East Texas has changed in the lifetime of Shelby County Judge Rick Campbell, 52. What used to be vast tracks of empty land has filled up with people, NPR reports. It’s a big reason U.S. gun ownership is down 40 percent since 1977. Texas once was the center of the movement to safeguard gun rights. Today, nearly every fight has been won in the state, and around the U.S. For gun owners like Campbell, the election of President Obama was literally a call to arms. Gun shops enjoyed a rush of customers buying weapons and ammunition of every type.
Campbell and others believe the Obama administration is using the United Nations as a back-door channel to restrict American gun rights through proposed small arms treaties. It would be difficult to overstate the level of distrust East Texas gun owners have for the Obama administration. Campbell doesn’t trust the president, either, but even he is taken aback sometimes. “I have friends who don’t order two or three boxes of shells — they order them by the thousands. And it’s like, ‘What are you getting ready for?’ ” Campbell says.