If all things political boils down to economics then the firearms industry and its supporters should have even more clout.

At a recent Washington insiders breakfast, the National Shooting Sports Foundation said that last year the industry employed 183,424 people (up from the 166,200 employees in 2008) with a total wage impact of $8.2 billion.

In federal taxes alone the industry generated more than $2 billion while state taxes were worth another $1.91 billion.

Also, the sale of firearms contributed more than $450 million to state and federal wildlife conservation programs, distributed to the states using a complex formula that is based upon hunting license sales and size of state.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischkorn@News-Herald.com