Gun stocks up after Las Vegas shooting

[IronLionZion]

http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/02/investing/las-vegas-shooting-gun-stocks-sturm-ruger-american-outdoor-brands/index.html?iid=hp-stack-dom

Gun stocks rose Monday following the deadliest mass shooting in American history late Sunday night. A gunman in a hotel room at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas killed at least 50 people attending an outdoor concert and wounded over 400 more.

Shares of Sturm Ruger (RGR) were up 3%, while American Outdoor Brands (AOBC), the company formerly known as Smith & Wesson, gained 4%. Both stocks have tended to rally in the immediate aftermath of mass killings, which sadly have become more routine.

The Pulse nightclub in Orlando in June 2016. San Bernardino in December 2015. The Aurora, Colorado movie theater and Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. in 2012.

Investors had bet that these massacres would lead to tougher gun control laws, especially because of tough talk from President Obama.

The stricter laws never materialized. Instead, gun sales climbed during the Obama administration's two terms as gun aficionados bought more firearms just in case rules changed at a national level or in individual states controlled by Democrats.

Every time there is a shooting, gun stocks go up and people buy more. This kind of mentality...

[Watchfoxheadexplodes]

1. Seems there is a big gun show in Vegas next weekend

But looking seems to be one near there on a regular basis.

[aikoaiko]

2. Historically, there are calls to ban some or all guns after the largest mass shootings

And that drives sales.

It's not the shootings themselves.

[IronLionZion]

3. But the laws never passed. And this time GOP controls everything

Trump campaigned hard against gun control

[aikoaiko]

4. Yep, but the 2 of the 3 most recent biggest gun control laws happened under Reagan and Bush.

There is a long memory for how tragedy has been used to reduce access to guns.

But you're right that in recent years Federal gun control didn't go anywhere, but that could change. I don't think we'll see the same level of panic buying after this massacre as we did after Sandy Hook.