Tag: pulse shooting
While America Mourns, Gun Manufacturers Profit From Spiked Sales

While America Mourns, Gun Manufacturers Profit From Spiked Sales

As the nation mourns the 49 victims of the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting, some are experiencing the benefits of a mass shooting: gun manufacturers.

On Monday, the stocks of the two leading gun manufacturers, Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger & Co. went up by 8.8 percent and 4.5 percent respectively.

Gun sales usually spike following mass shootings. According to an analysis of federal background checks by The New York Times, “fear of gun-buying restrictions has been the main driver of spikes in gun sales.”

Gun lovers, apparently fearing an attempt by the Obama administration to “take their guns,” buy weapons at increased rates immediately after mass shootings.

Last January, guns sales jumped up after President Obama announced an executive action to expand background checks and bolster licensing requirements for dealers as a response to the attack in San Bernardino, which killed 14 people. The FBI ran more background checks than in any other January on record.

The number of background checks is currently the best way to estimate gun sales, but that figure only counts transactions, not the number of guns bought in each sale, and it excludes private gun sales in 32 states which do not require a background check for private sales.

After the Paris terrorist attacks, shares of Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger & Co. also went up because of high sales. In fact, just two weeks after the attack, on Black Friday, more Americans background checks run on them in order to buy guns than on any other day on record, according to data released by the FBI. That December, more guns were sold than in any other single month on record.

The previous record month is December 2012, the month of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting that killed 26 people, of which 20 were children.

The Sandy Hook sparked a gun control debate, and as the NRA fired up their efforts, encouraging Americans to defend their 2nd Amendment right and stop scary Democrats from passing gun control laws, huge amounts of money poured into the National Rifle Association, which received $96.4 million in contributions and grants in 2013, 11.5 percent more than the previous year.

Money manager Louis Navallier noticed there was a big opportunity for profit when he realized stocks went up after the Bataclan Concert Hall attack in Paris. He started buying stocks and accumulating positions in both Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger & Co. That investment would greatly pay off. After both the San Bernardino shooting and President Obama’s executive action announcement, stocks once again rose.

“Mr. Obama is the best gun salesman on the planet,” Navellier, who is the chairman of the investment firm Navallier & Associates, told CNBC in January, before adding that none of his investors had concerns about the moral implications of profiting from gun sales. “They just want us to make money.” He said.

The NRA has remained silent on the Orlando tragedy, something it tends to do after mass shootings. When they do comment on tragedies like this, it is often hours or even days after the fact. Sometimes, as in the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood shooting, they just ignore the tragedy altogether. That Friday, they wished “shooters” a “happy Friday.”

When they do comment on shooting tragedies, the NRA’s response is usually to call for more gun sales, sticking to their core argument that “only a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun.” That was their response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy that killed 26 people, of which 20 were children. After waiting a couple days to comment, the NRA suggested that teachers ought to carry guns.

“Why is the idea of a gun good when it’s used to protect the president of our country or our police, but bad when it’s used to protect our children in our schools?” NRA president Wayne LaPierre asked.

There was an armed guard at the door of the “Pulse” nightclub.

 

Friends and family members embrace outside the Orlando Police Headquarters during the investigation of a shooting at the Pulse night club, where as many as 20 people have been injured after a gunman opened fire, in Orlando, Florida, U.S June 12, 2016.  REUTERS/Steve Nesius

U.S. Officials: No Evidence Of Direct Islamic State Link To Orlando Shooting

U.S. Officials: No Evidence Of Direct Islamic State Link To Orlando Shooting

By Jonathan Landay and Mark Hosenball

Islamic State claimed responsibility on Sunday for the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, but U.S. officials said they had seen no immediate evidence linking the militant group to the massacre in Orlando, Florida.

Islamic State’s claim was carried by Amaq, the organization’s news agency.

“The armed attack that targeted a gay night club in the city of Orlando in the American state of Florida which left over 100 people dead or injured was carried out by an Islamic State fighter,” said the Amaq statement.

At least 50 people were killed and 53 others were wounded in the Pulse nightclub before the gunman was shot dead by police.

The shooter was identified by authorities as Omar Mateen, a Florida resident and U.S.-born son of Afghan immigrants who a senior FBI official said might have had leanings toward Islamic State.

The FBI official cautioned, however, that proving the suspected link to radical Islamism required further investigation.

Three U.S. officials familiar with the investigation into the massacre said that no evidence had yet been found showing a direct link with Islamic State or any other militant group.

There is “no evidence yet that this was directed or connected to ISIS. So far as we know at this time, his first direct contact was a pledge of bayat (loyalty) he made during the massacre,” said a U.S. counter-terrorism official, referring to a 911 call the suspect made on Sunday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.

A U.S. intelligence official said it was not unexpected that Islamic State would claim responsibility given that the group has been suffering serious losses of fighters and territory in Iraq and Syria.

“The fact that a website connected to Daesh applauded it doesn’t mean anything,” said the U.S. intelligence official, using an Arabic language acronym for Islamic State. “They are losing on their home turf, and it’s not surprising if they’re looking for some kind of twisted victory.”

Speaking at the White House, President Barack Obama called the attack “an act of terror and an act of hate,” and said the FBI would spare no effort to determine whether the suspect had been inspired by any extremist group.

The two officials familiar with the investigation said a leading theory was that the suspect somehow was inspired by Islamist militants.

One official said early information, the nature of which he did not disclose, indicated that the shooter was motivated by a mixture of “hate” and religion.

 

‘ACT OF TERRORISM’

U.S. Representative Adam Schiff of California, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement issued after a briefing on the massacre that several factors indicated the attack was an Islamic State-inspired “act of terrorism.”

He noted that the incident occurred during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, that Islamic State had called for attacks during that period, the target was an LGBT nightclub and it was hit during Gay Pride weekend.

Schiff said that, if accurate, “according to local law enforcement the shooter declared his allegiance to ISIS (Islamic State).”

An audio message purportedly issued last month by the spokesman of Islamic State called on followers to launch attacks in the United States and Europe during Ramadan, which began on June 5 in the United States.

“Ramadan, the month of conquest and jihad. Get prepared, be ready … to make it a month of calamity everywhere for the non-believers … especially for the fighters and supporters of the caliphate in Europe and America,” said the statement allegedly made by Abu Muhammad al-Adnani and distributed over Twitter accounts usually associated with Islamic State.

“The smallest action you do in their heartland is better and more enduring to us than what you would if you were with us. If one of you hoped to reach the Islamic State, we wish we were in your place to punish the Crusaders day and night,” said the audio clip, the authenticity of which could not be verified.

 

Reporting by Jonathan Landay and Mark Hosenball; Editing by Peter Cooney and Alistair Bell

Photo: A member of the New York Police Department’s Critical Response Command Unit stands guard by The Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street, considered by some as the center of New York State’s gay rights movement, following the shooting massacre at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, in the Manhattan borough of New York, U.S., June 12, 2016.  REUTERS/Andrew Kelly