Why Mass Shootings are Good for the Gun Industry
A pair of back-to-back March shootings in Atlanta and Boulder left 18 victims dead. The latter was the 104th mass shooting in the United States in 2021 alone, and prompted yet another national conversation about gun regulation in the U.S.
Frequent mass shootings are a uniquely American issue. Despite housing just 5% of the world’s population, the United States accounts for 31% of worldwide mass shootings. In response to the two most recent incidents, President Joe Biden was quick to call for stricter gun control.
“I don’t need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take common-sense steps that will save lives in the future,” Biden said of the killings.
It is yet to be seen whether the pair of shootings will result in any meaningful gun control legislation. Heinous acts of gun violence have plagued the United States for decades. And yet, despite widespread public support, reforms such as universal background checks have been unable to pass at a federal level.
The inaction from our federal government on this issue is widely known. Americans have become conditioned to expect little more than “thoughts and prayers” from our nation’s lawmakers following these needless tragedies. What is talked about far less, however, is exactly how the gun industry profits from this vicious cycle of mass killings.
According to findings from the Brookings Institute, surges in firearm sales typically occur for two reasons. The first is any sudden rise in fear of public safety. This could be seen in March of 2020, when COVID-19 anxiety caused an approximate 91% increase in gun sales from the previous month’s average. Similar spikes in gun and ammunition sales could also be observed in June of that year, as protests against police brutality spread nationwide following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The second major cause for surges in firearm sales are concerns of gun control legislation. This is the reason why stock prices for brands such as Ruger and Smith & Wesson actually rose following the 2020 presidential victory of Joe Biden. The looming threat of gun regulation under Democratic leadership has historically been fantastic for shareholders of firearm manufacturers. For the same reason, nothing gives a bigger boost to firearm sales than mass shootings.
On December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza entered Sandy Hook Elementary School and murdered 26 people, 20 of whom were children between six and seven years old. The horrific tragedy was the fourth-deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, and the deadliest ever to take place in an elementary or high school. As the Connecticut families mourned and Americans nationwide demanded stricter gun regulations, one group that wasn’t mourning was the firearm industry.
In the five months following the attack, about 3 million more guns were sold across the United States than usual. Stores struggled to stock the .223 Remington rounds that Lanza used in the massacre, causing an ammunition shortage that actually increased the price of most bullets.
A comparable influx in gun and ammo sales occurred three years later following a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California that left 16 dead. This time, approximately 1.6 million additional firearms were sold in the incident’s aftermath, while shares of Ruger and Smith & Wesson spiked the day of the attack.
The recent pair of shootings in Atlanta and Boulder appear to have made the same impact. The firearm industry preemptively planned for a surge in demand following the violent week in the United States. Gun control advocates are yet again demanding overdue action from lawmakers, many of whom receive crucial campaign donation funds from pro-gun lobbying groups such as the NRA.
“What happens in this committee after every mass shooting is Democrats propose taking away guns from law-abiding citizens,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) during a gun violence hearing on March 23.
Coincidentally, Cruz was the biggest recipient of donations from gun rights backers during the 2018 election cycle, collecting over $311,000.
With few exceptions, gun violence is typically good for the gun industry. Not only does it drive up interest in personal defense and public safety, but the threat of regulation causes sprees of panic buying that drive up demand for firearms and ammunition. Knowing this, there isn’t much incentive at all for gun manufacturers, and those who profit from them, to help fix America’s mass shooting problem.
Until this changes, it’s difficult to see an end to this vicious cycle of violence.
