The Intercept have released a report on gun industry executives claiming shootings are “good for business.”
The San Bernardino shooting in California and perhaps the massacre in Paris; while ordinary folk despair behind their locked doors, spur gun sales, according to journalist Lee Fang, into record highs witnessed in December.
The trend of purchasing guns has steadily increased. The FBI reported processing at least two firearm background checks per second, running 185,345 reports during Black Friday gun sales during the 2015 holiday season.
The Intercept uncovered transcripts for gun companies, manufacturers and other related industry. The disturbing trend found discussions of shooting incidents in conjunction with political dynamics, and how they have become very lucrative for the weapons industry.
According to The Intercept it was new shooters who moved into the industry after “panic buying,” rather than hunters, when the threat of gun law changes hovered over the country after the Sandy Hook shooting.
Ed Stack, the chief executive of Dick’s Sporting Goods, a leading gun and ammunition retailer said “The gun business was very much accelerated based on what happened after the election and then the tragedy that happened at Sandy Hook.”
Smith & Wesson chief executive James Debney shared a similar sentiment as Stack. “The fear and uncertainty that there might be increased gun control,” Debney said, “drove many new people to buy firearms for the first time.”
And again, from Michael Fifer, the chief executive of Sturm Ruger: “If you look back at historical patterns back in late ’08, early ’09, you saw a huge spike in accessory sales which then tapered off, and then we saw it again with the really tragic events at Sandy Hook that started again as soon as the politicians started talking about restricting legal gun use,” he said.
Fang notes the similar language used by the executives when questioned about their spike in sales after a mass shooting incident. One analyst asked Fifer about future gun sales, to be told that elections combined with incidents such as Sandy Hook, only spur massive binge sales on gun acquisition.
It’s a display of the higher ups understanding the situation. Ladd Everitt of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence wasn’t surprised. “This just shows the guys in the suits understand this and are utterly cynical about it.”
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