Gun stocks spike after president’s speech on terrorism, guns

A day after the president’s speech on terrorism and gun control, stock prices for gun companies closed Monday at a higher rate.

In a rare primetime address Sunday, President Obama called for support of more regulation on firearms and for Congress to pass legislation to deny those on a no-fly list access to firearms. The speech was a response to a mass shooting in San Bernardino last week that ended with 14 people dead and 21 injured. The incident is being investigated as an act of terror.

However, over the past few years, a spike in gun sales has been influenced by the fear of lawmakers passing stricter gun control laws. Consumers typically aim to buy items that may be the subject of the proposed legislation or buy a firearm out of fear of a possibly deadly situation. That pattern is, obviously, being repeated.

Gun maker Sturm, Ruger & Company had a $2.83 jump by day end. The Connecticut-based company closed at $57.50.

Conglomerate Vista Outdoor Inc., which owns Savage Arms and Federal Premium Ammunition, among a number of other companies, jumped by nearly $1, closing at $44.03.

The iconic brand Smith & Wesson had an eight-year high, closing at $20.44, a more than $1 increase from the market opening.

Calls for more gun control often follow a high profile mass shooting, which there has been numerous in 2015, in an effort to prevent future tragedies, but those efforts are often met with a significant reaction by pro-gun advocates and gun lobby groups who disagree that gun control would adequately prevent or reduce shootings.

However, gun sales were already on the rise. Days before the San Bernardino shooting, on Nov. 27, a gunman opened fire at a Planned Parenthood in Boiling Springs, Colorado that resulted in three dead. That same day, the Federal Bureau of Investigation logged a record setting number of background checks for a single day. More than 185,000 checks which indicate individual gun sales across the country by licensed dealers.

Latest Reviews

revolver barrel loading graphic

Loading