Gun Stocks Tank Following Election

Above, yours truly making a rifle purchase last year. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Wall Street did pretty well this week and I made some good money.

However, that didn't translate to firearm stocks as the prospect of a possible Biden-Harris Administration looms large.

According to Forbes:

Gun stocks plunged during the market rally following Election Day, as investors in Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger worried about their prospects under a potential Democratic White House.

The share prices for Smith & Wesson dropped 11.86% and Sturm, Ruger fell 10.72% on Wednesday. They were the losers in a market rally where the Dow gained 1.34%, the S&P 500 rose 2.20% and the Nasdaq NDAQ +3% rose 3.85%.

Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger are the only publicly traded gun stocks. They are both venerable market leaders that make a variety of firearms, including hunting rifles, shotguns, pistols, revolvers and assault weapons, including AR-15s and other tactical-style semiautomatic rifles. Smith & Wesson makes a variety of AR-15s as part of its M&P 15 line, and Sturm, Ruger makes a version called the AR-556.  

The industry prefers to call modern sporting rifles, or MSRs. Whatever the name, assault rifles have been targeted by the Biden-Harris campaign with an aggressive gun control policy that includes a ban on manufacturing. AR-15s are popular among American consumers but have also been used in the deadly mass shootings, including at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., in 2012, Pulse Nightclub in Orlando in 2016, the Harvest music festival in Las Vegas in 2017, and Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018.

Gun stocks plunged during the market rally following Election Day, as investors in Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger worried about their prospects under a potential Democratic White House.

The share prices for Smith & Wesson dropped 11.86% and Sturm, Ruger fell 10.72% on Wednesday. They were the losers in a market rally where the Dow gained 1.34%, the S&P 500 rose 2.20% and the Nasdaq NDAQ +3% rose 3.85%.

Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger are the only publicly traded gun stocks. They are both venerable market leaders that make a variety of firearms, including hunting rifles, shotguns, pistols, revolvers and assault weapons, including AR-15s and other tactical-style semiautomatic rifles. Smith & Wesson makes a variety of AR-15s as part of its M&P 15 line, and Sturm, Ruger makes a version called the AR-556.  

The industry prefers to call modern sporting rifles, or MSRs. Whatever the name, assault rifles have been targeted by the Biden-Harris campaign with an aggressive gun control policy that includes a ban on manufacturing. AR-15s are popular among American consumers but have also been used in the deadly mass shootings, including at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., in 2012, Pulse Nightclub in Orlando in 2016, the Harvest music festival in Las Vegas in 2017, and Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018.

The next president of the United States had not been determined by Thursday morning, though former Vice President Joseph Biden, a Democrat from Delaware, was leading in the race with his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-California.) The race could potentially swing in favor of President Donald Trump, a Republican favored by gun companies. But the prospect of a Democratic victor has put the fear of gun control in the firearms industry.

“Biden’s plan included confiscation of lawfully owned semiautomatic firearms, reclassifications of the firearms under the National Firearms Act of 1934, banning the sale and production of the most-popular selling centerfire rifle on the market today and repealing legislation that would expose the industry to harassing activist lawsuits designed to bankrupt manufacturers,” said Mark Oliva, director of public affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the gun industry group.

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