[News] 123, 000 licensed firearms dealers in the US - 13, 381 McDonald's

Anti-Imperialist News news at freedomarchives.org
Mon Jul 23 11:24:22 EDT 2012


*According to the latest numbers of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and 
Firearms, there are 123,000 licensed firearms dealers in the United 
States, meaning there are roughly as many gun dealers as there are gas 
stations.*

http://www.masoncountydailynews.com/news/national-news/35216-movie-theater-shooting-prompts-gun-control-debate

*There are 13,381 MCDonalds restaurants in the US - 33,000+  in the world*
*********************************************
till-the-biggest-consumer-of-firearms-imports-up-143/#axzz21SUp8ScG
*Arms Treaty be Damned - USA Still Biggest Consumer Firearms
*July 18, 2012 
<http://www.ammoland.com/2012/07/18/arms-trade-treaty-be-dammed-usa-still-the-biggest-consumer-of-firearms-imports-up-143/>

*USA -*-(Ammoland.com <http://www.ammoland.com/>)- It's a booming time 
for gun sales in the USA, with significant growth since about 2005, but 
given the reduction in both military and military contractors, law 
enforcement agency budgets, compounded by lower consumer 
confidence/purchasing power it's puzzling what the latest 
firearms importation figures show.

Recent NSSF reports comparing year to year numbers through May 2012 show 
92,000 more pistols were imported to the U.S. for a 68% jump over the 
previous year, while revolver imports jumped 126% or about 17,000 more 
revolvers. Much of that is probably strong Springfield XD/XDM sales 
(Croatia-made), Glocks (Austria), SigSauers (Switzerland), Berettas 
(Italy), and FNH Browning 5.7?s.

    /While the Europeans make it difficult generally for civilian
    consumers to own pistols they certainly are enthusiastic about the
    jobs and tax revenues for manufacturing them for export./

The revolver jump is probably mostly attributable to Taurus Judge 
revolvers (Brazil) and perhaps the new Chiappa revolver 
<http://www.ammoland.com/2011/12/27/chiappa-arms-rhino-20ds-revolver/> 
with the barrel attached to the bottom chamber of the cylinder for 
superior ergonomics.

On a positive sign for exports America's handgun sales outside the U.S. 
jumped 115% or about 25,000 units /(so we shipped out 44,000 and shipped 
in 257,000 which sounds like "free trade" to me.)/ Semi auto pistols 
were most of that jump, most likely Smith & Wesson and Ruger as sales of 
their new models have been impressive, and don't forget that no one 
makes as many variations of John Browning's 1911 .45acp pistol as 
America does. On a disappointing note, only 2200 American revolvers 
shipped out of the U.S. which given the many models marketed by Ruger, 
S&W, Colt, USFA and Freedom Arms, it is sad that many of the revolvers 
that sound like they're U.S. made are made in Italy, Germany, or Brazil.

*Rifle imports jumped 143% from 40,000 to 97,000 compared to last year. *
While fine traditional hunting rifles continue to be made across Europe, 
it's likely much of this import number was CZ-USA and Tikka bolt action 
rifles or semi-automatic rifles like those from SigSauer (Swiss) FNH 
SCAR (Belgium), Heckler & Koch (Germany), Steyr-AUG (Austria) and 
Kalashnikovs.

Unless, it was all 1891 Moisin Nagants 
<http://www.ammoland.com/2012/03/12/mosin-nagant-rifle/> /(Belgian 
designed, Soviet, Winchester, and Remington-made)/ which it could well 
have been for how well these cheap, accurate, reliable loss-leaders have 
been selling from Cabela's to very small dealer's racks. Not sure if the 
Moisins got counted in this or not. As the State Department was fretting 
over bringing back 90,000 American-made Garand rifles from South Korean 
military <http://www.ammoland.com/tag/m1-carbine/> armories for civilian 
sales and that's equivalent to ONE MONTH's import of comparatively 
expensive rifles with comparable or superior performance,

    /Federal government thinking remains elusive since they handle the
    permits for all small arms going in and out, from shiploads of free
    machine guns for our "allies" in Pakistan to high end African big
    game rifles./

Rifle exports were up 27% but that's just 6,700 more rifles than the 
24,000 last May, 2011. Given that most civilian rifle manufacturing of 
all types remains concentrated in the U.S., it suggests just how small 
and difficult to reach the rest of the world's civilian rifle market is. 
  Overseas dealers tell me, the lack of hunting access and shooting 
ranges constrains the international recreational target shooting markets.

Shotgun imports continue to decline with 52,000 coming in and 15,000 
going out. The basic consumer shotguns remain the cheapest long guns. 
  Turkey, Croatia, Russia, and China are making increasing numbers of 
American-brands and their own brands of shotguns. Whether the adaptation 
of the Kalashnikov to shotgun shells, as seen by Saiga, or the Marlin 
lever action rifle design to .410, as seen by Taurus, will revive this 
category, like home defense short-barrel/long-magazine shotguns have in 
the past 20 years, remains to be seen?

*Ammunition Imports*
Shotgun shells came in nearly 30% higher in imports and in exports so 
apparently either a lot more clay pigeons are dying out there or 
shooters are stocking up on shells beyond the occasional box or two. 
Shotgun ammunition or shotshells are little affected by the shortages in 
rifle and handgun ammunition since it's made on different production lines.

    /With shotguns, heavily recommended for anti-zombie defense, sales
    could really pick up after "World War Z
    <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMm4s1268to>" comes out next year
    starring Brad Pitt and written by Mel Brooks' son. Movies have more
    influence on which guns sell than politicians./

Cartridge imports were up 39% from 170 million units to 237 million 
units /(I don't know if that's individual rounds or boxes of 20/50 
rounds?/) European ammunition manufacturers Sellier & Bellot, Fiocchi, 
Wolf, Tula, etc. really gained a lot of shelf space during the 
ammunition shortages the past few years while South Korean PMC has 
broadened from military rounds to many more civilian rounds and regained 
a lot of shelf space. We exported 63 million units, down a bit.

    /The U.S. is the biggest civilian ammunition market, so exporting
    isn't that attractive or there weren't many spare boxes to sell./

*For a look at the raw data visit the links below:*

    * http://nssf.org/research/blasts/USITC_May2012.html
    * http://www.nssf.org/share/PDF/industryresearchdocs/AFMER%202010%202011.pdf
    * http://nssf.org/PDF/research/0512USITCRifleImportChart.pdf

Al Jones has worked with many parts of Shooting Sports and other 
industries over 30 years as a management team member or advisor on 
buisness growth. He can be found on LinkedIn 
<http://www.linkedin.com/pub/al-jones/4/47b/546>, email 
at  aljonesrdo at bresnan.net, or on his blog is 
www.aljonesbusinessgrowth.com 
<http://www.aljonesbusinessgrowth.com/?ammoland>

-- 
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863-9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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