Rifle manufacturers pared their losses following a deadly high school shooting as President Trump discussed tightening safety measures Thursday while maintaining his loyalty to a concerned and combative gun lobby.
Sturm Ruger & Co. rose 3.6 percent to $49, while American Outdoor Brands Corp., formerly known as Smith & Wesson, increased 0.6 percent to $10.12.
Stocks in the companies are still down 2.2 percent and 5.8 percent, respectively, following the Feb. 14 killing of 17 students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County, Fla.
The man police identified as the killer, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, used a Colt AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, which he had purchased legally, in the seven-minute shooting spree. The teenager, who had received marksmanship training in a Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program supported by the National Rifle Association Foundation, also owned at least six other long guns, police said.
In the days since Cruz’s rampage at the school, survivors and relatives of victims have begun a vigorous campaign to restrict sales of automatic weapons and improve safety at the nation’s schools. They’ve already drawn the backing of Giffords, the anti-violence group founded by former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who stepped down from her seat after injuries suffered when a gunman attacked a meeting she was holding with constituents in early 2011, killing six people.
“No child should ever have to march in the streets to demand that their elected leaders take action to protect them – and yet, that’s exactly what’s happening in America,” she said in a statement. “Not only are they calling for change, they’re organizing the nation to stand with them in this pursuit. We will do everything we can to support their effort and will stand by their side for every step of the march.”
Trump, who met with many of the students at the White House on Wednesday, has suggested arming some well-trained school staffers in order to protect students and has backed a higher minimum age for gun purchases as well as more thorough background checks.
….History shows that a school shooting lasts, on average, 3 minutes. It takes police & first responders approximately 5 to 8 minutes to get to site of crime. Highly trained, gun adept, teachers/coaches would solve the problem instantly, before police arrive. GREAT DETERRENT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018
The president, whose campaign was supported by the National Rifle Association, still maintained his loyalty to the lobbying group, insisting on social media platform Twitter that its leaders “love our country and will do the right thing.”
NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, meanwhile, pushed back against gun control in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington.
Liberal elites, he said, “care not one whit about America’s school system and school children. If they truly cared, what they would do is protect them.”
Instead, LaPierre argued, gun-control supporters are fighting “to eliminate the Second Amendment,” the Constitutional provision that guarantees the right to bear arms, “and our firearms freedoms, so they can eradicate all individual freedoms.”
Sturm Ruger, which reported this week that its sales had dropped 21 percent in 2017, blamed the decline partly on lower demand in the wake of Trump’s election. In the past, a Democratic victory in presidential campaigns has prompted heightened concern that the government would restrict gun rights, thus buoying sales.
“2017 was a challenging year for the firearms industry,” CEO Chris Killoy said Thursday, with some of the decline in customer interest due to “stronger-than-normal demand during most of 2016, likely bolstered by the political campaigns for the November 2016 elections.”
—With assistance from the Associated Press.
