Sunday, January 20, 2013

Remember S&W

So the word is that Democratic mayors will be "grading" gun manufacturers on how well they comply with "gun safety goals" with consequences for those that don't measure up:
Apparently the word has come down from the White House to Democrats across the nation, get in line behind the Obama Administration on gun control. The National Conference of Democratic Mayors are now threatening to have their police departments boycott the purchase of guns from manufacturers who won’t adhere to the Obama Administration’s strictures.
The various firearms manufacturers would do well to remember what happened the last time one of them cut a deal with the government:
Gun clubs and gun rights groups responded to this agreement by initiating large-scale boycotts of Smith & Wesson by refusing to buy their new products and flooding the firearms market with used S&W guns. After a 40% sales slide, the sales impact from the boycotts led Smith & Wesson to suspend manufacturing at two plants.
Eventually, S&W was purchased by Saf-T-Hammer Corporation who publicly renounced the agreement. They even introduces the Model 500 Revolver, chambered for the new .500 S&W Magnum round, which took the title as the world's most powerful handgun. It was designed as a hunting weapon, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was a bit of a middle finger to the government and a message to members of the gun culture that the old S&W was back.

What I'd like to see is the gun manufacturers uniting in solidarity so that, should a city boycott one of them because it didn't toe the line, the rest will refuse to do business with that city. There is precedent. When the State of California banned private ownership of .50 caliber rifles, Ronnie Barrett, founder and CEO of Barrett Firearms responded by refusing to do business of any kind with any government agency in California. This includes servicing rifles that these agencies already own. I would not be surprised if, once he hears about this plan by Democrat mayors, his response will be similar to what I've proposed.

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