Gun-makers’ stocks dip following Florida school shooting

Publicly listed gun-makers have seen their stock values drop following the school shooting that left 17 dead in Florida earlier this month.

Gun shares and school shootings have long had a complicated connection. In the past, shootings have led to gun-makers’ stock prices to increase in the short run because speculation that new gun reforms could be passed often leads to sales.

Analysts say that the value of gun-makers’ shares in the days since the Florida shooting suggest people are skeptical that gun laws will be passed quickly, according to a report in the Financial Times.

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Shares for gun-makers American Outdoor Brands (AOB), Strum Roger and Vista Outdoor have all decreased by at least eight percentage points since the shooting.

The mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school in Parkland, Fla., has rekindled a push — led by the student survivors of the shooting — for gun reform but no concrete legislative action has yet to emerge.

Most top gun-makers are privately held companies. 

After a school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School left 26 dead in Connecticut in 2012, AOB and Sturm Ruger shares declined but quickly recovered after gun control proposals went nowhere, the Financial Times reported. AOB and Strum Roger saw five-day gains after the mass shootings in Las Vegas and Orlando.

The financial industry expected higher stock prices for gun-makers if Hillary Clinton won the presidential election in 2016, as the possibility of gun reform would have increased. President Trump’s victory instead caused their stock to dip.

Trump has suggested raising the minimum age for purchasing guns and has directed the Department of Justice to draft regulation that would ban bump stocks, the device that allows semi-automatic guns to fire more rapidly.

He has also discussed the possibility of expanding background checks and arming teachers.