--- description: Shares of American Outdoor Brands that makes the M&P15 were up at the close of business on Thursday. title: Stocks Rise for Maker of AR-15 Used in Florida School Shooting image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa7b956c265001a3/6988e08d656a3f9b4cbd1f69/semiautomatic-rifles.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Crime](/tag/crime/) ## Crime Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Stocks Rise for Maker of AR-15 Rifle Used in the Florida School Shooting by [Sarah Gray](/author/sarah-gray/) ## Sarah Gray Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 16, 2018 2:49 AM CUT  SPRINGVILLE, UT - JUNE 17: This picture of an AR-15 (B) and a Ruger 10-22 (T), both semi-automatic guns at Action Target on June 17, 2016 in Springville, Utah. Semi-automatics are in the news again after the nightclub shooting in Orlando F;lord last week. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images) SPRINGVILLE, UT - JUNE 17: This picture of an AR-15 (B) and a Ruger 10-22 (T), both semi-automatic guns at Action Target on June 17, 2016 in Springville, Utah. Semi-automatics are in the news again after the nightclub shooting in Orlando F;lord last week. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)George Frey—Getty Images by [Sarah Gray](/author/sarah-gray/) ## Sarah Gray Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 16, 2018 2:49 AM CUT Stocks were up Thursday for American Outdoor Brands, the company that makes the AR-15 rifle used in the Florida school shooting that [claimed 17 lives](http://time.com/5160564/florida-high-school-shooting-victims-names/ "undefined"). The company’s shares closed up 1.49%, netting the company an additional $8.8 million on the day. The Associated Press reported that accused gunman Nikolas Cruz used a Smith & Wesson M&P15 rifle – a variant of the AR-15 – during his allegedly shooting spree at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Wednesday. Smith & Wesson, which was founded in 1852, is a Springfield, Mass.-based holding of American Outdoor Brands. Competitor Sturm Ruger & Company, which also makes an AR-15-style rifle that has been used in at least one mass shooting, closed even on the day. Shares of American Outdoor Brands closed 5.6% higher on Wednesday, the day of the shooting. It’s not uncommon for gun maker shares to rise following a mass shooting as people are likely to stock up fearing potential gun control measures. This is the third time an M&P15 has been used in a mass shooting in the United States. James E. Holmes, who was [convicted of killing 12 and wounding 70 in the 2012 Aurora, Colorado](https://www.cnn.com/2015/08/26/us/james-holmes-aurora-massacre-sentencing/index.html "undefined") movie theater shooting, used a Smith & Wesson M&P15 rifle. An [illegally modified](https://www.scpr.org/news/2015/12/04/56040/san-bernardino-shooting-update-rifles-used-in-atta/ "undefined") Smith & Wesson M&P15 Sport rifle was recovered by law enforcement officials after the 2015 San Bernardino shooting, where 14 people were killed. M&P is Smith & Wesson’s brand that was originally aimed at law enforcement and military (hence the name M&P standing for military and police). The M&P15 rifle was introduced in 2006 and is described on the website as a “modern sporting rifle.” The company says the rifle, in part thanks to its lower price ($500 to $600), has quickly become the most popular sporting rifle in the U.S. “Our M&P branded modern sporting rifles are specifically designed to satisfy the functionality and reliability needs of global military, law enforcement, and security personnel,” according to American Outdoor Brands’ [2017 annual report.](http://media.corporate-ir.net/media%5Ffiles/IROL/90/90977/AOBC%5F002%5FBMK%5FWEB.pdf "undefined") “As a result, these long guns are popular with consumers as hunting and sporting target rifles and are sold through our sporting good distributors, retailers, and dealers.” Overall, long guns, like the M&P15, made up $179.6 million, “or 19.9%, of net sales for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2017,” according to the 2017 report. The AR-15 is the civilian version of the military’s M-16 (the major difference being that the AR-15 is not fully automatic), and has been called the “most popular rifle in America” by the NRA. AR-15s have also been [increasingly used in mass shootings](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/nyregion/ar-15-rifles-are-beloved-reviled-and-a-common-element-in-mass-shootings.html "undefined"), including in Newtown, Conn., Orlando, Florida, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Sutherland Springs, Texas. American Outdoor Brands did not respond to a request for comment. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5161406/gunmaker-florida-school-shooting-stock-up/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5161406/gunmaker-florida-school-shooting-stock-up/"},"headline":"Stocks Rise for Maker of AR-15 Rifle Used in the Florida School Shooting","datePublished":"2018-02-16T02:49:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:18:49.808Z","description":"The company's shares closed up 1.49%, netting the company an additional $8.8 million on the day.","url":"https://time.com/5161406/gunmaker-florida-school-shooting-stock-up/","keywords":["Crime","Markets","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa7b956c265001a3/6988e08d656a3f9b4cbd1f69/semiautomatic-rifles.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Gray","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-gray/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa7b956c265001a3/6988e08d656a3f9b4cbd1f69/semiautomatic-rifles.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Sale Of Automatic Weapons Comes Under Scrutiny After Orlando Shootings","caption":"Sale Of Automatic Weapons Comes Under Scrutiny After Orlando Shootings","creditText":"George Frey—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/crime/","name":"Crime"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5161406/gunmaker-florida-school-shooting-stock-up/","name":"Stocks Rise for Maker of AR-15 Rifle Used in the Florida School Shooting"}}]}] ```