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Gunmaker CEO says fewer people are buying ammunition after the election because Hillary Clinton didn't win
Fischer later made it clear that retailers were expecting a Hillary Clinton win and stocked up in anticipation of this event.
An employee at a gun store in Delray Beach, Florida, gives a demonstration in January 2016.
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John Fischer, CEO of Winchester-maker Olin Corporation, said that gun retailers are seeing slower than expected sales of bullets and ammunition post-election.
"Winchester did experience a slowdown in commercial ammunition demand after the presidential election which we expect to continue into 2017," said Fischer in his company's earnings call on Wednesday.
"We're currently seeing retailers and other large customers reduced inventory levels that had been increased in anticipation of a different election outcome."
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As we've noted before, gun sales usually increase after political events or shootings raise fears of increased gun control actions. In fact, gunmaker Smith & Wesson specifically called out the election of Obama as a reason for gun sales increasing before.
Secretary Clinton was in favor of increased gun control unlike President Donald Trump, and according to Fischer, there has been no significant increase in ammunition sales since the election.
"We believe that what happened was that the retailers were looking at what happened after 2008 election, 2012 election, expected a similar political leaning outcome and didn't and had built inventory in anticipation of that, and when it didn't happen, the inventory levels were too high," said Fischer on the call.
Additionally, background checks for guns — a loose indicator of sales — were down by around 600,000 in December 2016 compared to the year before.
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