Mass Shootings In America

In recent years, the American public has been continually plagued by mass shootings; events where an individual, or individuals, with access to firearms, open fire on people, committing seemingly nonsensical acts of violence. Compared to other developed countries the United States holds the highest rates of gun violence and mass shootings, both of which are complex issue that affects American regardless of socioeconomic status. Although the definition of a mass shooting varies depending on the organization, the most widely recognized definition is one used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); as defined by FBI a mass shooting is an incident where at least four persons are killed or injured with a firearm in a random act with little

According to Pierre Lemieux, Canadian economic theorist and politician, there are two constraints the limit the number of mass shootings in the United States, the perpetrators econom-ic standing and morals. He found that many perpetrators were not wealthy enough to purchase several firearms. However nowadays, guns are easily accessible, given one can purchase them online, from private sellers, from retail stores and illegally. Las Vegas shooter, Stephen padlock was a wealthy man with a stable income, three days prior to the massacre Paddock had accumu-lated 33 firearms in his hotel room, each costing between $5,000 and $10,000 each (Follman, Aronsen, & Pan,

Thus, as a first-order effect, mass shootings appear to increase firearm sales, thereby leading to a higher valuation for the firms that manufacture them. As a result, in the immediate aftermath of a mass shooting, there is an appearance of a movement towards firearm regulation, with a short-term effect on increased sales of firearms in the short to medium term. Given these two mechanisms, it is reasonable to expect firearm manufacturers to see significant financial benefits through increased firearm purchases, increasing their value to investors and leading to higher stock prices in the short term. In the hours after a mass shooting in America, there’s recently been a noticeable pattern: Gun compa-nies’ stock prices go up. Gun sales and stock prices are one and the same, the companies, that re-ceive these increased gun sales stocks are directly affected, however, mass shootings, in general, do not have a singular effect of the stock market. There are currently only two firearm companies that are publicly traded on the stock market, American Outdoors Brands Corp, formerly known as Smith and Wesson, and Sturm, Ruger, and Co. Following the Newtown mass shooting Smith and Wesson stock went up 7.19% whilst the volume nearly doubled within a week (Yahoo Finance, 2017). Following the Pulse Nightclub Shooting in 2016 Smith