Gun Sales Skyrocket: Hillary Clinton’s Anticipated Victory Is Causing Americans To Take Up Arms
With Hillary Clinton leading the presidential race in most key states, gun sales are also shooting way up as worried Americans believe that ownership restrictions would curtail their ability to buy firearms.
A report from Al Jazeera quoted Miranda Evans, a firearms retailer based in New Orleans, LA, as noticing the skyrocketing gun sales in her shop. The last time this happened was right after the Sandy Hook massacre when 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed 20 children and six staff members at an elementary school in Connecticut.
The shooter used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle in the tragic assault, and in response, President Barack Obama gave an impassioned speech about the need to revisit the weapons laws of the United States.
1994, banning assault rifles for a period of 10 years – a ban Hillary Clinton has vowed to reinstate.https://t.co/5JR1iBiQxb
— • P.J. (@501park) November 4, 2016
In the weeks that followed, the FBI ramped up background checks on those who wanted to buy a gun, with retailers forced to work with the bureau to weed out customers with criminal backgrounds.
Clinton’s husband, former president Bill Clinton, actually signed into law the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which prohibited civilians from using semi-automatic rifles and assault weapons, along with owning large caches of ammunition.
Every woman has a right to defend herself with a gun. @HillaryClinton disagrees with that. #2A #NeverHillary pic.twitter.com/wyQkjNHfxT
— NRA (@NRA) November 3, 2016
While noting the uptick in gun sales in anticipation of a Clinton victory, Evans told the news agency that banning assault weapons won’t stop violence in the country. In fact, she thinks that labeling some guns as “assault weapons” will prompt a trigger response about these inanimate tools being inherently evil.
“We don’t even take an AR-15 for deer hunting, for it will only hurt the animal instead of killing it,” the shop owner said. “My daughter shot one when she was eight years old. It’s fun to shoot; it’s just a sporting rifle. It’s not the big bad weapon they say it is.”
The increasing gun sales total was confirmed by real-time supply chain platform Elementum, according to a report from the Washington Examiner. In fact, more than nine in 10 Americans are foregoing the purchase of houses or cars until after the U.S. elections.
In explaining the rising gun sales, Elementum said, “Among Americans living in the South, the figure is nearly 1 in 5 (19 percent) and among Gen Xers (35-44 year olds) the number is nearly 1 in 4 (23 percent) especially among women (24 percent).”
The statement was based on the survey it commissioned from Harris Polls, which claimed that on the top of the list that the respondents would buy after the U.S. elections on Nov. 8 was a gun.
This report on gun sales was further echoed by U.S. firearm manufacturer Sturm, Ruger & Co.
An article from CNN quoted the company as saying that gun sales jumped by a third to $161.4 million in the third quarter of this year compared to the same period last year. Company earnings rose 66% while its stock trade increased by two percent in Wednesday’s trading.
The robust gun sales are reflective of the increased earnings across the industry, the company said, as some Americans are concerned about Clinton’s views on firearms.
Michael Fifer, the outgoing CEO of Sturm, Ruger & Co., previously said during the company’s August earnings call that everybody knows that Clinton was “actively campaigning against the lawful commerce in arms.”
He told CNN, “We would like to encourage all of our customers and all Americans to have their voice heard and to vote in next week’s election. There’s a lot at stake.”
But while the company enjoys increased gun sales revenue, does it have a backup plan as the Democratic presidential nominee is poised to take over the White House? He replied, “We have a plan in place and will act decisively and accordingly,” without really going into details.
[Featured Image by John Moore]
