cents in taxes per gallon of fuel. Sure the oil companies could cut back on the small margin they make per gallon, reduce investments in newer technologies, cut benefits to workers hold off on bonuses and raises; but do you hear ANY politician saying we should cut the taxes on fuels? No, they want your money to spend.

Okay... stepping off my soapbox for the next fellow
 
I have a hard time believing that the oil companies have "thin" profit margins, given that Exxon alone profitted $36 BILLION in 2005 alone - that doesn't sound "thin" to me.
 
If you look at the profit in a vaccum, and ignore how much product they sold to earn that profit, then of course you're going to come to unreasonable conclusions like that.

Did you know that the government got twice as much as that in 2005?

If I have to sell $100 billion worth of product in order to earn $10 billion in profit, how is that anything other than a "thin" profit margin? Yes, a billion dollars is a lot of money, but a hundred billion dollars is even more. Try running a home business on a 10% margin and see how you do.

Think about it - Exxon-Mobil had to sell $100.7 BILLION worth of product in a SINGLE QUARTER to earn their $9.92 billion 3Q05 profit. That's $1.1 billion in business EVERY SINGLE DAY. They don't call it Big Oil for nothing. How much of the consolidation in the oil business creating such mega-corporations is due to overbearing and abusive government regulation, too?

A more poorly-managed oil company, Valero, has a 4% profit margin.

And by the way, that profit goes to shareholders, which consist of a tiny handful of fatcat limosuine millionares, and a vast majority of retirees who depend on oil company dividends to support their retirement savings portfolios. Want to smash the retirement savings of millions of Americans and force them into dependency on government programs and handouts? Just nail the oil companies to the wall. Exxon-Mobil is part of the S&P 500, so even if you have a boring old index fund, you're linked to how well or poorly "Big Oil" does.

And from 2004:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3646315.stm
Profits at Coca-Cola, the world's largest maker of soft drinks, have beaten analysts' forecasts, helped by rising sales in Europe and China.

First-quarter profit jumped 35% to $1.1bn (£638m) from $835m a year earlier. Sales increased to $5bn from $4.5bn.
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That's what, a 22% profit margin?

Microsoft's profit margin is around 32%.
 
Mvpel - you did a good job explaining that.

To add a little for those who aren't getting it yet... if you have a small business that sells some kind of widget and your profit for selling a widget is, say, $.26 (26cents), how many widgets do you need to sell to have a $1 Billion dollar profit?

Answer: 3,846,153,846 or roughly 3.8 Billion widgets.

If your widget is a gallon of gas, you have to sell 3.8 billion gallons. If you're buying crude at $70/barrel (55 gal) that's about $1.27 for raw materials. Then you have to transport it, pump it, refine it and distribute it to hundreds of gas stations daily. Think about paying the refinery workers, hazmat fees, clerks, managers, advertising agencies, taxes, fees, regulatory compliance penalties and so on. All of that adds to the cost of a gallon of refined product.

In the meantime, the higher the cost of fuel, the more demand there is from your own staff for raises and cost-of-living adjustments because everything costs more.

If you're a shooter, buying bulk bullets from Brownells, Midway, Ranier, etc. gets more expensive because it's dense freight. Cost of loaded ammo goes up because it's more expensive to ship. And every time the Gubmint adds a new "safety" requirement for ammo, that cost is passed along to you.

Here in Kalifornia there are some folks agitating that since lead is a "harmful" substance there should be a new enviro-tax put on it or regulated heavily. Personally, I think what we need, to reduce "global warming" is a tax on the hot-air spewed out by politicians!
 
YES. Thank you mvpel that is what I have been trying to say, but I suck at writing. If anything we need to look at the oil traders who have been driving up the price of crude as well as tell the NIMBY people to STFU.
 
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