How much of Arrieta's output is for their domestic market? I suspect not too much. This looks like a sound business decision - the global economy is such that discretionary spending by the middle class has been gutted. Why make guns for people who have to save up for them when they can make guns that are more expensive (higher profit, too) for people who will just write a check?
I recently returned from a visit to H&H in London - their business is booming and orders for their bespoke guns is higher than ever before. People with money have money and that's where the manufacturers and vendors of discretionary goods are moving. The amount of serious money sloshing around is enormous and it's highly concentrated. The past 12 years years have seen the largest transfer of wealth from average people to the wealthy that the world has ever seen and the market is responding. I think Arrieta's decision might be just one small example of this.
Ted is also right about the number of hunting licenses declining each year. I don't think that's all cultural aversion to hunting - I suspect a lot of that is due to increased costs of hunting, fewer available dollars among the people who traditionally were the hunters and also less available time as wages drop and hours worked increase.
But the carriage-trade makers and vendors are doing very well both in the USA and abroad. The Japanese may have had a "lost decade" but I think Tokyo is still #1 in Louis Vuitton sales!
