Forbes: Roaring gasoline drives oil prices higher

Update: Gun sales up, more people “shootin at some food”

Rockville, MD—Gun dealers report sharp sales increases over the last month and many suggest that the increases are driven by customers who plan to spend most of their time hunting, missing wildlife, and shooting into the dirt. “Its very odd,” said Atlantic guns owner George Schneider, “but we’ve seen lots of men drive up in some pretty expensive cars to look at guns. They all walk in wearing overalls. Big straw hats seem in this spring.” He added that many customers are looking for rabbit guns, a big departure from the target and match shooting crowd that frequents his shop. Asked about the sales, Smith Barney analyst Kenneth Laiting suggested that the purchases may be less related to rabbit hunting and more related to oil. “We have a big tradition in this country of incidental oil discovery,” said Laiting, “and so its not surprising that higher oil prices are going to draw more people into the field.” Laiting added that “this is an interesting time to get into discovery since most of the major oil companies have phased out their rifle divisions in favor of techniques such as seismic analysis.” Lee R. Raymond, president of Exxon Mobil agreed, “It was just a year or two ago that I’d grab a gun and go out in my backyard but I just don’t have time now and our seismic division is really getting us better results.” “Still,” he added, “I’d like to get out at some point this summer with a bottle of scotch and my rabbit gun and unload fifteen, maybe 20 rounds in the ground… who knows, I might get lucky.”

- posted by JB @ 7:48 AM