Topline
Shares of gun manufacturers spiked immediately following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on a college campus Wednesday, a market trend that typically happens after high-profile shootings as people tend to arm themselves and fear possible restrictions on gun sales.
Shares of Smith & Wesson jumped Wednesday afternoon. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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Key Facts
Smith & Wesson Brands Inc., a Tennessee-based gun manufacturer, saw shares jump just before 3 p.m. EDT, around the time of Kirk’s shooting, and shares closed up 6.7% Wednesday afternoon, rising an additional 2.6% during premarket trading Thursday before declining about 2% after the market opened.
Sturm Ruger & Company closed up more than 3% on Wednesday, surging an additional 3% during after-hours trading, and American Outdoor Brands rose 5.3% on Wednesday.
Shares of GrabAGun, a firearms retailer with Donald Trump Jr. on its board, rose 9.4% on Wednesday and declined about 4.5% just after the market opened Thursday.
Dru Stevenson, a professor at South Texas College of Law, previously told the New York Times the “gun industry has perverse incentives” because “sales and their stocks go up when there are events like this,” then referring to the 2022 Uvalde, Texas school shooting.
Studies have shown gun sales rise after mass shootings, and University of California – Davis researcher Rachael Callcut previously told TIME high-profile shootings prompt people to “purchase guns to protect themselves from armed attackers in the days after the event” and “to hedge against the implementation of any firearms bans.”
Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers financial group, previously told NBC News the sudden stock movements are typically knee-jerk reactions and don’t always indicate long-term stock rallies.
Key Background
Gun stocks have historically jumped after high-profile shooting incidents. Following President Donald Trump’s assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania last summer, NBC News reported gun stocks surged on the Monday following his shooting. Smith & Wesson closed up 11% on the following Monday, while Sturm Ruger & Company closed up 5%, NBC News reported. After the Uvalde elementary school shooting in 2022, the third-deadliest school shooting in American history, Smith & Wesson stocks surged 7% while Sturm Ruger & Company jumped 4%, the New York Times reported.
What Do We Know About The Charlie Kirk Shooting?
Kirk, an influential conservative commentator and founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed while speaking at an outdoor event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday afternoon. The event was a part of Kirk’s “American Comeback Tour” hosted by Turning Point USA, which advocates for conservative policies on school campuses. A spokesperson for the university said the shooter fired from a campus building about 200 yards away at 12:10 p.m. local time, and the shooter remains at large as of Thursday morning. A manhunt is underway, and the FBI urged people with “information, photos, and video from the incident” to share tips. Kirk’s shooting sparked tributes and condemnation of political violence from both parties, while Trump blamed the “radical left” and praised Kirk as a “martyr for truth and freedom.”
Further Reading
Manhunt For Charlie Kirk’s Shooter Continues Into Second Day (Live Updates) (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/09/11/gun-stocks-surged-after-charlie-kirks-killing-heres-why/
