Politics can have a big impact on Montana businesses, even before specific laws are passed. Travis Linneman from Selway Armory in Missoula says sales of both guns and ammo have begun to slow down after Donald Trump won the presidential nomination.

"I would say that yes, sales have slowed, but maybe not to the extent that some people would think," Linneman said. "The tail-end of November and December, right after the election results came in and, so far, in January, actual gun sales are down for us, across the board, both locally and nationwide... there is just less demand because there is less fear of additional legislation."

Linneman says that the presidential contest in 2016 pushed a lot of gun and ammo purchases months ahead of when they would normally occur.

"A ton of demand got pulled forward to before the election because so many people were buying in anticipation of Hillary winning and possibly things changing," Linneman said. "The other part of the slow down is some of our competitors way over-bought things in anticipation of another Obama-type run on the market, and now they are dumping stuff."

There are always winners and losers in every economic cycle: those who didn’t purchase higher priced guns and ammo last October, now have opportunities to get much better deals.

Things are very different in some states, like California, where Linneman says a host of new gun laws are leading to a state-wide purchase frenzy.

 

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