Showing signs of catapulting us to an economic recovery, gun sales rose 14.2 over 2010 in 2011.
Gun buyers swamped retailers nationwide last year, prompting a record 16.4 million instant criminal background checks of potential owners, up 14.2 percent from 2010, according to FBI figures. While some buyers may not have followed through with gun purchases or may have been denied, others bought more than one, so background checks are considered a good proxy for sales in the industry.
On Wednesday, gun maker Sturm, Ruger & Co. announced the company was forced to temporarily suspend its acceptance of any new firearms orders due to a barrage of wholesale orders — more than 1 million in 2012 alone. Last year the company shipped a total of 1.1 million firearms. This massive push “exceeds our capacity to rapidly fulfill these orders,” the Connecticut company said in a news release, adding that it expects to resume normal operations by the end of May.
Wow! Sturm, Ruger & Co. is the nations fourth largest gun maker. Sturm, Ruger’s shot way up lately.
RGR is up a whopping 571% from Nov 07 while the S&P 500 is down 3%…
Wish I’d seen that coming.
An American manufacturing company, American jobs, great news. Lets hope and cling this trend continues and our economy catches fire.
I am really a wheel gunner, though I do have a Buckmark .22 that I shoot because it is cheaper. I tried someone else’s Sig P226 and liked it quite a bit. I ordered one quite a bit ago and have no idea when it will arrive.
Steve
I’m considering getting a .22 pistol just for the low cost of shooting. I’ll check out those models.
Although I’m a firearms enthusiast I wish there was less political panic buying. It drive the cost of firearms up and with it the price of ammunition. Still, the Obama administration will probably attempt some sort of gun grab if it is reelected so I guess stocking up makes a sort of sense. On the other hand the Fed’s can always look up what you bought and try to confiscate it.
I’m looking for a good 22 target pistol and will probably go with a Ruger.
Given the real possibility of civil unrest inspired by the Zimmerman/Martin affair, a lot of people will spend big bucks for AR-15 type weapons when they would be better off with a good used shotgun.
Citizens should forget stockpiling guns and start stockpile ammo…. the government won’t take away our 2nd Amendment right to bear arms….. but they can certainly regulate or stop production of ammo.