You have to love the mainstream media, bless their hearts. The AP titled this article about the kickoff of the 2020 SHOT Show, Gun industry gathers amid slumping sales, rising tensions.
Here’s an indication of those the slumping sales:
December adjusted background checks — a good measure of gun sales volume — was up more than 15%. And as we get closer to the election, you can expect the pace to pick up.
The imminent demise of the $6 billion firearms industry is being greatly exaggerated by those who would like nothing more than to see that come to pass.
By Lisa Marie Payne, AP
Gun companies are gathering for their annual conference and trade show this week in Las Vegas at a pivotal moment for the industry amid slumping sales, a public increasingly agitating for restrictions on access to firearms and escalating tensions over gun control efforts.
The event, held by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the gun industry’s lobbying group, will take place in Las Vegas — about 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) from the deadliest mass shooting modern U.S. history. An estimated 60,000 people are expected to attend, navigating a vast expanse of aisles filled with not just firearms but all sorts of accessories and industry-related apparel.
Gun sales normally taper off during Republican administrations because gun owners are not as compelled to stockpile weapons out of fear that lawmakers will impose restrictions on firearms. But the past three years under President Donald Trump have been particularly volatile, fueled in part by the Las Vegas shooting and other high-profile mass killings that have driven efforts to either restrict access to guns or to ban certain firearms and products.
With Congress stymied by gridlock, the most notable action on guns has occurred at the state level in places such as Virginia, where Democrats took control of the statehouse in last year’s elections. They are vowing to pass a slate of gun control measures, prompting thousands of pro-Second Amendment activists to plan a rally Monday at the Capitol.
Virginia is being closely watched by the industry, looking to see how it will play out and what it might portend for the future of gun politics in the year ahead.
Sagging gun sales have afflicted almost every corner of the industry, most notably iconic gun manufacturers such as Ruger, Remington and Colt.
Colt, one of the most storied firearms companies in the U.S., decided to suspend production of its AR-15 long guns. Sturm, Ruger and Co. Inc. saw sales slump about 20% last year and has reduced its workforce and production. Remington emerged from bankruptcy in 2018, but remains under scrutiny after being sued by families of victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting in which the perpetrator used an AR-15 made by the company.
Ruger CEO Christopher J. Killoy has said the company decided to forego steep discounts in its prices, a tactic some other manufacturers have used, to focus instead on scaling back production to weather the storm.
The pushback from the public, lawmakers and the retail sector has been most intense against AR-style guns that have been used in several recent mass killings, including Las Vegas, the Orlando nightclub massacre and the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. That has placed gun manufacturers in a difficult position because the popularity of those weapons has fueled their profits in recent years.
It’s not just gunmakers that have booths at the Las Vegas show. It’s a wide array — from companies that make holsters, scopes, ammunition and safes to apparel and even coffee brewers. It caters to the spectrum of gun owners — from hunters to those in the military and law enforcement. Firearms on display at the event are inoperable and none are actually sold at it.
There is a panel discussion on how to use social media influencers to boost sales, a golf tournament to raise money for veterans and a “day at the range” where participants can check out and fire all sorts of guns. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt is among the keynote speakers.
Gary Ramey, the owner of a small handgun company based in Gainesville, Georgia, said his company has seen drops in sales in the past year, and the Las Vegas gathering will be especially critical to see new products and meet suppliers.
“We’ve been busy just trying to keep our head above water in this tough market. It’s been difficult,” he said. He added later: “Our Second Amendment rights have never been under more scrutiny or attack than they are now.”
Ramey has been going to the event for 20 years, well before he founded Honor Defense, a company that specializes on handguns that can be purchased with custom colors and designs. His is primarily a family run business that uses only American built parts.
Bryan Haaker, who co-founded a gun parts and accessories company in New Hampshire in 2012, has weathered the recent turmoil by finding growth in smaller caliber firearms and the competitive shooting arena. He will be at the Las Vegas convention as well.
“We’ve seen nothing but the market grow,” Haaker said.
Yeah,who even pays attention to the Commiecrats propaganda wing aka the MSM pushing the agenda or anything else.
the more you try to ban guns the more people want them…an issue the left has yet to come to grips with…
Why does anyone believe the lying mainstream media? Probably too hard to think for themselves!
Huh. This is the first time that I have heard about the public agitating for escalating tensions over gun control.
Fu#%ing optional Oxford comma bull$hit. Proper grammar and clarity of communication requires separating ALL elements in a list with commas. When you omit the comma between the last two items in a list, the reader is left to wonder whether there is only one last item or two last items in the list and is confusing.
This is yet another example of how the Communist infiltration of Academia is degrading our society.
Sometimes there might be too many commas.
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
I fulfilled my patriotic duty and supported firearm manufacturers last year with one or more firearm purchases.
You mean to say the “media” might be lyin again!? Come on man!!
So what’s the narrative? Is it a massive gun industry cabal led by the nefarious NRA or is it poor sad dying industry? I can’t keep up
Do you think the left will ever realize they have been the best firearms salespeople in history?
The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One’s right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.
WV v. Barnette, 1943
(United States Supreme Court)
There’s no doubt in my mind Democrats own stocks in firearms, hell government probably
AP is always leftist drivel but this gal is a special kind of rambling stupid.
There is a core saying in politics and policy making: “If you are not counted, you don’t count.”
That is why it is so important to the gun control lobby, and their outright minions in the press, to always downplay gun ownership numbers and interest in firearms.
When gun sales of actual receivers and handguns as shown in NICS reports shot up to sustained period record levels In the year prior to the election fight between widely expected winner Hillary and Trump it got little press notice. When those sales flattened or dropped due to Supporter of broad gun ban Hillary losing the election — we got broad coverage of a media defined “slump.”
Never-mind that sales volume of firearms related items simply converted to accessories, the point of the press is to hammer in the idea that sales and interest are declining in a broad or cultural long term trend. Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes truth.
There is the same media dishonesty with things like surveys of what demographics own guns and how many gun owners there are. In any other area of obviously mostly confidential issues any survey on numbers would always be prefaced by noting large undercounts in such a private question. But the press reports who will tell a stranger banging in their door or calling with an easily spoofed number as the “number of gun owners” without any qualification. And when it is obviously probably half of gun owners.
If the Richmond event had been a leftist cause, such as pro-abortion or BLM you can be certain the press would be leading every article on it with: “Despite extreme cold and powerful winds, thousands attended …” And or: “Despite attempts to dampen attendance with showcase arrests of a handful of fringe nuts, attendance was large..”
“Gary Ramey, the owner of a small handgun company based in Gainesville, Georgia, said his company has seen drops in sales in the past year,… Ramey has been going to the event for 20 years, well before he founded Honor Defense, a company that specializes on handguns that can be purchased with custom colors and designs.”
I was under the impression that Honor Defense’s financial problems had little to do with politics…
🤠
I guess it depends on where you live, where I live sales are off the hook. AR’s are selling at low prices and stock is being quickly depleted. What’s happening in Virginia right now is an eye opener to any decent citizen that if you want a gun, now is the time to get one.
I’m hearing that AR sales in Virginia are growing fast….. The threat of control, restrictions or decrease in supply always increases demand. It’s economics 101. I’m guessing most journalism and poly sci majors sleep through those classes if they take them at all.