Gun stocks rally after Obama’s prime-time address on terrorism
Source: MarketWatch (WSJ)
Shares of the two publicly traded gun makers rallied on Monday, a day after President Barack Obama gave a prime-time address calling for a modest reduction in the availability of firearms.
Smith & Wesson SWHC, +0.78% closed 8% higher and Sturm Ruger & Co. RGR, +5.85% rose 6% on Monday.
Smith & Wesson has climbed 116% this year, and Sturm Ruger has jumped 66%.
Obama on Sunday night said no one on the no-fly list should be able to buy a gun and that it should be harder for people to buy powerful assault weapons like the ones used in the San Bernardino massacre.
But with Congress in paralysis on the issue, the logic on Wall Street is that the increased talk of gun restriction will spur more sales, as has happened in previous instances.
President Obama, in a rare Oval Office address, asked Congress to pass legislation preventing people on the no-fly list from purchasing guns, stop sales of high-powered assault-style rifles and to authorize continued military force against ISIS. Photo: Getty
Though the U.S. doesn’t keep a tally on gun purchases, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation serves as a proxy of sorts.
Background checks surged 39% in December 2012, the month of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and at 2.78 million is the highest month on record.
Background checks fell in 2014, but have been stronger this year, with November seeing the highest number of checks in 20 months.
See also: 13 charts on gun violence in America
Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gun-stocks-rally-after-obamas-prime-time-address-on-terrorism-2015-12-07?dist=afterbell
= new reply since forum marked as read
I know this image was made by the RW to poke fun at the president, but it's kinda true as well in a crazy way:
On edit, I see the figure of 67 million guns sold was in the first FOUR years of his presidency. If that's true, we must be pushing 100 million gun sales by now 
Got a market in America!
"Our review of the academic literature found that a broad array of evidence indicates that gun availability is a risk factor for homicide, both in the United States and across high-income countries," according to the Harvard School of Public Health. "Case-control studies, ecological time-series and cross-sectional studies indicate that in homes, cities, states and regions in the US, where there are more guns, both men and women are at higher risk for homicide, particularly firearm homicide."
But efforts to significantly limit the prevalence of guns in the U.S. have been politically doomed. Even measures that have overwhelming support -- like universal background checks, which 92 percent of gun owners support -- tend to die in Congress in the face of stiff opposition from the National Rifle Association and their congressional allies.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/06/18/you-have-to-see-how-many-more-people-are-killed-by-guns-in-america-to-really-believe-it/
