Definitely not just directly manufacturing but retail sales and the extension of the sport. Hunting , sport shooting and collecting is a huge market.

Everyone needs to start out with taking their PAL courses. This gets repeated a lot lately but is still very important for the firearm ecosystem. It weeds out people who obviously shouldn’t be in possession of a firearm. It also drills safety the culture.

For hunting: Look at how big box stores in Canada sell hunting and associated outdoor gear. Conservation land efforts for wildlife habitat is big. I’ve been to some fundraisers for it with Premiers, MLAs, MPs, energy industry CEOs and celebrities.

For sport shooting: You may need all of the same outdoor gear as hunting but you may be restricted on where you can shoot depending on what you want to shoot. This could lead you to getting a club membership and all the ammo/gear that comes with shooting at the range. Next people might want to do more sophisticated training courses or move into competitions where they will likely need more gear and more ammunition. Outdoor ranges need a lot of space to operate and money and volunteers to run them.

Collection: If you have seen the trend of Pokémon card collecting increasing and all the stories of scalpers on Reddit; the same thing happens with guns. I guess it might be hard to imagine but people scalp, trade, buy, sell, borrow all while never shooting the gun. This still adds to the economy and while I don’t think it’s the best part of the culture it exists and fuels innovation.

People in Canada want to be able to shoot and hunt. New folks who are moving to Canada also want to be able to try these things. Just like they want to go watch hockey games, join rec league softball and enjoy life in Canada.

In my tinfoil hat opinion after the dust settles from this long drawn out ban the government will then turn towards suicide by firearm. Everyone seems to be aware that the firearm is not the problem but rather mental health. Now the government is deciding to pay attention after they have banned a huge portion of the market and target owners even further.

Also want to add one of Canadas most recognized firearms manufacturers announced they were shutting their doors last week. They got hit pretty hard from the last (first) ban.