1) Only licenced people may sell firearms to the customer. Ruger can't just sell guns through a catalog or online. Accessories, yes, guns, no.

2) One of the two major political parties weren't running on a platform of bans, confiscation, registration, fines, fees, and general scrutiny of 35mm cameras.

And distributors going out of business?

If only "licenced people can sell guns" I'd like to talk to you about ocean front property in Oklahoma. Fronts on two oceans! Just a bit of a walk to the beach . . . 😁

Gun makers don't make used guns. Your topic is the manufacture of new items, not the secondary used market.

Gun makers cannot sell their products directly to the public, so the distributors and dealers cannot be bypassed.

And I went to 2 gun stores yesterday looking for a particular gun. It was busy as hell. At the first one you have to take a number, like in the deli department at the grocery store, to speak with a clerk.

ETA: All background checks, used, new or pawn count toward estimating sales.

Perhaps the gun shop you visited was busy because some of the competition is no longer open. It doesn't help that the inventory sold at bankruptcy prices further erodes the pricing of the manufacturer's new product. Once the perceived price of a commodity goes down it seldom rebounds, at least not quickly enough to reverse the damage done to existing infrastructure.

The fact that the gun industry must come to terms with is that profit margins are eroding to the point that the sales of guns simply cannot support the cost of the supply chain. It's happening as evidenced by the shrinking dealership base as well as the distribution network.

I really don't understand what point you are trying to make. Is it your position that the article is incorrect and the number of both dealers and distributors is not shrinking or is there some other issue you are taking exception to?

In either case I'm moving on so the floor is yours . . .

It was inevitable that the rise in new gun sales over the last ten years or so couldn't be sustained- especially since
guns are far easier to maintain in good condition than cars, and don't wear out nearly as fast.

So why buy new, when used guns in good shape have fallen dramatically in price?

Don't worry, business will pick up again if and when your ideological fellow travellers start banging on again about bans
and confiscations...

The supply chain may shrink or grow, but the supply chain cannot be bypassed.

The "Trump Slump" may contract or expand as sales go up or down, but gun makers cannot bypass the chain.

Besides, I'm hoping the "Trump Slump" will be over soon, because it would mean that a Democrat is in office again.