Americans have gone on a gun buying spree. The New York Times reports that in March of last year, federal background checks, which serve as a proxy for purchases, exceeded one million per week for the first time ever. The buying spree has continued since then, with background checks exceeding 1.2 million per week earlier this spring. In January of this year, Americans bought more that 2.3 million guns, the most since July of last year. Sales jumped 18% in the first quarter of 2021 as comparted to 2020. As University of California researcher Dr. Garen Witenmute stated, “There was a surge in purchasing unlike anything we’ve ever seen”.
Perhaps most alarmingly, there has been an increasing diversification in those buying guns. Approximately 20% of those who bought guns in the last year are first-time gun owners. These new purchasers were less likely to be white and male, with increasing numbers of blacks, Hispanics, and females buying guns. And in good news for gun manufacturers, many of these buyers were purchasing more expensive, higher profit models.
Former police officer Thomas Harris, who works at Sportsman Warehouse in Roanoke, Virginia, noted that new customers coming into the store were increasingly white collar workers who did not seem to be conservative and who had never handled a gun. Harris stated “Outside of seeing something on TV or in a movie, they knew nothing about them (guns)”.
This increase in gun sales across the population is worrying to office holders and law enforcement. In Los Angeles, homicides were up 36% last year. Los Angeles City Council member Marqueece Harris-Dawson stated “Americans are in an arms race with themselves”. Los Angeles Police Chief said “The number of guns out there is just astonishing.”
All this is great news for the gun manufacturers. The stock price for the largest gun manufacturer (pistols, revolvers, and rifles combined) in the country, Sturm, Ruger, & Co, (RGR) rose nearly 40% in 2020. In the first six months of 2021, the price rose another 20% to reach an all time high nearly $80 per share. The stock price of the largest pistol and revolver manufacturer, Smith & Wesson (SWBI), was up over 140% in 2020. So far in 2021, it is up another 20%.
As good as the news has been for gun manufacturers, it has proven to even better news for manufacturers of ammunition for all those guns being sold. The nation’s largest ammo maker, Federal Premium Ammunition, is a subsidiary of Vista Outdoor (VSTO). Visto’s stock price increased over 230% in 2020. It shot up over 80% for the first six months of 2021. Olin Corp (OLN), the second largest ammo manufacturer, has also done extremely well. Its stock price rose over 45% in 2020. And in the first six months of 2021, it doubled in price to reach an all time high of over $49 per share. This is an increase of over 370% from a low price of around $10 per share in August 2020.
The gun lobby has fought for years to increase gun ownership in the American population. They have fought against proposed laws to make it more difficult to own guns, and have advocated the ownership of guns as the path towards a more a law abiding, less dangerous society. It must also be noted that for the gun lobby, the more people live in fear of others, the more likely it is that they will purchase a gun,
It certainly seems that the gun lobby has won.
