This May, the New York Times noted that, according to the first comprehensive federal tally of gun commerce in two decades, the U.S. is in the middle of a great gun-buying boom. The data shows no sign of the boom letting up as the annual number of firearms manufactured has nearly tripled since 2000 and spiked sharply in the past three years. No surprise there, even during the pandemic. According to a 2018 survey conducted by the non-partisan Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey, there are today around 400 million guns in the U.S. Again, according to the Small Arms Survey, the per capita number of guns in the U.S. has continued to rise to about 1.2 guns for every person by 2018. According to the Congressional Research Service it had roughly doubled from 1968 to 2012, from one gun for every two people to one gun per person. The majority of these guns are manufactured in the U.S. However, historical surveys from the University of Chicago research center NORC show that the percentage of American households that own guns has decreased from about half in the 1970s to about a third in recent years. Otherwise, certain households possess multiple weapons, and it is those households that support gun ownership with few if any government restrictions.
Recent tragic mass shootings have once again raised the issue of so-called ‘gun control’ among supporters of the National Rifle Association (NRA) and those wanting increased restrictions on the sale of guns, most particularly assault-style long guns. However, assault weapons are rarely used in the crimes, where the weapon of choice is a handgun. Nevertheless, the ability to purchase an assault rifle has become easier, especially after the 1994 federal assault weapons ban was lifted in the U.S. What is crazy is that many on both of the two sides tend to support increased background checks on persons purchasing guns, hoping to reduce the chances of guns getting into the hands of persons with known violent or radicalized behaviour.
Still, gun makers like Daniel Defense, the manufacturer of the assault rifle used in the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting, continue to aggressively market their products using its direct-to-consumer business model. The approach is aimed to make it easier to buy military gear by simply ordering it from Amazon. Their on-line marketing is geared to appeal to young people, especially teenage males who are “Call of Duty” video game enthusiasts. Starting off initially with contracts to produce weapons and accessories for the American and British militaries, by 2009 Daniel Defense had expanded to make guns for consumers.
However, according to the New York Times, the aggressive marketing by the gun industry has hit some companies. Earlier this year, gunmaker Remington settled a $73 million (U.S.) settlement with the families of children killed in 2012 at the Sandy Hook school in Newtown, Connecticut. The families claimed that Remington marketed its assault rifles improperly, including weapons appearing in the “Call of Duty”, which both the Connecticut and Texas school killers often played. One can only assume the parents of the latest school mass shootings will most likely take Daniel Defense to court under tragically similar circumstances.
What is so sad is the fact that buyers have openly capitalized on the loosening of gun restrictions by the Supreme Court, Congress and Republican-controlled state legislatures. The Republican Party is clearly aligned with the interests of gun lobbyists and the NRA, as evidenced by the appearances of former President Trump and Republican Senator Ted Cruz at the NRA’s totally inappropriate convention in Houston, Texas, just a few days after the May 24th school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Not surprisingly, they defended gun rights, all be it with some obvious misleading claims about the efficacy of gun restrictions, gun ownership trends and school shootings. Unfortunately, after every mass shooting, driven by fear and calls for increased restrictions on gun ownership, gun sales often go up in certain states. As I’ve blogged in the past, this is a cycle that tragically never seems to end.
FROLITICKS 
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