Gun Makers Rely On Assault Rifle and Concealed Carry Sales

I have already written about the fact that, although gun sales have increased, the number of households owning guns has actually decreased over the last 20 years or so, indicating that many current buyers are already existing gun owners. And an article today shows just how reliant gun manufacturers are on two particular types of guns – assault rifles and small, high-capacity handguns that are typically used as concealed-carry weapons. Smith & Wesson reported a 31% increase in all rifle sales and you can be sure that much of that increase was related to assault weapons.

However, as the Supreme Court made clear in a ruling earlier this week, an assault weapons ban will pass constitutional muster. The ruling upheld bans in Connecticut and New York and, with the grip that the NRA currently has on Congress, it is in the states where gun control is more likely to succeed at present.  And with a more liberal Supreme Court a certainty, it is quite probable that restrictions on these high capacity magazines will also be ruled constitutional. Cases like this will be important because one of the NRA talking points is always about the constitutionality of gun ownership as though it applies to every conceivable type of weapon out there. Being able to point to the fact that the Supreme Court has ruled that some restrictions on gun ownership are constitutional changes the frame of the argument toward what restrictions are legal and effective.

Breaking the NRA’s grip on Congress will not be easy and will probably be a long time coming. But these are initial steps down that road.