In the business world, company acquisitions happen frequently. The purchase of a company can happen for various reasons, but it is all done to help the bottom line.

It can be easy to forget that companies in the shooting industry are just businesses like any other. They develop and sell products we love (or hate,) and because of that many of us develop an emotional investment into those companies. But, these are still just business entities that have to balance the books.

As we have seen, gun industry businesses engage in the same kinds of acquisition behaviors as non-gun businesses do. Recently, Smith & Wesson announced the purchase of Crimson Trace. This was a major deal for both companies, and time will tell how it plays out for the investors and consumers.

Just this past week, Trijicon announced it was acquiring IR Defense Corp. Trijicon is well known for building both pistol sights and rifle optics. IR Defense Corp will allow the company to expand into thermal technologies as well. It will be interesting to see what new products may develop from this acquisition.

Another announcement this past week: Compass Diversified Holdings announced that it had purchased 5.11 Tactical. There is no immediate word on what effect this purchase may have on 5.11. Compass Diversified Holdings is a private equity firm that owns several companies including Liberty Safe.