Gun sales have been on the decline since President Donald Trump took office. While some may welcome the news, it’s a bad sign for the Yellowhammer State’s economy as the personal-finance website WalletHub just determined the state is the the 10th most dependent in the U.S. on the firearms industry.
In an in-depth analysis of 2017’s States Most Dependent on the Gun Industry, WalletHub’s analysts compared the economic impact of guns on each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia to determine which among them leans most heavily on the gun business both directly for jobs and political contributions and indirectly through ownership. They examined states on a number of gun-related factors, including firearms industry activity in the state, gun ownership and overall prevalence, and contributions by gun control and gun rights groups to elected officials.
Alabama’s dependence on the gun industry (1=most dependent; 25=avg.)
- 8th: Gun ownership rate
- 19th: Firearms-industry jobs per capita
- 19th: Total firearms-industry output per capita
- 12th: Total taxes paid by firearms industry per capita
- 7th: NICS background checks per capita
- 1st: Gun-control contributions to Congressional members per capita
- 16th: Gun-rights contributions to Congressional members per capita
Here’s a look how Alabama compares to the of the country (roll over states to see their ranks):
Alaska is the state that depends most on the gun industry with Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota and Idaho rounding out the top five.