Shooting Industry Faces Approaching Storm

VSSA members are familiar with The Shooting Wire's Jim Shepherd since the VSSA member publication regularly reprints his articles. On Monday, Jim wrote about how the firearms industry will find itself in the cross hairs of a new administration dedicated to the regulation of virtually everything related to guns. It is a good read and I recommend it to every gun owner. Jim was on NRANews with Cam Edwards last night to expand on this subject.

Today, Jim continued this theme, writing about a poll of hunters and shooters that was also released this week and how the results backed up the anecdotal evidence of the near-panic buying that has been written and talked about since the election. The results? When surveyed by Southwick and Associates, a whopping eighty percent (80%) of respondents said they expect it to become more difficult for them to purchase firearms. Only one percent of respondents felt it would get easier, and only sixteen percent expect their abilitie to purchas firearms to remain the same.

Rob Southwick, the author of the poll and owner of Southwick Associates said, "These results show that most hunters and target shooters expect changes resulting from the 2008 elections will make it more difficult for them to buy guns," He continued, "Increases in firearm sales since the November election are also a strong indicator of such sentiment."

Add this to the anecdotal stuff like Shepherd's "first-time" observers to a gun show who upon returning from the show said there was "heavy traffic'' but "only the black guns and military surplus stuff" were really getting attention, and you get a clear picture of what the industry is facing.

Next week, the shooting industry will be gathering in Orlando, Florida for the annual SHOT Show and VSSA members will be represented by a member of the Board of Directors. We will get our first look at how the industry plans to weather the coming storm.