The U.S. firearms industry grew dramatically in both jobs and total output in 2013, despite a major gun control push following the Newtown, Conn., school shooting.
The firearms business — everything from manufacturing to retail sales — grew in 2013 by 12 percent nationwide, the Courant reported Friday. And in Connecticut, a historic manufacturing center for firearms but also the epicenter of the gun control debate, business grew 7 percent from an already large base, the newspaper reported, citing figures from the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
But despite the statistics the newspaper's report argued the local gun industry was not unscathed. The state's toughest-in-the-nation gun control law, one year old on Friday, has prompted an exodus of the gun industry from Connecticut and an associated decline in jobs.