Gun-related U.S. patents at 35-year high as limits on sales fail

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Gunmakers such as Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. (SWHC) and Sturm Ruger & Co. (RGR) are boosting firearms sales by building weapons that are more accurate and easier to use, with gun-related U.S. patents at a 35-year high.

Demand is growing as more states allow people to carry concealed weapons and lawmakers discuss limiting sales after mass shootings at public venues like schools and movie theaters. Ownership is rising among women and the elderly.

Manufacturers are competing for sales with improvements such as magazines that increase a bullet’s accuracy or are lower in cost. Of 6,077 patents issued since 1977 in the firearms class, 19 percent were in the past four years, with a record 370 issued last year, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

“There’s money to be made and everybody wants to protect their moneymaker,” said Larry Hyatt, owner of Hyatt Guns in Charlotte, North Carolina, which has been in business for more than 50 years and carries more than 7,000 guns. “There is a huge amount of technology going into these products.”

Recent innovations include patents issued for voice-command shooting, rifle scopes and a new trigger system. Not all are for the weapons themselves: there’s a gun rest that could attach to a hunter’s leg and a pistol holder for next to the bed. The rise in patents has brought on litigation, with at least eight lawsuits filed since the start of 2013.

Booming Sales
By many measures, U.S. firearms sales are growing.

Background checks, conducted every time a buyer attempts to purchase one or more firearms, surged 54 percent from 2008 to 2012, with a record 19.6 million checks completed in 2012, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation data.

Sturm Ruger, of Southport, Connecticut, the largest publicly traded U.S. gun maker, reported a 45 percent jump in third-quarter sales this year due to high demand for new firearms including the LC380 pistol, the SR45 pistol and the Ruger American Rimfire rifle.

New owners were helping to drive sa

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