I completely understand the point you are trying to make in post #78, I just disagree with it. US gun sales have increased in the last 5/10 years greatly. There's really no forum member or gun industry worker who would dispute that.
No, you're not getting it, that much is clear. It's not a matter of strong sales (which are now slowing by the way.) It's about being in a business that's taboo to a great many Americans. That's largely why Cerebus is trying to peddle Remington -- pressure from their investors who object to firearms. In some cases, companies who build and sell guns have run into financial issues where banks and other institutions have been pressured not to do business with them.
Why do you think General Electric isn't neck deep into porn? It's a legal business after all and hugely profitable -- more profitable than Hollywood! They don't because it's a socially taboo business that would cast a pall on the rest of their company. Now you might say "what?!? trying to compare guns to porn?" I'm not -- but they're both legal businesses and they both have a high taboo factor to a great many people.
In turn, 1000s of new CCW and gun permits have been applied for(in most cases, like mine, paid Is that a taboo? Not really.for).
See above. Small potatoes in the greater scheme of things. Those also aren't the people who buy companies and often not stock.
The fact that Sears or KMart or Montgomery Wards no longer sell firearms isn't a social taboo. These stores are going under. Sales or profits drive their business.
They haven't sold guns in
years. Go do a bit of research and discover exactly why KMart got out of guns. Dig around a bit and see why Target, the Home Depot, Costco and others have never gotten into the gun business.
Some places like San Francisco, LA, Chicago, Baltimore, CT, HI, etc may have strict gun laws or anti 2A views but recent changes(2005-2015 or so) are making guns/CCW more accepted.
Again, so? On what scale?
There is another very serious issue facing gun makers -- the market. The gun market in the US has for many decades been cruelly cyclical -- feast or famine. That's not open to debate as it can simply be looked-up.
The market has been strong for guns in the US for quite some time. Hyper-strong as a matter of fact. The problem with that hyper-strong demand is that it has been driven largely by politics and fear. It caused a lot of people who never considered owning a gun to buy one or more. It caused others who had planned to buy another gun(s) somewhere in the future to buy now. Millions of guns were made and sold that were driven by this demand caused by politics and fear.
That means that a lot of future demand has already been satisfied. Because guns are very durable goods many of those guns will be bought, sold and traded on the used market for years to come to further satiate demands.
Much depends on how politics, disasters and attempts to further gun control go in this country in the next 2-3 years. If things finally calm down it could be a huge blow to the firearms market.
There's one final element that I find interesting. The AR-platform now dominates the market for target shooting, personal defense and now hunting for long guns. This platform is making it possible for far smaller and more nimble companies to compete with the Colts of this world. That's going to intensify the pressure on pricing and retaining market share -- things that would concern anyone considering a bid on Colt.
I think that a gun maker like FN or ATK will one day buy the assets of Colt at auction.
but to my understanding, Colt changed the Colt Defense name in 2014 as part of the big re-structure plan. This was part of the cash/$ bail out that kept Colt in business until approx 2018. 
