The 'Trump Slump': With a Friend in the White House, Gun Sales Sag
DALLAS—Donald Trump spoke to a cheering crowd at the National Rifle Association’s annual conference in May, saying gun owners had no stronger ally than the president and the Republican majority in Congress.
For gun makers, it turns out, this is a mixed blessing. Since Mr. Trump’s 2016 victory, sales have slowed, particularly for the top-selling AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, so much that gun executives have termed it the “Trump slump.” An industry that capitalized on fear of gun control to drive sales during Democratic administrations is finding it is hard to turn out buyers when those concerns dissipate.
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Smith & Wesson parent company American Outdoor Brands Corp. said falling demand for its AR-style rifles caused revenue from long guns to fall 50% to $90 million for the year ended April 30, compared with the previous fiscal year. Sturm, Ruger & Co. Inc. reported a 13.5% drop in firearms net sales for the first six months of the year compared with a year earlier. The company doesn’t break down sales by type of firearms, but it sells AR-15-style rifles.
With no available industrywide sales data, background checks provide a rough measure of the decline in overall firearm sales. The checks fell 11% in 2017 from a record in 2016, according to an analysis of data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, an industry group. That excludes checks for concealed weapons and other permits not related to gun purchases.
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-trump-slump-with-a-friend-in-the-white-house-gun-sales-sag-1535640346 (paid subscription)
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Guess we'll just have to lower the ownership/buyer age: pistols for preschoolers. I'm sure the NRA will get behind it!
But then, there's the Russian market, no??? The whole 'Right to Bear Arms Movement" for which even Bolton made an ad clip.
Guns for the Gulag! Has a winning ring to it. I'm sure Putin would welcome the effort.
