Weapons industry prepares for increased demand after consecutive mass shootings

Weapons industry prepares for increased demand after consecutive mass shootings

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“When you hear more requests for firearm restrictions, we see increases in gun sales mainly from people who buy before they are able,” said Rob Southwick, founder of market research firm Southwick Associates.

It is too early to know how the consecutive shootings will affect sales of firearms, industry experts say. Reliable numbers of federal background checks will not be released until next month. But if history is any guide, gun dealers and manufacturers can expect an increase in demand.

“I don’t need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take common sense measures that will save lives in the future,” said Biden, listing the ban on high-capacity assault weapons and combs, as well as strengthening the verification system. antecedents closing loopholes, such as areas he would like to see Congress take action on.

The pattern of increased arms sales after mass shootings has remained true regardless of which political party is in power: fear of future restrictions leads gun owners to stockpile.

Gun sales skyrocketed in January 2013 in the weeks following the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, which left 27 dead, mostly children. At the time, former President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress pushed for tougher federal gun control measures that ultimately stalled in the U.S. Senate.
Likewise, arms sellers said they were inundated with requests for reinforcement stocks after the devices were used in the Las Vegas massacre, which killed 58 people in October 2017.

Shortly after the shooting, President Donald Trump promised to ban bump actions – accessories that essentially allow snipers to fire semi-automatic rifles continuously with a flick of the trigger. Following his guidance, the Department of Justice subsequently banned stockpiles in the United States, despite objections from arms lobbies.

Firearm sales increased 12.6% year-over-year in February 2018 after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Parkland, Florida, according to Bloomberg.

“It’s an old standard,” said David Kopel, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

The firearms industry wants to hear the results of the investigation into the mass shooting in Boulder before proposing solutions, said Mark Oliva, a spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a arms industry trade group.

A customer looks at firearms in a box with AR-15 rifles hanging on a wall at Davidson Defense in Orem, Utah, on February 4, 2021.
Oliva says arms manufacturers have already worked with government officials on a series of measures designed to prevent weapons from falling into the wrong hands. He said the NSSF helped convince lawmakers in 16 states to include mental health records that would disqualify a client from purchasing a firearm as part of each state’s mandatory gun background checks.
However, gun control advocates argue that mental illness is not a major factor in armed violence, and the government must act to implement stricter laws that prevent gunfights.

“We want the investigative process to proceed as needed,” Oliva told CNN Business. “We urge Congress and the White House to do the same.”

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