Browning PR manager Scott Grange tells TTAG that the high-end sporting gun market has rolled over and died. “Over-and-under guns that cost over eight thousand dollars are not selling, period.” Good thing, then, that Browning doesn’t sell firearms aimed at the top end of the market. Bad thing that they don’t make assault rifles, though. According to Grange, ARs and other assault weapons were the prime beneficiaries of the “panic buying” proceeding the arrival of the Obama administration. While Grange reports that the “black gun business” is still strong, demand has leveled off. Meanwhile, over in his proverbial neck of the metaphorical woods, the sporting gun business “did not do well” during the economic downturn and “still isn’t where it was. Not by a long shot.” In fact, the assault rifle surge has hurt sporting gun sales where it hurts . . .
