Industry Notes

RICHMOND, VA -- The National Rifle Association has contacted newspapers in Virginia and other battleground states about wrapping their home-delivered products on Nov. 4 in a plastic bag that is said to read: “Vote for Freedom … Defeat Obama.” That ad proposal was rejected by The Virginian-Pilot.

TalkingPointsMemo.com reports that the AFL-CIO is about to unleash 'a blitz of mailers defending Obama on gun rights that's aimed strictly at union households made up of gun owners.'

OVERLAND PARK, Kansas -- Bushnell Outdoor Products has announced that Blake Lipham has been named president, in addition to his current role as chief financial officer.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels does not have the authority to ban guns on public property, says State Attorney General Rob McKenna.

WASHINGTON - Armor Holdings Products LLC has agreed to pay the United States $30 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly manufacturing and selling defective Zylon bullet-proof vests, according to the Justice Department.

American Elements, a manufacturer of engineered and advanced material products, has announced the further expansion of its bismuth metal facilities to meet growing demand for the metal in non-lead bullets and ammunition.

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE-RGR), has announced that during the third quarter of 2008 it repurchased 1.1 million shares of its common stock, representing 5.5% of the total shares outstanding at the start of the repurchase program, for $7.4 million in the open market.

A new study finds no evidence that gun shows lead to substantial increases in either gun-related homicides or suicides.

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. has added two new distributors--W. L. Baumler Co. of Loraine, Ohio, and Zanders Sporting Goods of Baldwin, Illinois-- to the list of authorized Ruger distributors.

The Citizen's Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms has recognized the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) as CCRKBA's 2008 Affiliate of the Year.

Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK) and FN Manufacturing, LLC (FNMI), have received a $53.4 million contract from the U.S. Army Joint Munitions and Lethality Life Cycle Management Command, Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey, to produce Mk19 Mod-3 Grenade Machine Guns (GMG).

More than $3 million in congressionally-directed funding secured by U.S. Representative Michael A. Arcuri (D-Utica) and Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) for Remington Arms to begin upgrading the U.S. Army's fleet of 3,000 M-24 Sniper rifles was approved Sept. 30.