Trump loves guns so much it's hurting gun sellers

Gun store.
(Image credit: iStock/JackF)

Gun owners feel safe with President Trump by their side — a little too safe for firearm manufacturers' liking.

Thanks to what they feel are guaranteed Second Amendment rights under Trump, gun buyers aren't stocking up on AR-15s, The Wall Street Journal reports. The "Trump slump," as executives are calling it, has notably led to a 50 percent drop in long gun revenue for Smith & Wesson's parent company from 2016 to 2017.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

During the Obama years, Waltz saw a business boom that helped him afford a boat and an RV. But Trump's presidency caused an immediate drop in sales, he told the Journal. While there is no data on sales for the whole industry, background checks are down 11 percent, per FBI analysis. As a Maine gun manufacturer put it, there's just no "fear-based market" pushing gun lovers to stock up anymore.

Read more about dwindling gun sales at The Wall Street Journal.

Explore More

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.