U.S. gunmakers play jobs card amid talk of gun control: Time

NEW YORK, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Today more than ever, U.S. gun manufacturers like Remington (now RemArms), Smith &Wesson and Colt are pulling the strings, convincing elected officials they have to choose between gun-control laws and manufacturing jobs, reported the Time magazine last week.

"It may seem reasonable to assume, in light of recent state laws and lawsuits filed against them, that gun companies are under siege, their bottom lines threatened by regulations and shifting public attitudes toward firearms," said the report.

States in the South and West are offering millions in incentives to gun companies and loosening laws around gun ownership to show their fealty to gun culture, even as gunmakers have raked in 3 billion U.S. dollars in profits since the pandemic began, according to the report.

"Profits for gunmakers have been strong for the last decade, with both Smith &Wesson and Sturm Ruger &Co., the country's two biggest gunmakers, surpassing 100 million dollars in profit every year," it said.

That's putting pressure on states like New York to loosen recently passed gun-control laws, to convince manufacturers to stay, even though often those manufacturers are just adding new locations in other states and not actually leaving their original homes, it added.