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Bang / Guns Title: Obama's gun run Obama's gun run If the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Chicago's handgun ban, naturally you might expect a rise in the sale of firearms and ammunition. Except that's already happened — nationwide. The election of Barack Obama ushered in boom times for gun manufacturers, which only now show signs of abating. Industry revenues have shot up an average of 6.9 percent annually since 2005, including a robust 8.9 percent jump in 2009 — Obama's first year in office. Smith & Wesson must love it when Democrats win the White House. President Bill Clinton became known as the industry's "salesman-in-chief" during a tenure marked by the federal assault-weapon ban and the Brady Act requiring background checks for gun purchases. Obama may win a spot in the firearms-marketing hall of fame apparently just for being Obama. Contrary to what the shoot-'em-up crowd feared, the president has spent no political capital pushing new regulations. He has expressed so little interest in an issue long considered central to his party that the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence graded his first year in office with straight "Fs." If anything, Congress could be more pro-gun after the mid-term election Nov. 2, so don't expect bold initiatives from the White House: If Obama doesn't want to fight this battle now, he'll likely have even less motivation to engage next year's Congress. The president knows that many Democrats shy away from gun control, which has cost them support in prior elections. The Obama effect is the biggest reason for the rise in gun sales, but not the only one. Some of the federal stimulus funding for local law enforcement has gone into weapons, and the surge in Afghanistan helped support military sales even as combat in Iraq subsided. Public perceptions also play a big role. Americans have worried more about personal safety and security since the shock of 9/11. The more recent financial meltdown and job-market collapse created additional anxiety. Sure, money's tight. But consumers feeling helpless in the face of a devastating recession weren't about to cross guns and ammo off their shopping lists. By far the biggest sales gains over the last two years came in the civilian sector, reports Nima Samadi, industry analyst at the IBISWorld research firm. The decision to load up on ordnance may very well have been a case of emotion trumping logic, he says. "Losing the job or having the hours cut back is one of those things I can't predict. I can control the safety of my family." Samadi expects gun revenue to fall this year, and grow at a relatively modest 3.7 percent average annual rate through 2015. "We're going to see a lull, purely because there was such a ramp-up," he explains. "A lot of demand has been satisfied." If you worry about everyday Americans being more heavily armed than Pakistani militants, or if the Chicago handgun ban made as much sense to you as it did to this page, then take it up with a fellow who doesn't get nearly enough credit from the National Rifle Association: President Obama
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