Various press reports have mentioned that the private-equity firm behind Bushmaster assault rifles wants to sell the company and get out of the business. But Quartz, the recently launched news site, has a fascinating and more detailed story on this publicity-shy group.
The firm is called Cerebrus, and I recall hearing of it only when it owned Chrysler for a time. Zachary M. Seward, the author of the Quartz story, reports that Cerebrus's Freedom Group holding company owns Bushmaster, Remington, and other gun companies, and that in 2008 it reported selling more firearms and ammunition in the U.S. than anyone else. Seward writes that it sold "37% of traditional rifles, 31% of shotguns, and 33% of ammunition. All told, Freedom Group says it sold 1.2 million long guns and 2.6 billion bullets in the 12 months between April 2009 and March 2010, the most recent year for which data is available, generating $846 million in revenue."
I urge you to read Seward's story for an eye-opening look at the gun industry, and especially Cerebrus, named after the multi-headed hound that guards the gates of hell, a more apt choice than the company's executives might have anticipated.
For more on guns, see George Zornick's story in The Nation headlined, "How Walmart Helped Make the Newtown Shooter's AR-15 the Most Popular Assault Weapon in America," and a follow-up story by Seward reporting on the reactions to Newtown by Walmart and Dick's Sporting goods.
-Paul Raeburn
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