The Business of Guns

to get off the ground. Just two years later, Sturm passed away, but demand for these guns proved rich enough to launch a business that retained the name of its founding partner. By 1969, business was so strong that the company went public, and sales kept going so well that the company earned a listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 1990. From 1949 to 2004, Sturm, Ruger & Co. claimed to have manufactured 20 million firearms, with 30 different product lines of rifles, shotguns, handguns, and revolvers, and some 400 different individual product offerings. Almost every statistic about gun manufacturing places Sturm, Ruger & Co. at or near the top. The 2017 Annual Firearms Manufacturing and Export Report put the company quite literally number one, accounting for 781,704 pistols, 661,155 rifles, and 172,104 revolvers. Its strong sales reflect both mistakes and success stories. When ArmaLite manufacturer looked to sell the design of its AR-15, by far the most popular semiautomatic rifle in the United States today, it approached Sturm, Ruger & Co. as the first choice. The latter’s executives declined the opportunity to purchase the rights to manufacture the gun, however. As a result, ArmaLite sold the AR-15 design to rival Colt, which not only sold millions of these guns but also sold a military-grade design to the United States Army as the M16 rifle. Nevertheless, Ruger’s own AR- 556 is one of the most popular semiautomatic rifles on the market, while its 10/22 .22LR is the world’s most popular rimfire rifle (meaning a rifle whose firing pin hits a bullet on the side, making ammunition and guns lighter), having sold over six million units. The motto of Sturm, Ruger & Co. is “Arms makers for responsible citizens.” Its guiding philosophy as a company is self- armament for Americans, with the company advocating hard for gun freedoms. During the 2016 presidential election, Sturm, Ruger & Co. contributed two dollars from every gun sale between August and Election Day to the National Rifle Association (NRA), providing the lobbying kingpin with as much as $5 million in cash.

The Business of Guns

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