Donald Trump, Jr. To Host Investor Event for Massive Online Gun Store

You wouldn’t know it from listening to the anti-gunners prattle on about the firearm industry, but there’s not nearly as much money in it as they like to claim. That’s especially true on the retail side, where many gun stores are operating off of razor-thin margins on firearms, using them almost as a loss leader to get people into the store to buy ammo and accessories. Others are managing through transfers and gunsmithing services. 

But Donald Trump, Jr. wants to change that to some degree. He’s involved in a project that will put a lot more money in the firearm industry as a whole if everything works out as planned.

First son Donald Trump Jr. is co-hosting an investor gathering in New York City next Tuesday for online gun retailer GrabAGun — and is expected to ring the bell on the New York Stock Exchange next month for the firearms seller.

An invitation seen by The Post says that Trump, his business partner Omeed Malik and GrabAGun CEO Marc Nemati — who hope to transform the platform into the Amazon.com of gun sales — will host a lunch in Midtown with a private dinner also on the books for that evening.

Organizers expect about 50 hedge fund managers and other institutional investors at each meal.

Avid hunter Trump Jr. and Malik, the founder of 1789 Capital, have described the business as a way to use the private sector to bolster Americans’ Second Amendment rights — after previously partnering in 2023 to bring public the “anti-woke” online marketplace Public Square with pro-free-speech rhetoric.

GrabAGun allows customers to easily shop for guns that are then shipped to the buyer’s local federally licensed firearms dealer for the final processing of legally required background checks.

Malik and Trump Jr. touted their plans this month while appearing at the Qatar Economic Forum — with Malik saying the platform lets you “buy guns and ammunition online just like you can on Amazon because we have a Second Amendment right.”

“That’s an entire area that’s been starved of funding in the United States for ideological purposes,” he said.

Malik ain’t wrong.

Amazon sells some accessories here and there, but they mostly try to avoid anything more closely related to guns simply because of the ideological pressure anti-gun organizations would try to bring onto the company. Dick’s Sporting Goods has also moved away from selling guns like they used to. Walmart has as well.

You might still get them, but they’re not exactly tripping over themselves to serve this particular market, either.

Yet with over 500 million guns in private hands, there’s a strong demand for firearms at good prices. GrabAGun has the potential to offer up a lot of options to consumers.

That will inevitably raise the question of whether this will hurt local gun stores, which is probably fair, but those stores have a couple of advantages. For example, you can build a relationship with the guys behind the counter. You can’t do that online. You can also physically handle a firearm and see if there are quirks about it that you really don’t like. That’s a lot harder to do online, especially if reviewers you look to don’t even realize the quirk is there.

Plus, you still have to have the gun transferred, which can generate at least a little money for the local store. Many are more than happy to do transfers, too, so I don’t see an issue there.

All in all, this is an intriguing operation. I look forward to seeing where things go from here.