Small gun makers see boom as demand soars in US

GOFFSTOWN, New Hampshire－As he flipped through pictures on his cellphone, Tony Hook explained how one customer wanted mementos of major life events－a gun to mark each of his children's births.

"He had us build a gun for every newborn he had," said Hook, the owner of RTD Arms& Sport in New Hampshire. "So, this is his son's name and his date of birth," he said, showing the engraving on a rifle.

Smaller gun makers like Hook are enjoying a boom in the US, with ravenous and sometimes specialized demands for pricey limited-production pistols and custom rifles engraved with bible passages or the US flag.

The millions of guns produced annually in the US are primarily made by the nation's biggest manufacturers. But smaller operators have poured into a market that saw production nearly triple from 2000 to 2020.

Smaller operators can churn out parts destined for major firms like SIG Sauer or Smith& Wesson, and for enthusiasts and gun shops, or they can be manufacturers themselves of specialized or customized weapons.

The US has a deep culture of gun ownership centered on a constitutional guarantee for people to keep and bear arms, and as a result has a sprawling market of weapons, gear and accessories.

But the US also sees roughly 40,000 gun deaths a year, about half of which are suicides, though homicides increased at historic rates during the pandemic.

According to the industry group National Shooting Sports Foundation, the gun and ammunition industry added an estimated $70 billion to the US economy last year.

The boom in gun making is illuminated in federal firearms license statistics, with the number of so-called type 7 permits that allow production, as well as sales, increasing by over 694 percent from 2000 to 2020.

Getting one of those permits requires paperwork from applicants that includes their photograph, fingerprints and other information, while the government also does a background check and in-person interview.

Big states like Texas and Florida each have hundreds of manufacturers of all sizes that reported, as required by law, their production to federal authorities for 2020, the most recent figures available.

Matrix Arms in New Hampshire is one of those makers. Its CEO and owner Allen Farris said so many manufacturers have joined the industry that the market has been saturated for at least the past six years now.

Hook and Farris emphasized they did not want their guns to be used in crimes or mass murder.

Inevitably, as the gun-making industry grows, more people face the risk that the firearms they produce could be used in a crime, mass shooting or suicide.

Agencies Via Xinhua