The global recession has taken its toll on many companies, as have cheap knockoffs of products. When you can get a comparable product for half the price, why wouldn't you purchase the cheaper product? While such practices may not take a major bite out of the profits of athletic apparel companies like Nike (NKE) or Under Armour (UA), it is having a devastating impact on Russian company OAO Izhmash. Haven't heard of OAO Izhmash, if you haven't, I can almost guarantee that you have heard of its major product: the AK-47.

When gold miners and gun-toters lag the broader economy, it's usually a good sign that conditions are on the mend. Both sectors outperform when times were tough, but this year, their growth has slowed relative to the market has a whole.

The S&P 500 index has gained 57% since March 9, 2009, according to a USA Today report, while Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX) and Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM) are up 36% and 21%, respectively, for the same period. Smith & Wesson (NASDAQ: SWHC) is up 30%. Again, these are definitely respectable results, but they aren't keeping pace with the index.

Virginia Tech mass murderer Seung-Hui Cho was mentally deranged. But he had no problem buying his two weapons of mass destruction from a Roanoke, VA gun dealer and the combination of a Green Bay, WI web site and Blacksburg, VA pawnbroker. This got me thinking that there ought to be a law against selling guns to people in his mental condition.

It turns out there is. In this case, the law was simply not enforced. That's Newsweek's revelation. It found that the same 1968 federal gun law that blocks convicted criminals from buying firearms (passed after the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy) also prohibits gun purchases by those who have a history of mental illness.

On Cho's gun application -- Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Form 4473 -- he was asked: "Have you ever been adjudicated mentally defective or ... committed to a mental institution?" Cho answered "no."

In a move that will most likely be appreciated by most Americans, Wal-Mart has decided to remove the sale of guns from its store shelves. Instead, it will stock sporting goods that more accurately reflect the community in which it operates. With the new U.S. sales head being all about customizing the Wal-Mart store experience to local flavor, this is no surprise most likely.

What Wal-Mart needs is more PR like this to at least "keep even" the bad PR it gets from hedgmoniously taking over local markets with ruthless power -- at least that is the way it's perceived. An old adage about "listening to your customers" can really come in handy sometimes, and we are glad to see Wal-Mart step up to the stage. Target, what about you?