Gun manufacturers saw a decline in second quarter sales, but insist not all is doom and gloom.
As expected, demand for guns cooled off after an election-year surge. That also has led to a slowdown of background checks which hit a record 27.5 million for all of 2016.
Sturm, Ruger and Company reported second-quarter net sales fell 22 percent to $131.9 million.
However, Ruger CEO Christopher Killoy told reporters last week he believes the sales boom before last year's presidential election likely pulled some of this year's numbers into 2016.
Cabela’s Inc. reported a 9.3 percent drop in second-quarter with firearms and shooting accounting for half of that decline.
Killoy believes the gun industry as a whole has simply returned to a normalized, seasonal pattern, with dealers now waiting for hunting season to return.