In these trying times of ours, riddled with gun violence, a glimmer of hope has shined through. Remington Outdoor Co., the oldest gunmaker in the country, disclosed on Sunday that it has filed for bankruptcy protection. Somewhat counterintuitively, Remington’s debt has skyrocketed since Trump got elected, and many other U.S. gunmakers saw their sales decline after the 2016 election.
It would appear that firearms manufacturers make the most money when gundamentalists fear that their precious weapons will be taken away. So when Trump got elected, these “panic sales,” as ABC News calls them, took a dive. As far as Remington is concerned, it remains to be seen what will happen to its 3,500 employees. The company, which dates back to the 1800s, has sourced $100 million from lenders in order to keep its business going. Records show Remington agreed to give 82.5 percent stake in the company to holders of its $550 million term loan.
Remington owns the companies Marlin and Bushmaster. The Bushmaster AR-15 rifle was used in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, and the same type of assault rifle was used to kill 17 people in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting. While the company was not implicated in the Sandy Hook incident, it was enough to spook investors attempts to sell the company failed miserably.
Even prior to the Trump administration, gun sales were seeing a decline, as a large percentage of gun-ownership is confined to an increasingly smaller group of people. According to one study conducted by Harvard and Northeastern University, of the approximately 70 million guns sold to private owners between 1994 and 2015, more than half are owned by 3 percent of the population.
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