Sean Sorrentino at An NC Gun Blog has come up with a great idea to put some pressure on the Obama Administration over Project Gunwalker.
Senior administration officials will be answering questions submitted on Twitter and other social media. Sean has pre-written Tweets with some pointed questions about Operation Fast and Furious.
Go here to find out more.
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:State Of The Union And The Power Of Social Media
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) was interviewed by Ginny Simone of NRA News yesterday. The first topic that came up was the plans for AUSA Patrick Cunningham, head of the criminal section of the US Attorney’s Office in Arizona, to refuse to answer questions from the House Oversight Committee because it might incriminate him.
Asked his reaction, Gowdy said his first reaction was stunned silence “which is pretty hard to accomplish with a Member of Congress.” He goes on to say that he never thought he’d see a Federal prosecutor take the Fifth Amendment. Gowdy served as a Federal prosecutor himself for six years earlier in his career.
In news from Greater Boston, comes a press release that the mayor of the City of Peabody has joined Mayor Bloomberg’s Illegal Mayors.
Peabody Mayor Edward A. Bettencourt Jr. announced yesterday that he has joined Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a bipartisan coalition of 600 mayors committed to keeping guns out of criminal hands.
Having a mayor from relatively anti-gun Massachusetts (or as JayG calls it, the Volksrepublik) join an anti-gun group of mayors is not news. It is just the same old tired gun prohibitionists rehashing the same old tired news.
However, if Mayor Bettencourt had resigned from MAIG and said he was pushing for real shall-issue concealed carry for Massachusetts, now THAT would be news.
One of the things he said that caught my ear was the statement that this year could break the back of the Second Amendment if we don’t work to save it. While a bit of hyperbole, I do agree that this is a critical election year. Whoever is elected President will probably get to nominate at least one Supreme Court justice. With both Heller and McDonald as 5 to 4 decisions, this is a frightening thought.
Continuing on the theme of thought that influenced the Founding Fathers and the framers of the Constitution, this week’s historical quote courtesy of Proclaiming Liberty comes from Andrew Fletcher.
The possession of arms is the distinction of a freeman from a slave. He who has nothing, and belongs to another, must be defended by him, and needs no arms: but he who thinks his is his own master, and has anything he may call his own, ought to have arms to defend himself and what he possesses, or else live precariously and at discretion.
Fletcher, Andrew. Speeches by a Member of Parliament. Edinburgh, 1703. 43. Print
This quote is found on page 28 of Proclaiming Liberty which is available from Amazon.com for $12.95. The Kindle edition is now available for $3.95.
With the SHOT Show having just concluded this past week, I thought it might be a good time to look at investing and the gun industry. As NSSF President Steve Sanetti noted in his State of the Industry address at the SHOT Show, the $4.1 billion firearms and ammunition industry is one of the bright spots in the economy.
Eighteen consecutive quarters of sales growth, as evidenced most recently by an all-time high number of mandatory point-of-sales background checks in December, and during the worst recession since the great depression, would be an enviable feat for any industry. Yet we have achieved it…
If, like most investors, you are saying to yourself that you’d like to invest in an industry that is actually doing well in our poor global economy, when it comes to the firearms industry there are very few choices available. The reason is that much of the industry is in private hands and are not public companies. By public companies, I mean those whose stock trades on a stock exchange.
As I noted, much of the firearms industry is in private hands. Companies such as Groupe Herstal (FNH, Browning, and Winchester firearms), Colt, Beretta, Steyr Mannlicher, and the Freedom Group (Remington, Bushmaster, DPMS, Dakota Arms, Marling, H&R, etc.) are all privately held. While the Cerberus-owned Freedom Group may eventually go public, they pulled their Initial Public Offering back in April 2011.
So where does this leave investors?
In the United States, Sturm, Ruger and Company (RGR) and Smith and Wesson Holding Company (SWHC) are the only two publicly traded firearms manufacturers. Worldwide, you can add Forjas Taurus (Taurus firearms) which trades on the Sao Paolo exchange, Manroy PLC (Sabre Defence and military arms) in the UK, Metal Storm Ltd. of Australia, and a handful of Russian companies like Tula Armory.
Ammunition companies in the United States that are publicly traded include Olin (Winchester ammunition) and Alliant Technologies (Federal, CCI, and Speer). Other companies that are involved in the broad firearms and outdoor market would include Cabelas (CAB), the Outdoor Channel (OUTD), and Taser International (TASR).
Let’s look a little closer at the two US firearms manufacturers and the two ammo companies.
Sturm, Ruger and Company (RGR) is headquartered in Southport, Connecticut and has factories in Prescott, Arizona and Newport, New Hampshire. Its stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange. In terms of market capitalization, Ruger is larger than Smith and Wesson – $736 million versus $309 million – but has about $100 million less in annual gross revenues. Ruger has been doing well and is on track to become the first firearms manufacturer to sell one million firearms in a one year period. The stock has also been doing well as can be seen in the chart below. Over the last two years, Ruger’s stock price has risen 250% and it closed at $38.68 per share on Friday. Looking at the chart, you can see that it significantly outperformed the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index.
Smith and Wesson Holding Company (SWHC) is headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts. They moved their Thompson Center manufacturing to Springfield from New Hampshire. Smith and Wesson also has non-firearms operations in Houlton, Maine and Franklin, Tennessee. The company is also a leading manufacturer of handcuffs and provides physical security products through their Security Solutions division. As noted above in the discussion Ruger, Smith and Wesson has a smaller market cap than Ruger but has about $100 million more in annual revenues. However, when it comes to profitability, Ruger both has a higher profit margin and more profits than Smith and Wesson. The stock price of SWHC reflects this. It closed on Friday at $4.74 per share and is only up about 20% for the last two years. Looking at the chart, you can see its stock price has been very volatile.
Neither of the U.S. ammunition manufacturers, Olin and Alliant Technologies, are solely ammo makers. Olin also makes chlor alkali products which are basic materials used in other industries. Alliant Technologies is a large defense contractor involved in aerospace and missile technologies, armament systems, and small arms ammunition manufacturing for the military.
Olin (OLN) has making powder and ammunition for over 100 years from its beginnings with the Equitable Powder Company and Western Cartridge in East Alton, Illinois. Olin bought Winchester out of receivership in 1931 and has owned it ever since. They spun off the Winchester Arms division to U.S. Repeating Arms in 1981. Currently headquartered in the St. Louis suburb of Clayton, Missouri, they make Winchester ammunition in East Alton, Illinois; Oxford, Mississippi; and Geelong, Australia. Olin has been moving more and more ammunition production from East Alton to Oxford due to union-management issues and a more modern facility. In terms of market capitalization, Olin is valued at $1.7 billion, has gross revenues of $1.9 billion, and net income of $225 million. Its stock closed at $22.20 per share on Friday and it trades on the New York Stock Exchange. Olin’s stock price has been volatile over the last two years but it has outperformed the S&P 500 growing 30% in value over the period.
As I noted earlier, Alliant Technologies (ATK) is a major defense contractor. The civilian ammunition component of their business comprises only about 20% of their overall business. Their Security and Sporting Group is comprised of Federal Premium ammo, CCI ammo and components, Speer bullets and ammo, RCBS reloading equipment, Alliant Powder, Champion ammo, Weaver optics, Eagle Industries, and Blackhawk! Industries.Alliant Technologies is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia and has 60 facilities in 22 states, Puerto Rico, and internationally. ATK has a market cap of $2.04 billion, has gross revenues of $4.62 billion, and net income of $292 million. Its stock closed at $61.78 per share and it trades on the New York Stock Exchange. As can be seen from the chart below, it has underperformed the market for the last two years and its stock price has lost 30% of its value.
Of the four companies, Ruger is the purest play in firearms. While the company does own Pine Tree Castings, it only provides about 1% of their revenues. The other three companies are more diversified. This diversification which in normal times would help them seems to have depressed their growth as compared to that of Ruger. With other sectors of the economy not having the robust growth of the firearms industry, this has hurt Smith and Wesson, Olin, and Alliant Technologies.
Because of my day job, I am not permitted to make any recommendations. I suggest that you do your own research, check with your own investment advisor, and go from there if you are interested in investing in the companies of the firearms and ammunition industry.
Disclosure: In the spirit of full disclosure, I own shares in RGR, ATK, OLN, and SWHC. Nothing here should be taken as an investment recommendation nor a solicitation of your business.
Waffle House is a chain of diners across the South and into middle America. They are famous for their hashbrowns especially when they are smothered and covered. That is hashbrowns with sauteed onions and melted cheese.
In Chesnee, South Carolina, two armed robbers made the mistake of robbing the wrong Waffle House this morning. As a result of their decision, one of them is dead and the other is on the run.
It was only after the armed robbers started to make moves to herd the customers and staff to the backroom that a person who was legally carrying concealed made his move. As Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright noted, the man feared for his life and only then pulled out his firearm.
Sheriff Chuck Wright said the CWP training the man had came into play in this situation.
“All the witnesses said it wasn’t his first reaction to grab the gun and start shooting and he tried to make him stop,” said Wright.
Wright said you are told to do all you can to avoid shooting something.
“You are trained when to shoot and when not to shoot and what you can and cant do. You learn where you can and can’t carry a gun and this gentleman followed the law,” said Wright.
The CWP holder will not be charged and his name is not being released. The Sheriff’s Office says no customers or employees were injured during the incident.
Sheriff Chuck Wright is the same lawman who urged women in South Carolina to get their SC concealed weapons permit in 2011. He did this in response to an attempted rape in his county by a man who had been in and out of jail 20 times.
UPDATE: Paul Valone, President of Grass Roots North Carolina, is using this example combined with two fatal shootings of restaurant employees during robberies in Charlotte, NC to push the North Carolina State Senate to move on HB 111. That bill would allow concealed carry (but not drinking) in restaurants and eating establishments that serve alcohol. An alert similar to his Charlotte Gun Rights Examiner column went out yesterday.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, announced that his committee has subpoenaed Patrick J. Cunningham of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona. Mr. Cunningham is the Chief of the Criminal Division of that office.
Issa Subpoenas Criminal Division Chief from Arizona U.S. Attorney’s Office
WASHINGTON, DC – House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) today announced the issuance of a subpoena to Patrick J. Cunningham, Chief of the Criminal Division in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona. Mr. Cunningham’s repeated refusals to testify voluntarily have forced the Committee to use compulsory process.
“During the course of our investigation, the Committee has learned of the outsized role played by the Arizona U.S. Attorney’s Office – and you specifically – in approving the unacceptable tactics used in Fast and Furious,” Chairman Issa wrote to Cunningham in a letter informing him of the subpoena. “Senior Justice Department officials have recently told the Committee that you relayed inaccurate and misleading information to the Department in preparation for its initial response to Congress.
“These officials told us that even after Congress began investigating Fast and Furious, you continued to insist that no unacceptable tactics were used. In fact, documents obtained confidentially just last week appear to confirm that you remained steadfast in your belief that no unacceptable tactics were used, even after the Department’s initial response to the congressional inquiry. Given that the Attorney General has labeled these tactics as unacceptable and Fast and Furious as ‘fundamentally flawed,’ this position is startling.”
The subpoena requires Cunningham to appear on Tuesday, January 24, 2012 for a deposition.
It will be interesting to see if the Department of Justice will try to fight this subpoena or will they throw Cunningham under the bus like they did former U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke.
According to the letter Issa sent to Cunningham informing him of the subpoena, Cunningham had been scheduled to be voluntarily interviewed by the Committee today and had indicated a willingness to cooperate with the Committee as late as last Friday. To me, his sudden refusal to cooperate would seem to indicate either he has a lot to hide or someone on Holder’s staff at DOJ made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. This one will be interesting to follow.
UPDATE: According to a letter released by Patrick Cunningham’s attorney, he will be taking “the 5th” when he appears before the Committee in response to their subpoena. William LaJeunesse has more on it here.
As I said yesterday, this one will be interesting to follow!
UPDATE II: I’ve had time to read and digest the letter from Mr. Cunningham’s attorney Tobin Romero of the DC law firm Williams and Connolly. Williams and Connolly is ranked as the best white collar defense firm in the United States by the Vault Guide.
Romero asserts that Cunningham is caught in a struggle between the DOJ and the Oversight Committee. Moreover, he says he acted in good faith and did nothing wrong. The draft language he submitted to the DOJ for their response to the Committee in February was approved and then not used by the DOJ.
The most interesting part – other than saying that Cunningham will plead the Fifth – is an indication that he is being thrown under the bus by DOJ.
According to your letter, Department of Justice officials ahve reported to the Committee that my client relayed inaccurate information to the Department upon which it relied in preparing its initial response to Congress. If, as you claim, Department officials have blamed my client, they have blamed him unfairly.
Jeff Quinn of Gunblast.com finishes up his reporting from the SHOT Show with this video. He starts with with 1911s from Cimarron Firearms in what has to be the ultimate BBQ gun – a chromed and engraved 1911.
Go to the link above to see still photos of more guns that the Quinns viewed on Day 3 of the SHOT Show.
Haus of Guns did an interview at the SHOT Show with Dan Coonan about his Coonan .357 Magnum 1911 semi-auto pistol. I don’t know why but this gun just intrigues me. Imagine an auto that will shoot both .357 mag rounds plus the .38 Special.
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