Firearm Background Checks Soar To New High In May Despite NRA-Endorsed President

For the past decade, gun sales have spiked massively ahead each of the past three presidential elections as people have feared that increasingly "progressive" liberal candidates, from Obama in 2008/2012 to Hillary and Bernie in 2016, would enact stiffer gun reforms that would make it nearly impossible to purchase firearms.  That fear of future regulation turned out to be one of the biggest boons for gun manufacturers in history as everyone (and their mothers) suddenly realized they had a pressing need for multiple AR-15s.

Obama even won "Gun Salesman of the Year" for pretty much 8 consecutive years.

Of course, when Trump shocked the world with his win last November, the election of the first NRA-endorsed President in nearly a decade was supposed to mark the end of perpetually soaring gun sales.  In fact, Sturm Ruger"s share price crashed over 25% in just a matter of days as investors feared that the "pulling forward" of gun sales was about to reverse "big league".  That said, those gun sales declines never materialized and RGR"s shares are right back to pre-Trump levels...

...and, as the Washington Examiner points out today, FBI firearm background checks in May 2017 soared to yet another new high. 

So what"s going on here?  Well, at least according to one of the largest gun dealers in the United States there has been no slowdown in purchases of guns from new buyers at all, a phenomenon they attribute to the growing number of terrorist strikes around the world in recent months.

At the one of the nation"s largest gun stores, Hyatt Guns in Charlotte, N.C., sales are up in reaction to safety concerns.

"We are continuing to see brisk sales of self-defense and concealed carry firearms. We"re also continuing to see new gun buyers," said Hyatt Marketing Director Justin Anderson.

"People are nervous about their safety, and rightly so. It"s a dangerous world we live in and American citizens know that we"re not immune to terrorist attacks. They"re taking the necessary steps to defend themselves. Frankly, the most recent terrorist attack in London underscores the importance of an armed populace. Remember that when seconds count the police are only minutes away," he added.

Of course, the ultimate cause for the continued strength in gun purchases can be attributed to any number of factors, not the least of which is continued gridlock and complete uncertainty in Washington DC, despite a Republican controlled government.

So what say you, continuation of a long-term bull trend in gun sales or continued pull forward of sales related to increasing terrorist threats and international political uncertainty.