In its ~1,300-word article titled “Popular gun brand files Chapter 7 bankruptcy, faces liquidation,” financial outlet TheStreet does a deep dive on the state of the U.S. firearms market, explaining in detail how historical firearm sales and NICS checks have been cyclical, with demand spiking ahead of elections and during COVID, then slowing post-pandemic and even further under President Trump.
Shocking no one here, they describe how regulatory threats and personal safety concerns drive up firearm sales and corresponding background checks, and, when those concerns are low, gun sales slow down.
According to TheStreet . . .
Umbrella Armory, which will be liquidated, was among those crushed by the slowdown.
Huh. “Popular gun brand,” they say? I’ve never heard of ’em. Well, this is a little odd from the article’s text:
Now, Umbrella Armory, a custom gun manufacturer in the recreational firearms space, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. …
While it was less likely that recreational guns, which do not fire lethal bullets, would be outlawed, the current slowdown has had a wide-ranging impact, including Umbrella Armory’s decision to liquidate.
Wait, what? “Recreational guns” don’t fire lethal bullets? What in the heck are they talking about?
Among over 30 paragraphs all about firearm sales trends, background check numbers, regulatory pressures, and comparisons to “other” gun company bankruptcies like Remington, NRA (?), Watchtower Firearms, and others, I found ONE mention of what Umbrella Armory actually does:
The company operated in the airsoft equipment sector, selling high-end customized airsoft rifles and parts . . .
No way. You’re telling me that an article with about 1,000 words on the firearm industry and 300 about how this company’s bankruptcy is related to trends in NICS checks and gun control was actually about freakin’ airsoft rifles and accessories? TOYS?!? Holy hell.
Just when you think that the media can’t sink any lower, they plumb new depths. Just incredible.
If The Streets declares bankruptcy, can there be blood on it?
First, its not a popular gun brand in terms of the (actual whole) firearms industry like looney toons Daniel Kline wants to pretend in his incorrect moron missive. Its a niche hobby market indulged by a company selling airsoft-guns and accessories and is not ‘popular’ in the firearms world because they are not firearms.
Second, looney toons Daniel Kline attributes this company demise incorrectly and stupidly by trying to join two different things to claim its all the same thing. Daniel, apples are apples and oranges are oranges and no matter how hard you try you can not mash them together and then proclaim “voila’ a Bannana!” He starts off trying to make it all the same things with this at the beginning of his missive:
“While people buy guns for all sorts of reasons, gun sales follow a very specific pattern.
‘Firearm sales go up in election years,’ Mark Oliva of the National Shooting Sports Foundation told Pew Pew Tactical, and the data back him up.”
Where he clearly fails to understand that Mark Oliva in his reference was talking about actual firearms and not airsoft and that Mark Oliva and the rest of the NSSF stuff in his missive has absolutely zero to do with the ‘airsoft’ hobby niche market.
Then he goes on to say:
“… the current slowdown has had a wide-ranging impact, including Umbrella Armory’s decision to liquidate.”
Which is pure BS. A look at their financial situation tells us their decision was due to financial reasons.
Clarification for: “A look at their financial situation tells us their decision was due to financial reasons.”
They were over extended and didn’t bring in enough to pay their creditors. It was not due to any “current slowdown” with “wide-ranging impact” in the firearms market.
‘airsoft’ is a hobby niche market. It is not actually part of the firearms market. The hobby is frequently abandoned by ‘airsoft’ people. Its not a stable niche market, and what the majority wants is ‘cheap fun’ cos-play with pretend ‘firearms’ – its another form of LARP’ing. Umbrella Armory moved their company into a position of selling high-end customized airsoft rifles and parts, but the majority of airsofters don’t do high-end customized airsoft rifles and parts, the additional cost or effort is not warranted ’cause a small plastic bead at airsoft ranges out of a non-custom cheaper airsoft gun even with Amazon china budget stuff (i.e. optics) does the same job. In other words Umbrella Armory was basically trying to sell to people in an already smaller niche market where the majority didn’t want it and were not buying it thus less revenue for Umbrella Armory – or to be more exact, Umbrella Armory didn’t judge their market correctly and priced their selves out of the market by positioning their company incorrectly.
So Umbrella Armory’s decision to liquidate is due to Umbrella Armory and not any “current slowdown” with “wide-ranging impact” in the firearms market.
OH yeah, I forgot…Daniel Kline… Umbrella Armory was not a “firearms maker”.
Just because the term ‘airsoft gun’ uses the term ‘gun’ does not mean its a firearm.
airsoft guns are not classified as firearms under federal law in the United States. They are designed to shoot plastic pellets and do not have the same power or characteristics as real firearms. Umbrella Armory was not part of the firearms industry and was not a “firearms maker”