Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/11/10/gun-stocks-fall-after-news-of-coronavirus-vaccine.html
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That’s pretty weird. You can’t shot a virus. Does COVID-19 turn you into a looting zombie or something?
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I think Zoom stocks also fell (by significantly more).
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Hoarding and looting are quite similar…
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What about dry ice stocks?
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The fools. That means stocks on sale now. Everyone knows gun sales go up under Democrat presidents.
But seriously, while not every blip in the stock market has real or rational causation, it stands to reason this is a sign investors think things will be getting back to normal soon.
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I feel pretty confident that gun stocks fell on Monday because the news called Biden as winner over the weekend. As you point out, that’s probably the market misunderstanding what a Democrat in the White House means for the firearms industry. Obama was the best salesman the gun industry ever had. Since Trump took office, Remington, Glenrock, Green Supply, United Sporting, and a bunch of others filed for bankruptcy. American Outdoor Brands and Ruger have both been on the ropes, as well.
Obviously COVID-19 has been a phenomenal seller in the firearms industry, but I doubt the proposed vaccine drove the dip in stocks.
The boost in sales when Democrats are in power is based on fears of impending legislation. “Get them while you can.” Republican’s in power usually ease off this rational for buying more.
Many of the financial woes of the companies you mentioned are the same as other industries: outside equity firms buy up companies, milk the assets for short term gains, and then leave the dried husks to rot and get sold off in bankruptcy (Specifically Remington and the several other companies under that same corporate umbrella). Also the “race to the bottom” mentality where quality suffers for a price point, as well a market corrections as there are gluts in products. Thin margins doesn’t help either.
IIRC Ruger bought Marlin in the Remington bankruptcy.
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Accompanied by a slide whistle sound effect?
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If you wanted a gun for self defense, you should have had one before the practice ranges were closed by the coronavirus. It’s not a magic wand that stops bad guys, people end up shooting themselves more often than not. Why? Because every time an inexperienced person handles a firearm there is a small risk. And this risk tends to add up over time to be higher than the risk you face from a murderous home invasion (those are really rare).
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And those rare home invasions are better handled by precocious children setting up traps like falling paintcans and the like rather than firearms.
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So here’s me unable to imagine why trigger discipline social distancing X Finger Guns didn’t totes solve some early spread…unless of course it did, but it wasn’t fun eno…nah. That’s not what was going on when suddenly someone realized they were getting knelt on, again.
It was too hard to sort the parts?
People tried to break it down and unjam it and the starfish junk (stomach votes an arm must be ripped out) happened?
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That was my first thought too. Second thought was something to do with guns + soup stock but that idea needs to simmer more.
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Re: Remington, it didn’t fall. It was pushed. It didn’t do remotely well enough to survive a hedge fund buying them, inflating its reported value by 5x, borrowing against the over-valuation, then bailing when the loans came due. A gun manufacturer failure in these times is like a whorehouse failure during the Westward Expansion.
Still, stock prices won’t return to previous levels because the naked displays of fascism in the last 4 years didn’t merely anger liberals – it frightened them enough to be first time gun buyers. I suspect that a lot of these new gun owners kinda like it, too.
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There is a burgeoning industry in License-to-Carry, Concealed-Carry-License training, and prerequisite courses.
Any time anyone handles a firearm there is a small risk. The risk is much smaller for experienced people, but it’s still there. An experience gun owner just knows how to minimize it.
And you can find plenty of examples of experienced gun owners who’ve left their guns in the bathroom or accidentally shot at their teenager in the dark or shot a guy in the face while hunting quail. Experienced doesn’t mean you always do what you know you’re supposed to do.
But what if I wanted to buy the whole gun?
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I don’t want to trigger you but you’ll have to hold them over a barrel if that’s what you have in sight?
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Who buys guns with engravings of turkeys!?
I want all my guns to feature engravings of zombies and vampires and other such cryptids.
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