GUN PURCHASES SORE SKY HIGH IN THE U.S.

A Presidential Crackdown Regarding Guns?

 

 

 

Although the National Rifle Association has an entire website devoted to fears about President Barack Obama coming down hard on guns, he really hasn't pushed gun control in his time in office.

In fact, Obama has signed legislation allowing loaded guns into national parks and on Amtrak trains. The one place where he has pushed for reform is in the criminal background check system, which he says relies on data from states that can be incomplete and inadequate.

"Porous background checks are bad for police officers, for law-abiding citizens and for the sellers themselves," Obama wrote in 2011. "If we're serious about keeping guns away from someone who's made up his mind to kill, then we can't allow a situation where a responsible seller denies him a weapon at one store, but he effortlessly buys the same gun someplace else."

And what about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, whom gun advocates used to distrust because he signed a ban on assault weapons when he was governor of Massachusetts? Now, Romney seems to favor tougher enforcement of existing gun laws but no new laws, Newsday reports, and pro-gun groups support him.

  

 

 

300 million guns

 

There are an estimated 300 million legally owned guns in the U.S. -- almost enough to give one to every man, woman and child in the country, according to a recent Mother Jones study. And those are just the legal guns. The number of illegal guns here is anyone's guess.

The U.S. has the most guns per resident in the world -- by far. In fact, the handgun-ownership rate here is 70% higher than Yemen, the country that comes in second. (Reports TIME magazine) An estimated 47% of American households own a gun,(Recent GALLUP poll). That's up from about 42% a decade ago.

 

Why gun sales are booming

 

People are buying more guns now for security, particularly as the economy has struggled. More Americans are getting permits to carry concealed weapons. Sport shooting is seeing newfound popularity. Fears of crime, a potential crackdown on gun owners, a social collapse a New World Order and even Illuminati have Americans loading up.  And you never know when economic doomsday will hit. A more realistic scenario for some Americans is preparing for doomsday. In fact, National Geographic has launched a series, "Doomsday Preppers," about people who are getting ready for the end of the world. About 4.3 million people watched the show's premiere episode, "Bullets, Lots of Bullets," in February.

These "preppers" are worrying about any number of disasters, and are big on guns as a survival tool. Gun companies aim advertising at this crowd, too.

 

 

 

Gun-makers' stocks on the rise

Gun producers have been raking in the cash in recent years, as you can imagine. Investors have noticed, and they have been plowing money into the stocks of Smith & Wesson (SWHC) and Sturm, Ruger & Co. (RGR).

Over just the past year, in fact, Smith & Wesson's stock price has been up as much as 290%, before a recent pullback. Sturm, Ruger shares have risen more than 55% to $44.72. (Both prices are as of Oct. 10.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ruger says it's on pace to beat its record of 1.11 million firearms produced in one year. That record, not surprisingly, was set last year. Ruger produced its 1 millionth firearm of the year on Aug. 15 -- an SR-1911 pistol.

Smith & Wesson expects the successes to keep coming, too. The company estimates its third-quarter sales will be 40% higher than for the same period last year. It recently raised its full-year sales forecast to between $530 million and $540 million, up from its previous estimate of $485 million to $505 million.

The Way I C IT...Half of U.S. citizens may have been or are arming themselves and the other half better jump onto the band wagon before the ... Shit Hits The Fan.

 

 

 

 

Read at it’s entirety at http://money.msn.com/investing/why-gun-sales-are-booming

Kim Peterson, MSN Money; Graphics by Ryan Jeffrey Smith for MSN Money