During the past presidential elections back in 2008 the sales of guns and ammunition was through the roof, dubbing President Obama the “best gun salesman of the year”. Most of the guns and ammo buying spree was hype and fear of impending gun bans and restrictions, causing long waiting periods for gun orders and empty ammo shelves. Well election time is coming up very soon, and one of the biggest firearm manufacturers is ramping up to take full advantage of the potential boost in sales the current political climate may cause.
Sturm, Ruger & Company CEO Michael Fifer said when asked about President Obama’s upcomming run for re-election, “I think half the people in the firearms industry, if asked, would hope he’s not president, but then will secretly go out and vote for him again.”
It’s just business. Ruger posted net earnings of $10.8 million in the second quarter of 2011 for a total of $18.8 million for the year, which was $2 million more than last year. Sales were also up 24 percent over last year. Ruger is aiming to sell a million guns from April 2011 through March 2012, which not only helps Ruger but the NRA as well, who Ruger donates a dollar to from each gun sold.
Fifer said of their sales goal, “no company in history, to the best of our knowledge, has ever built and shipped one million firearms in one year. We would like to be the first, and we’ve launched a promotional program to get the consumers behind us for this ambitious program.”
To hit their one million gun milestone Ruger has been ramping up inventory in advance of the upcomming distributor shows in 2012, as well as the 2012 presidential elections. What’s Ruger’s hottest selling gun? Their new SR1911 pistol, but Ruger won’t be producing more 1911’s to meet demand because of the low profits per unit sold. Or is it a move to keep the pricing higher than they have to be? They’ll probably instead focus on their more profitable firearms such as their .22 rimfire pistols and rifles.
What’s surprising is that Ruger won’t be chasing any military or police contracts, they’ll focus entirely on the civilian market. “Those are high cost to get in the game, very low odds of winning, and if you do win, you probably didn’t make any money,” said Fifer. However he did go on to say, “we’ll take any that accidentally comes our way, but we’re not making a major effort to get it.” With the rush to stockpile guns and ammunition during the 2008 presidential elections, the 2012 elections as well as the current ATF fiasco is sure to spark another mad dash to load up on guns yet again. But this time Ruger is poised to maximize the potential influx of sales.
[Source: NHBR.com]
