“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.” US presidential hopeful Donald Trump’s latest “quote of the week” is indeed unlikely to cost him support, judged on past form. But in a direct jibe, fellow Republican Marco Rubio complained that relatively stringent rules made buying a gun in Trump’s home state of New York “almost impossible”. He also described his own gun as his “last line of defence between Isis and my family”.
Given that such pro-“Second Amendment” rhetoric will only grow as the election nears, it’s no surprise that President Obama’s hopes of introducing tougher gun laws before he leaves office have been great for gun manufacturers. The share price of the biggest, Smith & Wesson, has soared (see chart) as US citizens rush to buy. The FBI processed a record 185,345 background checks on one Friday alone last month. Analysts expect sales to hit $650m next year, up from $546m last year.