Get your gun before it's too late?

Here's a strange anomaly. Want to guess which type of story, and in this case, which particular story, comes up more than any other on our site?

If you guessed accidents or arrests, you'd be wrong, although those are up there in the top 10.

No, what comes up in the top 5, and usually second or third, is a silly little blurb posted to the site in October 2008 (!) about the second gun and knife show that was coming up last November.

For the month of May, this story was in the second place slot for pageviews. In April, it was number 1. In March, number 4. So far, in the first two days of June, it is number 1.

And the strangest part? The headline reads: "Second Gun and Knife Show to be held Nov. 1-2," so readers know this is not a current event.

Okay, so we live in the South, where guns and knives are as commonplace as tableware. Everyone has at least a shotgun, if not a rifle, revolver, Bowie knives, pocket knives, whatever. No big deal.

So we might deduce a couple things: a. the traffic to this story is from locals who are wondering when the last show was or the next show might be; b. the traffic is from people who live in places where they don't have gun and knife shows or where they require permits (Arkansas doesn't).

Whatever the reason, what I find most curious is the large number of people reading this story that was posted back in October. Is it a sign of the times, of the sketchy economy? Are people feeling frightened and desperate? Are they sensing there may come a time when they will need to hunt their own food? Or defend their food?

I'd love to hear your ideas. Feel free to leave comments.