Smith and Wesson Stock Falls as Trump’s Victory Signals Defeat of Gun Control

On Wednesday, Smith & Wesson stock fell as Donald Trump’s victory signaled the end of the gun control push that has marked the last term of President Obama.

The stock fell more than 10 percent, with investors anticipating a significant change in U.S. gun policy.

According to The Guardian, Sturm, Ruger, & Co. stock fell too. Ruger’s numbers “were down 12.29 percent in early morning trading.” Speculation has already begun as to how Trump’s election may impact Black Friday gun sales.

Black Friday 2015 sales “shattered” the previous Black Friday record and the single day record, with 185,345 background checks on that one day. And The Guardian notes that those checks were driven, in part, by the gun control push undertaken by Hillary Clinton the month before.

Trump ran on saving the Second Amendment from “people like Hillary Clinton.” He has many times pointed out that mass public attacks are not the fault of guns, but of the evil or twisted humans who carry out the attacks. Trump also sees “gun-free zones” as a contributing factor.

In fact, on October 28, 2015, he said gun-free zones provide “target practice for the sickos and for the mentally ill.” So his solution to high profile gun crimes is not more gun control, but more citizens armed for self-defense in more places. He sees value in the armed citizen and believes the concealed carry license of one state ought to be recognized in every state. Trump said:

The right of self-defense doesn’t stop at the end of your driveway. That’s why I have a concealed carry permit and why tens of millions of Americans do too. That permit should be valid in all 50 states. A driver’s license works in every state, so it’s common sense that a concealed carry permit should work in every state. If we can do that for driving – which is a privilege, not a right – then surely we can do that for concealed carry, which is a right, not a privilege.

The bottom line–Trump’s election marks a seismic shift in gun policy in the U.S. We are embarking on an era where the Second Amendment stands strong under Heller and the armed citizen, in turn, stands strong under the Second Amendment.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of “Bullets with AWR Hawkins,” a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.