02-14-2018, 06:58 PM
Overall Gun Sales in Decline Since Trump Took Office; Sales Tick Up Among Blacks & Gays
One major gun manufacturer, Remington, has already filed for bankruptcy. The company’s sales crashed in 2017, leaving it with a $28 million operating loss. Credit ratings agencies attributed the decline in part to “receding fears that guns will become more heavily regulated.”
“The company’s fortunes took a hit after the election of Donald Trump,” Bloomberg wrote, “because Hillary Clinton’s defeat erased fears among gun enthusiasts about losing access to weapons. Sales plummeted, and retailers stopped reordering as they found themselves stuffed with unsold inventory.”
The numbers have indeed dropped, as indicated by FBI firearm background checks. In 2017, the FBI conducted about 25.2 million firearm background checks, down from 27.5 million in 2016. The dip is significant, but the figure remains significantly higher than in previous years. In 2009, for example, the year Obama was sworn in, there were 14 million FBI firearm background checks.
Remington’s reputation has also flagged in recent years. The company fell under intense criticism after the 2012 shooting in Newtown, Conn., in which gunman Adam Lanza used a Remington Bushmaster AR-15 rifle to massacre children and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary. A lawsuit seeking to hold Remington partially liable is pending before the Connecticut Supreme Court. Remington also recently settled a class-action lawsuit over alleged defects in some of its rifles, as CNN Money reported.
While gun sales have fallen precipitously on the whole since Trump was elected, they appear to have ticked up among select groups of people. Many gun store owners and gun clubs say they’ve seen a recent surge in black and LGBT clients who fear racial and gender-based violence could swell during Trump’s presidency, as The Washington Post and NBC News have reported. So far, their business has not been enough to make up for the industry’s woes.
Full Story: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morn...4784a27178
One major gun manufacturer, Remington, has already filed for bankruptcy. The company’s sales crashed in 2017, leaving it with a $28 million operating loss. Credit ratings agencies attributed the decline in part to “receding fears that guns will become more heavily regulated.”
“The company’s fortunes took a hit after the election of Donald Trump,” Bloomberg wrote, “because Hillary Clinton’s defeat erased fears among gun enthusiasts about losing access to weapons. Sales plummeted, and retailers stopped reordering as they found themselves stuffed with unsold inventory.”
The numbers have indeed dropped, as indicated by FBI firearm background checks. In 2017, the FBI conducted about 25.2 million firearm background checks, down from 27.5 million in 2016. The dip is significant, but the figure remains significantly higher than in previous years. In 2009, for example, the year Obama was sworn in, there were 14 million FBI firearm background checks.
Remington’s reputation has also flagged in recent years. The company fell under intense criticism after the 2012 shooting in Newtown, Conn., in which gunman Adam Lanza used a Remington Bushmaster AR-15 rifle to massacre children and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary. A lawsuit seeking to hold Remington partially liable is pending before the Connecticut Supreme Court. Remington also recently settled a class-action lawsuit over alleged defects in some of its rifles, as CNN Money reported.
While gun sales have fallen precipitously on the whole since Trump was elected, they appear to have ticked up among select groups of people. Many gun store owners and gun clubs say they’ve seen a recent surge in black and LGBT clients who fear racial and gender-based violence could swell during Trump’s presidency, as The Washington Post and NBC News have reported. So far, their business has not been enough to make up for the industry’s woes.
Full Story: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morn...4784a27178