Number of Gun Manufacturers Explodes Under Obama: 250% Growth in 6 Years

Over the past few years, gun sales in this country have increased at an astonishing rate. In 2015 the FBI reported a record-breaking number of background checks for gun purchases, and that record keep getting broken month after month. Every time there is a mass shooting, and the leftists call for more stringent gun laws, the average American doubles down on the Second Amendment and buys another gun.

Which has to make you wonder, who exactly is making all of these guns? Is it the same handful of big players in the gun industry like Ruger, Smith & Wesson, and Remington, who have been mass producing firearms in America for decades? Partly yes, but they’re not the only companies filling the supply and easing the rampant demand for guns.

According to the ATF, the number of gun manufacturers in the US has grown by 250%  between 2009 and 2015. In the early years of Obama’s presidency, there were 3,040 gun manufacturers. By 2015, there were 10,503 licensed manufacturers. The most growth was seen in business friendly states like Texas and Florida, where the number of manufacturers has increased by 404% and 350% respectively.

Because of that, the ATF is freaking out. The explosive growth of gun manufacturing has outstripped the resources of the ATF by such a wide margin, that they can no longer enforce routine regulatory oversight on these companies.

The increase in gun manufacturing licenses since 2009 has strained the resources of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — the federal law enforcement agency that monitors the nation’s gun sales and distribution. As the number of licenses to make firearms grew nationally by nearly 250 percent from 3,040 licenses in 2009 to 10,503 last year, the number of special agents watching manufacturers has increased only 30 percent, from 623 in 2009 to 811 in 2015…

…But the spike in the number of gun makers in Florida and elsewhere piles more work on the agency and leaves many manufacturers unchecked for years by federal agents who try to ensure firearms are documented and made properly.

“I hate to say this, but they’ve adopted a sort of triage method that goes after the bigger gun dealers — the guys out there who may be more likely to get in trouble,” retired ATF special agent David Chipman said. “They’re not going to pay attention to those smaller guys making a handful of guns here and there.”

As one former ATF agent put it, “Maybe we are on the edge of a point where the ATF will not be able to keep up anymore.” Gee, he makes this sound like a bad thing.

It’s difficult to articulate just how impressive this is. Americans are buying so many guns, that they’ve managed to overwhelm their own government’s bureaucracy. The ATF, probably the most despised agency among gun owners, has been left nearly impotent, because Americans bought so many guns that the number of gun manufacturers had to triple to keep up with demand.

Let that be a lesson to anyone who is frustrated with their government. When you can’t change the system at the ballot box, you can still vote with your wallet.