NPR stations feature insights from Depro on economics of the gun industry

Brooks Depro, assistant professor of economics, recently shared his insights for a March 29 news report on the economics of the gun industry focusing on the recent bankruptcy of gunmaker Remington Outdoor Co.

Depro was interviewed by reporter Keri Brown with Winston-Salem NPR station WFDD for the story, which explored the economic forces at work before the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing earlier this week by Remington, which has its corporate headquarters in Rockingham County, North Carolina. 

Depro told Brown that the next few years will be crucial for Remington, and politics could play as significant a role as the economic forces. “You can look at year-to-year variations, and we are seeing at least in 2017 a drop in sales, but if you look at the level of the number of gun sales currently, it’s nearly double of what it was in 2009,” Depro said. “So even though it has declined, the overall number of sales is higher than it was a decade ago.”

You can listen to the entire story, which also aired on WFAE in Charlotte and Blue Ridge Public Radio in western North Carolina, here.