Smith & Wesson: Export reform helps, but not a lot

By Christen Smith

Top executives for Smith & Wesson downplayed the impact of proposed export reform rules on earnings this week, telling investors eased regulations will pay off, though not by much.
The new rules — which industry experts forecast will boost sales internationally — will eliminate expensive licensing fees currently barring many gun dealers from competing overseas. In the case of Smith & Wesson parent company American Outdoor Brands, the reforms would undo a regulatory hurtle forcing gun makers with more than $1 million worth of firearms to export first seek congressional approval.
Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Buchanan told investors Wednesday he “wouldn’t count it as a big mover for anything.”
“I mean, it hasn’t caused a problem for us before. Sometimes it makes you a little bit less competitive in your ability to react quickly versus a competitor that is out of the country,” he said. “Of course, it so happens that a lot of our competitors … are in the United States. So, a lot of them have the same restrictions as we do.”
U.S. gun manufacturers shipped 343,456 firearms overseas in 2015 — the most recent year for which data is available. Records from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives indicate

Source: Guns.com