Gun Industry Collapsing - How Donald Trump Shot The Gun Industry In The Gut

[kpete]

The gun industry and NRA are quickly learning that they should have been careful what they wished for:

Unfortunately, Trump’s win has had the unintended consequence of throwing the firearms industry into a deep slump, forcing major companies to lay off workers, driving prices deep into the red, and forcing some gun dealers out of business. While the Obama years might have been a dark time for gun rights, the Democrat president was a boon for gun retailers and manufacturers (a fact Obama has admitted himself). Each time the needle ticked further in the direction of gun restriction, Americans flocked to their local gun store and plunked down cash for more irons.

The industry swelled because of the “panic buying,” with new manufacturers popping up, old names in the industry swelling their ranks, and more new gun owners pushing into demographics with previously tepid interest.

In the Trump era, however, that fear is gone, and with it the market’s urgency to beat the clock on the next “commonsense” gun ban. That’s helped nudge iconic gunmakers Colt and Remington to lay off hundreds of workers and shut down entire divisions of their companies, forced manufacturers to close their doors, and prompted retailers and distributors to offer deep discounts on firearms, with one offering an AR-15 rifle at prices below even the cheapest handguns.

“The combination of increased inventory in the channel and a likely decrease in consumer demand for the near term has made for a more challenging sell-through environment,” said a top executive with gunmaker Ruger during a February 23 investor call.

While I do not shed a tear for the CEOs of these companies or for the asocial misfits at the NRA, I do not take much joy in hundreds of people losing their jobs. Especially now since they won’t be able to afford any health care insurance while they seek out a new job which will likely be low paying.

I’m sure that their “brain trusts” are scrambling around to find a new bogeyman in an effort to boost sales again – mostly likely resorting to their old standby, brown- and black-skinned people.


http://thefederalist.com/2017/03/17/donald-trump-shot-gun-industry-gut/?ref=yfp

[dchill]

1. They need to pump their campaign funding...

straight into the most anti-gun Democrats they can find. Better for business.

[hack89]

2. Anything that brings prices down in is a good thing. nt

[elleng]

3. Nothing like 'unintended consequences!'

[Aristus]

11. That's for sure.

I'm sure I'm supposed to feel sorry for the employees of the gun manufacturers who have lost their jobs, and will likely lose their insurance coverage.

But my sympathies are still with the families of the victims of gun massacres.

[elleng]

13. Gun manufacturers are well-funded,

and not imo due any sympathy, even their employees, who likely can find employment elsewhere (and/or medicare for all! )

[Aristus]

14. Did the NRA genuinely not see this coming?

Did they not understand that when the Republican Party's dreams all came true, Congress, White House and Judiciary, that the game of "be afraid; be very afraid" would no longer be an effect selling point for guns?

[elleng]

17. Maybe/maybe not,

but we can all be afraid of north korea now, right?

[Aristus]

18. Sure.

But every gun in his basement arsenal will not protect Buford T. Redneck if North Korea is able to field an ICBM.

[Beartracks]

20. What does the T stand for?

===========

[guillaumeb]

26. The T stands for..............

Trumpster.

[TeamPooka]

4. oh well

[workinclasszero]

5. I have yet to see any lower prices on handguns where I live

And I've been looking too.

[NWCorona]

25. I expect this to impact the AR than anything else

[workinclasszero]

36. Oh right

I can see that, I just wish S&W would lower the price on the J frame airlight.

[dalton99a]

6. The CEOs made a fortune by vilifying Obama.

[Kittycow]

7. Thems the breaks!

ETA: they'll probably gin up a domestic civil war. I hate to admit it, but that's why we libtards at my house aquired some firearms

[C_U_L8R]

8. Now, they can sell their guns

to pay their health bills.

How's those Republicans working out for ya?

[SunSeeker]

34. LOL

[doc03]

9. Two out of our three local gun dealers went out of business in the last month.

Didn't know it was a nationwide trend, anyone know how much sales have dropped? I got a hell
of a price on a Ruger pistol with a MSRP of $479 for $283 last month. People have been hording .22 ammo
for 8 years it was extremely hard to find now since the election stores have tons of it.

[dalton99a]

12. Same trend in newspaper ads I've seen

Big drop in ammo prices as well

[Hortensis]

16. What? LOL! That cancellation of the "political incentive"

to buy guns is having this effect is the best laugh I've had in days.

"All the gun manufacturers were essentially hedging their bets on Hillary getting in. To that end, all the gun manufacturers produced and produced and produced a lot of guns."

Thanks to kpete for posting.

[BannonsLiver]

24. I celebrate and laugh at their misfortune as well

[Hortensis]

33. Laughing at idiocy. They now actually have reason to fear government

oppression. But at that, they'd be far safer running without guns than trying to hold off the military assault vehicles that would actually come for them. Assuming not everyone was just tracked and picked up away from the home and their precious arsenals, which of course they would be.

[BannonsLiver]

10. These people live in an alternate fucking reality

"While the Obama years might have been a dark time for gun rights"

That's what you call one big pile of horse shit right there. Fake news.

[JHB]

19. More like "Time of dark fantasies" by lobbyists and foamers...

...with gun-grabbing boogeymen hiding under every rock, whereas reality was closer to SNL's parody-debate between Obama and Romney. Can't find a clip, but it's at the 8:00 mark at the link below.

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/town-hall-debate-cold-open/n28028

[hatrack]

15. Huh. A right-libertarian website wants us to pity the poor gun manufacturers . . . .

Whatever.

[lastlib]

21. Excuse me, but....

Obama was NOT the *Democrat* president--he was the *Democratic* President.

Not trying to badger you, kpete--I fully expect that the original source of this (the Federalist? a known right-wing loony rag) is the culprit.

[Initech]

22. New rule: The gun industry can't blame Obama for their lack of sales! They should be thanking him!

Every time an anti-gun law is proposed gun sales go through the roof!

[Blue_Warrior]

23. .22 caliber bulk bricks are starting to surface again in quantity

[NWCorona]

27. I never understood why it was so hard to get. While 5.56 and 7.62 prices skyrocketed

You couldn't find .22 anywhere.

[doc03]

30. For one thing people were buying it up faster than they could make it. I know of one

couple that would show up whenever any .22s came in and buy up everything they had. People were buying
underground storage containers and burying them in their yard.

[NWCorona]

32. That's just craziness. I know that here in WA most stores had like a 2 box limit per customer.

I did always see big families outside waiting for the store to open tho.

It's sad as it's all I really shoot anymore and it's not that often either. I could find match grade stuff from Germany. Super nice but the prices...

[Blue_Warrior]

31. I think it was a combination of a few things

22 ammo is easy and relatively cheap to stockpile and hoard, which the survivalists and preppers did after sandy hook. Then when the shortages began, because the caliber is so ubiquitous, all of the average joes began buying it up as soon as it hit the shelves because they didn't want to be smiles when they wanted to plink. Some enterprising capitalists saw this behavior and they too began buying the ammo in bulk only to turn around and resell it for three times the price.

The scarcity drove up the demand, which drove up the scarcity again.

[Doreen]

28. Just wait NRA have patience.

As soon as Trump closes all of the mental hospitals and all criminals to be allowed to buy guns your sales will go up. I am laughing my ass off at their stupidity.

[gratuitous]

29. Gentlemen! This is serious!

We have to protect our phoney baloney jobs!

[HeartachesNhangovers]

35. Not collapsing - prices and availability are just

returning to normal after years of shortages and price gouging. And it's a regional situation. For example, CA is closing the door on mail-order ammunition sales and instituting background checks for ammo (so you must get 2 background checks to have a functional firearm), which means that CA shooters are going to be buying up all they can get while they can still buy ammo through the mail like the rest of the country, which will mean state-wide shortages and price gouging.

An exception is suppressors, where people aren't buying because they expect the $200 tax to go away. If we go a few months without progress there, people will start buying again.

[Lee-Lee]

37. Colt has lost military sales and and Remington is using to to live out of NY

Colt has had bad management for decades. The slowdown of military sales is mostly what has brought them down.

Remington is in the process of moving from NY to Alabama because they feel NY has become to hostile to the industry. They are adding jobs in Alabama during good times and then dropping jobs in NY during downturns in order to manipulate the layoff cycle to facilitate the move in a way that is better financially and works around the rules in the union contract at the NY plant.

I expect some of the smaller players on the AR market will go under with prices at all time lows because so many manufacturers have piled in. But if anyone wants an AR15 prices are as low now as you will ever see them, I have seen some under $500.