Gun owners' response to President Obama's executive action tightening gun restrictions: Buy more guns. In the days leading up to the president's announcement Tuesday, which proposed requiring background checks for all gun sales, allowing more mental health records to be submitted to the background registry, installing new requirements for reporting lost or stolen weapons, and increasing the number of FBI agents processing background checks, gun manufacturers' stocks have steadily climbed, as have the number of gun sales:
Shares of Smith & Wesson jumped 11 percent Tuesday, to $25.86, when the president unveiled his new plan for expanding background checks on gun sales, while Sturm, Ruger & Co.’s stock climbed nearly 7 percent, to $65.54.For gun-rights groups, the numbers serve to validate a long-running joke within the industry: Obama is the gun salesman of the year. [The Hill]
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