GOA Alert: S&W boycott gaining ground

DC

Moderator Emeritus
Pressure Levels Rising on "Clinton & Wesson"
-- GOA working with Rep. Hostettler to defang S&W agreement


Gun Owners of America E-Mail/FAX Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408 http://www.gunowners.org


"We've had an excellent relationship with Smith & Wesson for 40
years. But the bottom line is this agreement will force dealers to
discontinue the sale of Smith & Wesson handguns, plain and simple."
-- Bill Carter, owner of a hunting and firearms chain and one of
the nation's largest S&W dealers.

(Friday, March 24, 2000) -- The pressure is rising on Smith &
Wesson. Earlier this week, Gun Owners of America called for a
boycott of Smith & Wesson products, citing S&W's gun control
agreement with the White House as dangerous to the Second Amendment
rights of all Americans. The terms of that agreement not only apply
to the company itself, but would also impose gun control
restrictions on private gun buyers and massive red tape on gun
dealers that carry S&W products.


The tension has continued to mount this week. The White House has
tried to pressure other gun manufacturers to join the agreement, but
so far, the other gun giants aren't jumping on board. Browning,
Bryco, Glock, and Taurus all announced this week they would NOT join
the Clinton & Wesson sell-out. No doubt, these gun giants are
taking notice of the tremendous discontent that exists in the gun
community. [Gun owners should thank these companies for standing
firm.]


The number of businesses, dealers and distributors joining the
boycott also continues to grow. For example, RSR Wholesale has
indicated that it will stop doing business with Smith & Wesson.
This would be a devastating blow to S&W, as RSR reportedly accounts
for about 25 percent of Smith & Wesson sales.


Many of you have contacted S&W to express your displeasure and to
notify them you will no longer be buying their products. Their
public answer has been simply that they had no choice. Well, one
could, perhaps, forgive them for being pressured into making a "deal
with the devil" if the deal ONLY affected them. However, their deal
does NOT just affect them; it also drags others into the fiery pit
of gun control hell. (See the Tuesday, May 21 alert, "GOA Announces
Boycott of Clinton & Wesson.")


[In fact, GOA's alert from earlier this week only scratched the
surface. Gun owners are encouraged to go to http://www.nssf.org/Agreement.PDF and read the agreement.]


GOA working Capitol Hill to stop enforcement of this agreement. On
the good news side, GOA has found that pro-gun Rep. John Hostettler
(R-IN) is committed to stopping this sell-out in its tracks.
Hostettler, who already has a bill to end the anti-gun lawsuits
against the gun industry, wants the budget to contain a provision
defunding the Oversight Commission which is established in the
Clinton & Wesson agreement. [The Oversight Commission has the force
of law to make sure the gun control restrictions agreed to by S&W
are being followed by anyone who does business with the company.]

ACTION ITEMS FOR ALL GUN OWNERS: It is very important for activists
to contact House Speaker Denny Hastert (R-IL). If he agrees to
defund the administration's enforcement of the S&W agreement, then
it is very possible that an effectual "repeal" of this sell-out
agreement will become law. Hastert can make or break our efforts.


Thus, gun owners should call Speaker Hastert's office and ask him to
do everything in his power to make sure this "deal with the devil"
can never be enforced by the administration. Ask him to ensure a
"no funding" provision is included in the budget. You can reach
Rep. Hastert's office with the following numbers:


* Capitol Hill switchboard phone: 888-449-3511 (toll-free)
* Hastert's direct dial phone: 202-225-2976
* Hastert's fax: 202-225-0697

OTHER IMPORTANT ACTION ITEMS: There are two important subcommittees
that Rep. Hostettler will be targeting in his efforts to defund the
Clinton & Wesson agreement. They are the Treasury and HUD
appropriation subcommittees.


The best contacts for each committee are Jim Kolbe (R-AZ), who is
the Treasury subcommittee head that supervises funding for the BATF,
and House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-TX) who sits on the HUD
appropriations subcommittee.


ARIZONA GUN OWNERS: Please call Rep. Kolbe's office and ask him to
include language in the Treasury budget providing that no funds will
go towards enforcing the Clinton & Wesson agreement.


* Capitol Hill switchboard phone: 888-449-3511 (toll-free)
* Kolbe's direct dial phone: 202-225-2542
* Kolbe's fax: 202-225-0378


TEXAS GUN OWNERS: Please call House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-TX).
As the third most powerful Representative in the House and, as one
of the Reps. who sits on the HUD Appropriation subcommittee, DeLay
can be instrumental in getting a "no funds" provision inserted in
the HUD budget. Please ask him to do everything in his power to
ensure that the HUD budget contains no funds for enforcing the
Clinton & Wesson agreement.


* Capitol Hill switchboard phone: 888-449-3511 (toll-free)
* DeLay's direct dial phone: 202-225-5951
* DeLay's fax: 202-225-5241

INTERNET NOTE: A completely false rumor is currently circulating on
the Internet. Supposedly, a talk radio host was in contact with
executives at Smith and Wesson, and was told the manufacturer
contacted GOA to ask for help in defending against the lawsuits.
The rumor goes on to make the ludicrous charge that GOA advised S&W
to cut a deal with the feds! Just for the record, Smith and Wesson
has not contacted GOA. Nor would we ever suggest that anyone cut
deals with Bill Clinton -- compromise and capitulation are losing
strategies. The legal arm of GOA, Gun Owners Foundation, is
prepared to aid to the best of its ability those manufacturers who
stand firm and fight from a no-compromise position.


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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!
 
I admit I don't get it. I caught Limbaughs' bit yesterday and the stat that stuck with me was that only 30% of S&W sales came from non-civilian sources. Given that these sales probably represent a smaller profit margin than those to retailers, why would they do this from a business standpoint?

If I am a business owner and do a deal with the devil shafting 70% of my clientelle, I had better see paradise in the potential numbers. How could it be there?
 
G-Freeman,
I share your confusion. Maybe the problem lies with believing that these gypsy CEO's, who wander from one company to the next, actually know what they're doing.
In this day of multi-national mega-corporations it's not too unbelievable that the head honcho of a particular company might not actually know too much about the product they make or the market they serve.
Who knows, maybe the CEO of S&W came from a background of selling toaster ovens!
 
I was thinking the same as G...
This is pure speculation with no data whatsoever to support, but I wonder if there is an under the table deal with the Gov't and NATO to cut out Beretta and exclusively buy S&W. Otherwise it makes no sense, its tantamount to bankruptcy...no biz would goat 70% of existing sales unless it can be made up elsewhere.

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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!
 
Actually, I think its more the Brits. They wanted to SELL S&W, but there were no takers. They obviously thought that if they could get the lawsuits to go away, the co would be more sale-able. Brits are naturally disdainful of rights as we understand them. Just as they miscalculated the depth and sincerity of our commitment to freedom 200 yrs ago, so they repeat history all to easily. Rem., in Britain, their sheeple lined up and turned in THEIR guns. Classic case of cultural ignorance. BTW, you should email and taunt the Brits, as I'm doing every day now. Here's their email:

comments@tomkins.co.uk

Here's my lates email to them:

Just want to tell you what meddling bastards you are. You have bought a great American firearms manufacturer, S&W, and reduced it to an extension of your failed Socialistic country. You subjects would never understand the rights of citizens (that is, after all, why we ejected you 200-plus years ago). It is our mistake in thinking that after bailing you out of 2 World Wars, you MIGHT hesitate to stab us in the back. Fat chance, I guess. Let me tell you that I would sooner eat bark than buy a single British-made product. We threw you out once before and we can do it again. Take your no-empire, fish and chip eating, BTU-using, tower of ben high tax-levying BUMS and find another country to wreck. We are already boycotting S&W, and that is just the tip of the iceberg. My grandfathers both fought to save your pathetic country from Facism, how sad they would be today to see you embrace the very Hitlerian crap they risked their lives to save you from. God save the Queen, she'll need all the help she can get! A concerned Yank
 
This whole damn debacle pisses me off! No one will win. We will lose an acient and venerable gun maker. The employees of S&W will lose their jobs. Even our Criminal in Chief and his HCI lick-spittle toadies lose because everyone is running out to buy more guns before they all go away.

Our Prez must be in the throes of tertiary syphylis and his mind has turned to sour tapioca if he thinks that he is doing this (still) great country any favors.

This is a lose-lose senario and we are eating ourselves from with-in. I am so God damned mad right now that I want to do something that I'll regret!

More later...
 
To my way of thinking , Simonov Jr. is
correct.

The British Socailist owners of Clinton ,Gore & Wesson want to sell the Company but
no one wants to buy a company being sued,
so in order to get a clean bill of health to sell Clinton & Wesson, they cut the deal.

One socialist elitist doing business with another socialist elitest to further their
socialist agenda.

C&W gets out of the lawsuit and Gore and Klinton get to brag that they destroyed a
great,at one time, American gun company.

C&W goes bankrupt and is sold and reestablished under another name releasing the new owners from any lawsuits.

If the new owners are smart,they will wait
until all these unconstitutional socialist lawsuits are lost in court before resurecting the former Clinton & Wesson.

In conclusion, S&W should name their new "Smart Gun " the Clinton NON Gun so that every time it fails to function and costs a life
we will be reminded of Bill Clinton.

C&W's next NON Gun model can be called the Gore GUN and the 2002 Model can be called the Schoomer NON Boomer. The C&W 2003 model "smart NON gun" can be called Fienstien's Folly and C&W can sell them to NON shooters.

Guns for liberals, only. The sheeple non shooters.

Only one thing wrong here though,Who will Clinton & Wesson find to sell their crap?

Maybe BATF will take pity on them and be their Distributors.

The firearms industry sure wont.

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GUN CONTROL puts THE CONTROL
in the hands of THE CRIMINALS.

--------------------------------
You all have my permision to
use any of these"signatures"
here, if you like!
---------------------------

-They call 'em POLUTE-TICIANS because they POLUTE the MINDS
of OUR CHILDERN with their ANTI civil/firearms RIGHTS SOCIALIST
political agendas. We of the older generations know B.S.
when we hear it.
-----------------------------------------------
In 2000, we must become politically active in
support of gun rights or we WILL LOSE the right
& the freedom.
-------------------------
NO FATE BUT WHAT WE MAKE!!!
----------------------
Every year,over 2 million Americans use firearms
not to take live but to preserve life,....limb & family
.Gun Control Democrats would prefer that they are all disarmed
and helpless and die victims of felony violence,instead.

Protect your gun rights, go to:
http://home.xnet.com/~gizmonic/TheMarch.html
and sign up as a helper or attendee or state organizer.
ernest2, Conn. CAN opp. "Do What You Can"!
http://thematrix.acmecity.com/digital/237/cansite/can.html
 
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