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<big><b><big>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.</big></b></big> <br>
<br>
<small><small><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.masoncountydailynews.com/news/national-news/35216-movie-theater-shooting-prompts-gun-control-debate">http://www.masoncountydailynews.com/news/national-news/35216-movie-theater-shooting-prompts-gun-control-debate</a></small></small></small></small><br>
<br>
<big><big><b>There are 13,381 MCDonalds restaurants in the US -
33,000+ in the world</b></big></big><br>
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<div id="attachment_22661" class="wp-caption alignleft"
style="width: 235px;"><small><small><small><small><small><small>till-the-biggest-consumer-of-firearms-imports-up-143/#axzz21SUp8ScG</small></small></small></small></small></small><br>
<span class="date"><span class="meta-prep meta-prep-author"><b><big><big>Arms
Treaty be Damned - USA Still Biggest Consumer Firearms <br>
</big></big></b></span><a
href="http://www.ammoland.com/2012/07/18/arms-trade-treaty-be-dammed-usa-still-the-biggest-consumer-of-firearms-imports-up-143/"
title="5:49 PM" rel="bookmark"><span class="entry-date">July 18, 2012</span></a><span
class="meta-sep"></span><span class="author vcard"></span></span></div>
<p><strong>USA -</strong>-(<a title="AmmoLand Reports"
href="http://www.ammoland.com/" target="_self">Ammoland.com</a>)- 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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>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.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The revolver jump is probably mostly attributable to Taurus Judge
revolvers (Brazil) and perhaps the new <a title="AmmoLand Reports"
href="http://www.ammoland.com/2011/12/27/chiappa-arms-rhino-20ds-revolver/">Chiappa
revolver</a> with the barrel attached to the bottom chamber of the
cylinder for superior ergonomics.</p>
<p>On a positive sign for exports America’s handgun sales outside the
U.S. jumped 115% or about 25,000 units <em>(so we shipped out 44,000
and shipped in 257,000 which sounds like “free trade” to me.)</em> 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.</p>
<p><strong>Rifle imports jumped 143% from 40,000 to 97,000 compared to
last year. </strong><br>
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.</p>
<p>Unless, it was all <a
href="http://www.ammoland.com/2012/03/12/mosin-nagant-rifle/"
target="_blank">1891 Moisin Nagants</a> <em>(Belgian designed,
Soviet, Winchester, and Remington-made)</em> 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 <a title="AmmoLand Reports"
href="http://www.ammoland.com/tag/m1-carbine/">90,000 American-made
Garand rifles from South Korean military</a> armories for civilian
sales and that’s equivalent to ONE MONTH’s import of comparatively
expensive rifles with comparable or superior performance,</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>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.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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?</p>
<p><strong>Ammunition Imports</strong><br>
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.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>With shotguns, heavily recommended for anti-zombie defense,
sales could really pick up after <a
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMm4s1268to"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.youtube.com']);"
target="_blank">“World War Z</a>” comes out next year starring Brad
Pitt and written by Mel Brooks’ son. Movies have more influence on
which guns sell than politicians.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Cartridge imports were up 39% from 170 million units to 237 million
units <em>(I don’t know if that’s individual rounds or boxes of 20/50
rounds?</em>) 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.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>The U.S. is the biggest civilian ammunition market, so
exporting isn’t that attractive or there weren’t many spare boxes to
sell.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>For a look at the raw data visit the links below:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://nssf.org/research/blasts/USITC_May2012.html"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://nssf.org']);"
target="_blank">http://nssf.org/research/blasts/USITC_May2012.html</a></li>
<li><a
href="http://www.nssf.org/share/PDF/industryresearchdocs/AFMER%202010%202011.pdf"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.nssf.org']);"
target="_blank">http://www.nssf.org/share/PDF/industryresearchdocs/AFMER%202010%202011.pdf</a></li>
<li><a
href="http://nssf.org/PDF/research/0512USITCRifleImportChart.pdf"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://nssf.org']);"
target="_blank">http://nssf.org/PDF/research/0512USITCRifleImportChart.pdf</a></li>
</ul>
<p>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 <a
href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/al-jones/4/47b/546"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.linkedin.com']);"
target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>, email at <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:aljonesrdo@bresnan.net">aljonesrdo@bresnan.net</a>, or on
his blog is <a href="http://www.aljonesbusinessgrowth.com/?ammoland"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.aljonesbusinessgrowth.com']);"
target="_blank">www.aljonesbusinessgrowth.com</a></p>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a></div>
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