I remember the same predictions back in the 1970s and 1980s.
S&W, even before the Agreement was having periodic furloughs. So were other manufacturers.
That was happening back in the 1920s and 1930s and earlier, as well, which is why one of the reasons why Winchester got into the hardware business, why Smith & Wesson made its own line of automatic closing toilet flush valves (NOT a joke), and why most companies have branched far outside of the firearms business as either primary or secondary business associations.
Ruger? Their precision investment casting business dwarfs the gun end of things.
S&W? Mountain bikes and HOT SAUCE?
The firearms business has always been, and always will be, in a state of flux as it, and the environment, changes.
I remember back in the 1970s when it was seriously predicted that most, if not all, American firearms manufacturers would cease to conduct manufacturing operations in the US within 25 years. Those were the days of the Japanese making firearms for just about everyone.
I'm sure that people were saying the same thing in the 1950s and early 1960s when the surplus market was making lots of industry people very unhappy.
The firearms business will adapt. We've seen that adaptation with the introduction of CNC machinery that was touted as the "cure" to all of the QC problems that came about as the companies adapted to changing economic conditions from the 1950s through the 1970s.
The face of the firearms industry may well very VERY different 10 or 15 years from now. But that's not necessarily a bad thing.
The rule of business has always been adapt or die.
And it will always continue to be so.
