CAGW Article: America -- Land of Opportunity for Gun Makers

Coalition Against Gun Violence
PMB 121
1187 Coast Village Road, Ste. 1
Santa Barbara, CA 93108-2794
Phone: 805-564-6803
Fax: 805-568-0466
Email: info@sbcoalition.org

America -- Land of Opportunity for Gun Makers

Originally appeared in Newsletter Vol. 5, No. 3, Summer 1999

Restrictive gun laws are being enacted in major industrialized countries around the globe and gun makers are flocking to the biggest and least regulated gun market in the world -- the United States. According to a recent United Nations study on firearms regulations, as 29 countries in the past five years tightened rules on the civilian ownership of firearms, the United States has become more important in the international gun market.

Slightly more than half of the 1.7 million handguns made or imported to the United States came from foreign companies or were made by their U.S. subsidiaries, according to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) 1997 figures.

Taurus International Manufacturing Inc., subsidiary of Brazil's largest gun maker, produces guns in Miami and also imports them. Brazilian companies export about 90% of the guns made in that country. Taurus opened a plant in 1982 in Miami that makes tens of thousands of guns and is one of the biggest gun factories in the country.

Browning and Winchester, are affiliated companies owned by a Belgian government entity, Fabrique Nationale Group. Many of their guns are made in Japan, where it is virtually impossible for a private citizen to own a gun.

It is difficult to assemble a complete picture of the profit, revenue, or even market share of the global gun market. Only one U.S. gun manufacturer -- Sturm, Ruger & Co. -- is publicly owned and thus discloses financial information. Other companies are either privately held or are part of big corporations. The U.S. government keeps records only of how many guns each country exports, not by a particular company. The Commerce Department reports higher gun imports than the ATF. Some companies set up plants in the U.S. to make guns they couldn't import because Congress has set higher standards for imported guns than for guns made in this country.

Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police and a former ATF official says, "Europeans are so sanctimonious about their guncontrol laws, but their shock at our rate of gun deaths doesn't keep them from making guns...It's ironic that the money goes back to those countries."

Foreign Guns, Foreign Laws

COMPANY	OWNERSHIP	GUN RESTRICTIONS IN COUNTRY OF OWNERSHIP
Smith & Wesson Springfield, MA	Owned by Tomkins, a publicly held company in Britain.	Handgun ownership is prohibited, and there are strict laws on licensing and registration. Police do not carry guns.
Taurus International Manufacturing Inc. Miami, FL	Owned by Forjas Taurus SA, a Brazilian company.	Rio de Janeiro recently banned the sale of guns, and a similar law for the whole country has been proposed.
Glock Smyrna, GA.	Owned by Glock in Austria.	Glock imports its gun parts from Austria, where you must be 21 to own a handgun and each person can buy only two guns.
Beretta U.S.A. Corp. Accokeek, MD.	A subsidiary of the Italian company P. Beretta SpA	In Italy, hunters must show membership in a hunting club where they've been trained; to buy a handgun, individuals must prove they genuinely need the gun for self-defense
Browning Morgan, UT Winchester CT	Affiliated companies owned by Fabrique Nationale Group in Belgium	Gun owners must be licensed, and all firearms must be registered. Some of the guns are made in Japan, which generally does not allow citizens to own guns.
Para-Ordnance Scarborough, Ontario (exports guns to the U.S.)	Privately owned company	In Canada, owners must be licensed and all guns must be registered. Some automatic and semi-automatic assault weapons and about half of the types of handguns are banned.

Source: Washington Post staff reports

And in Brazil …

A new (6-13-99) state law prohibiting the sale of firearms in Rio de Janeiro has gone into effect. Over the outraged protests of a nascent gun lobby, (obviously without the clout of the NRA) President Fernando Cardoso wants to go even further. His government has introduced fast-track legislation that would completely ban the possession of arms throughout this nation of 165 million people. Brazilians are supposed to register guns, but estimates range over 20 million unregistered weapons, and in rural areas there is a strong hunting tradition. However, in proportion to its population Brazil has the world's highest rate of homicides committed with guns, according to a U.N. study published in 1998. But recent shootings around the country (13 people a day in Sao Paulo) and the school massacre in Littleton Colorado have galvanized the Brazilian government into developing the most restrictive gun control system anywhere. Despite these restrictions on their domestic gun sales, Brazilian gun manufacturers can still look abroad for sales. Brazil is the second largest exporter of guns to the U.S.

Other Articles

"The NRA Goes Global"