Hot lead is starting to cool

Kai Ryssdal Nov 7, 2013
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Hot lead is starting to cool

Kai Ryssdal Nov 7, 2013
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Shares of two of the nation’s big publicly traded gun manufacturers Smith and Wesson and Sturm Ruger followed the general trend on Wall Street today. They went down almost 2 percent a piece. 

The FBI had a report out not too long ago showing gun background checks are falling, and retailers say they’re seeing demand for both guns and ammunition dropping too. 

Frank Gerstenkorn owns Guns & Gear out in Cheyenne, Wyoming. We check in with him regularly, and he says the sales boom six months ago has led to a crowded marketplace today, and his sales have been cut in half. 

“Since I talked to you last, we’ve seen three new outlets open for firearms and when you have 16 outlets for firearms in a town that only has 60,000 people, that’s a lot of competition.”

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