(Tris Walker, MorgueFile free photo)
Louis Navellier was a guest on CNBC Squawk Box this morning, Tuesday, Jan.5. I’m a fan of his so I watched. Two takeaways from the interview: First, President Obama is a great gun salesman. Second, there is a big difference between how those living in the West think about guns versus those living in the East. But before going there, consider the following.
Whether you’re a firearms enthusiast or not, or believe your right to carry or wear a gun out in public is as appropriate in 2016 as it was when the 2nd Amendment was adopted to the United States Constitution in 1791, really doesn’t much matter because—bottom line—there’s money in guns. Plenty of it. And, the more people who purchase guns, bullets and holsters, etc., or join shooting ranges and gun clubs and whip up others about the need to protect yourself, the more money this already multi-billion-dollar industry makes.
As for the hundreds of deaths caused by guns each day and every year, well, that’s sorta like collateral damage: An ugly reality that doesn’t carry nearly as much weight as profits do.
So while President Obama is hoping to knock a little common sense into all of us and would like to see some simple gun-control measures put into place—-and see the United States dump its top-billing status as the developed world’s most gun-violent country— every time he suggests any kind of gun control laws the sale of guns go up. As Navellier suggested, the guy, indirectly, is the best gun salesman in America today.
To that point, yesterday, at the end of the first trading day of the New Year, the DJIA tanked as did most stocks on the major exchanges. Shares of both Sturm, Rugar and CO. (RGR) and Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. (SWHC), however, closed the day up $1.78 and $1.31 respectively.
Today, their gains were even more rewarding: Smith& Wesson Holding Corp. hit an all time high closing up over 11 percent at $25.86 per share and Sturm, Ruger & Co. ended the session up 6.46 percent at $65.54, according to Yahoo Finance.
The 52-week lows for each: RGR, $35.07 and SWHC, $9.39.
Like I said, there’s money in guns.
There’s also a gun-slinging mentality not shared by everyone across America.
Navellier, who owns homes out West and in the East, said his house in the West came outfitted with a shooting range and an RV garage. He didn’t specifically ask for either but said that was just how the homes in the area he lives are built. When out walking his dog this quant-style money manager said he can hear people target practicing inside their homes.“ I don’t do that but I can hear it.”
You won’t find those kinds of trappings in his home in the East. But the dichotomy between the two life-styles can’t be ignored. Nor can the odd chance that the real firepower underscoring the strength of our pro-gun lobbyists and legislators is really more about making money than it is the right to bear arms.
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