An unfolding Trump gun sales slump?

One of America’s oldest firearms manufacturer, Remington, has filed for bankruptcy last week. Apparently, its sales had slumped by some 30% for the most recent quarter. Observers are talking of a general “Trump slump” in arms sales. It assumes that gun owners and aficionados no longer have reason to stockpile weapons and ammunitions - now that a president is in office who is very unlikely to push for stricter gun laws.

Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, probably was the best presidents for gun sales in recent history, as any attempt by his administration to tighten laws on gun sales and ownership had the very opposite effect. People went out to buy more guns before they possibly got banned. So, in a tragic reversal, a president who was pro regulation actually boosted arms proliferation, and manufacturers revenues.

The newest figures by the United States Department of Justice Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) do as of yet not list the manufacturing quantities for 2017, the year Trump took office. Manufacturers themselves play their cards pretty tight and little data is to be had from them. However, a little data detour indicates that sales really are receding.

This comes to light in a year-over-year comparison of background checks recorded by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). These compulsory checks are made whenever people legally acquire any handguns, shotguns or rifles. And, they have taken a real slump, by unprecedented 2.3 million. Since 2007, they only receded once before, by a marginal 125,000 checks from 2013 to 2014.

The FBI notes that “a oneto-one correlation cannot be made between a firearm background check and a firearm sale.” However, the figures are still likely to be indicative of overall sales activity in the U.S. Mandated by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 the FBI launched NICS on November 30, 1998. (Source: Statista)