Gun Store Owners Seeing Slow Down In Sales Since Trump Victory
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The election of Donald Trump has had an interesting effect on gun sales.
Leading up to the election, with polls showing Hillary Clinton in the lead, gun sales nationwide were soaring. One company reported earnings were up 66 percent.
And it was a banner summer when it comes to gun sales at the Verona Gun Safe.
"We actually did really, really well over the summer, and I think some of that was probably due to the threat of a Democratic win," said owner Anthony Ogline.
Gun enthusiasts bought more nationally, fearing a Hillary Clinton win would lead to more gun control restrictions, and had she won, Ogline says: "I think there would have been a panic buy similar to the 2013 Sandy Hook incident where everyone's running out to purchase."
After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, gun sales soared. Fazi Firearms in Plum saw a big spike then, too.
"Tremendous like never before," said owner Bill Fazi. "Unfortunately, I'd rather have not sold a single gun and had healthy people everywhere."
However, since Donald Trump was elected, the sales surge leading up to the election has slowed.
"No real spike in sales as we might have predicted had it gone the other way, but that's okay," said Fazi.
He believes while a Clinton win would have boosted sales temporarily, it would have hurt sales in the long term.
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And it's not just gun sales that have been affected. Stock in two major gun manufacturers took a big hit right after Election Day.
Smith and Wesson stock plummeted after Election Day, so did stock in Sturm and Ruger.
And as we look ahead to a Trump Presidency, Ogline predicts: "Just a general relaxed environment that will allow people to get more into the sport end of it, instead of the panic and protection end of it."
By the way, NBC News is reporting that gun sales are actually up with certain groups since the election. It reports that minority groups are buying guns because they fear more hate crimes and want to be able to protect themselves.
