Hey, groups like the NRA are just giving the people manufacturers what they want, right?
On Display in Aurora, the Obama Ammunition Economy
by Jim Tankersley -- NationalJournal.com -- July 22, 2012
[...]
Companies that make, distribute, and sell firearms and ammunition added 23,000 direct jobs between 2008 and 2011 -- a 30 percent increase, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, an industry group. The industry’s direct economic impact has doubled from $6.8 billion to $13.6 billion in that time, the group estimates.
Over the last two years, the two largest publicly traded American gun makers, Ruger and Smith & Wesson, have seen their stock prices climb by more than 150 percent each. Ruger told shareholders in May that its earnings nearly doubled from the first quarter of 2011 to the first quarter of 2012. It said it had temporarily stopped taking new orders, because its first-quarter orders had already surpassed orders from the entirety of 2011.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said this month that 6.4 million guns were manufactured in the United States last year, up from about 5.5 million in both 2010 and 2009. The FBI is on pace to run 17.8 million firearm purchase background checks this year -- a number that does not necessarily translate one-to-one to gun sales -- up from 16.4 million in 2011 and 14.4 million in 2010.
[...]
Free Markets shall not be hindered.
The FDA has no sway here ... maybe if those weapons would randomly misfire ... in the user's hands? Maybe then ... though I doubt it.
The NRA Industrial Complex
by Peter Cohan, Contributor, Forbes.com -- July 23, 2012
[...]
Each time we have one of these mass murders, the shooters get enormous publicity. But the makers of weapons -- without which these killings would be a deranged individual’s fantasy -- seem to benefit. To be fair, the National Rifle Association (NRA) has been scaring gun owners about the imminent threat to their arsenals ever since President Obama took office. The NRA’s tactics have contributed to industry growth.
But the key to gun industry growth in the last few years is the NRA’s effort to scare gun owners and stop President Obama from being re-elected. To that end, NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre gave a September 2011 speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Fla., in which he announced “a massive Obama conspiracy to deceive voters and hide his true intentions to destroy the Second Amendment in our country.” LaPierre also said the NRA would work to defeat Obama in 2012.
It comes down to what America values. Do we value the lives of innocent people at movie theaters, malls, and schools? Do we want peace of mind that our children and families will be safe when they are in these so-called soft targets?
[...]
Or do we value "Profits, for the sake of Profits" -- above all else?
Meanwhile those gun manufacturers, know how to take their NRA cues ...
National Shooting Sports Foundation -- nssf.org
Bullet Points -- Current Issues
Sorry in Newtown
DEAR NSSF MEMBERS AND INDUSTRY ASSOCIATES . . . We at the National Shooting Sports Foundation and the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute have been deeply shaken and saddened by the horrible events that took place in Newtown last week.
[...]
Last Friday, we posted on the NSSF and SAAMI websites that out of respect for the families, the community and the ongoing police investigation, it would be inappropriate for our organizations to comment or participate in media requests. That remains our position at this time.
NSSF's sorrow and
lack of a formal position on the Sandy Hook massacre, hasn't slowed down their marketing efforts, however.
The arms churning must go on ...
National Shooting Sports Foundation -- nssf.org
Order NSSF® Firearms Retailer Survey Report -- 2012 EDITION
The fourth annual edition of the NSSF Firearms Retailer Survey Report contains trend data from 2008 -- 2011 based on firearm retailer employee responses on topics such as:
Products sold
Sales trends
Margins and profit
Inventory
Consumer behaviors
The information in this report was collected through online surveys of retailers conduced each spring with the most recent survey for 2011 data completed in spring 2012. The 2012 edition includes responses from more than 600 firearm retail establishments nationwide.
NSSF Member price -- $50
Non-member price -- $500.
Kind of makes you wonder what these guys will be selling us next, once every American Institute, and every American, is
armed and ready -- against "random misfire" events?
I guess there's always the "bulletproof vest" market, waiting to be tapped next, eh?
Cha-Ching!