Pact with the Devil not panning out for S&W

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deanf

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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Smith & Wesson Pact with Government Not Panning Out
8/24/00

It appears that the gun-safety agreement that Smith & Wesson, the nation's largest handgun manufacturer, signed with the U.S. government has not turned out to be beneficial for the company, the Wall Street Journal reported Aug. 24.
In signing the pact with the U.S. Treasury Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Smith & Wesson agreed to equip firearms with trigger locks and accept an unusual level of government oversight over the way the company does business.

In exchange, the company was supposed to receive preferential treatment in government gun purchases and be removed from government lawsuits.

However, Smith & Wesson continues to be a defendant in all but one of the cases. Furthermore, preferential buying from government agencies has been slow to materialize.

"Smith and Wesson is a long way from being satisfied," said one Smith & Wesson official. "So we've been a leader. Well, what has it got us?"

With the gun industry strongly criticizing Smith & Wesson for agreeing to the government pact, the company has experienced a drop in business. As a result, Smith & Wesson was forced to expand its normal one- or two-week summer employee furlough to more than three weeks last month.[/quote]



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"Anyone feel like saluting the flag which the strutting ATF and FBI gleefully raised over the smoldering crematorium of Waco, back in April of ‘93?" -Vin Suprynowicz
 
Here's an editorial from today's edition of the "Washington Times".

EDITORIAL • August 28, 2000

Smith & Wesson misfires

The free market has rendered a harsh judgment of Smith & Wesson's appeasement of the gun-grabbing Clinton administration. It is very rapidly putting the company out of business. People are refusing to buy handguns produced by what was once a proud American firearms manufacturer — but which is now the politically correct satrapy of a British company, Tomkins PLC, that very clearly finds the idea of its association with tools designed for individual self-defense just a tad too outre.

Smith & Wesson's British masters had agreed to a deal with the Clinton Treasury Department and HUD to install gun locks on all handguns sold to the public — in return for immunity from the threatened avalanche of lawsuits the Clinton administration has been using as a swagger stick to push its gun-control agenda. But today Smith & Wesson remains a defendant in all but one of the pending/threatened lawsuits — and the Clinton administration has so far failed to fulfill its pledge to buy large numbers of handguns from Smith & Wesson for government/law-enforcement purposes.

And while Smith & Wesson waits for the promised payoff from Uncle Sam, its civilian market share is sinking faster than the Titanic. No one is buying Smith & Wesson firearms anymore. People resent the company's cave-in to federal bully boys and have elected to exercise their right to purchase firearms made by other, less obsequious companies — such as Sturm, Ruger & Co. As a result, Smith & Wesson has had to extend its traditional one-week summer "furlough" for employees to almost a month as a result of the drop in business.

But the company's problems don't end there. On April 19, other gun manufacturers sued HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo — who suggested the preferential treatment for Smith & Wesson in return for its "cooperation" — for restraint of free trade and violation of the Constitution's Commerce Clause. And on July 20, the Senate Appropriations Committee moved to bar the Clinton administration from giving Smith & Wesson preferential treatment as its reward for the so-called "gun safety" deal.

Smith & Wesson has gotten what often comes to those who knuckle under to swaggering bullies. "Smith and Wesson is a long way from being satisfied," one disgruntled company official told the Wall Street Journal. "So we've been a leader. Well, what has it got us?"

How about payback?







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Baaaad Smith! Baaaaad Wesson! No profit treats for you tonight!

(rolls up newspaper containing the above artices)

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

What part of this whole thing can they not understand? It's Business 101 -- you offend your customers, and the marketplace lops your head off. It's sad to see a venerable brand like S&W go down, but they have only themselves to blame.
 
I still don't understand why they just can't walk away from this agreement. After all, in any legal contract both sides have something to offer the other. If the government is not delivering on their end, why does S&W have to deliver on thier end? Seems pretty simple to me OR didn't they consider these options when they signed this agreement? How stupid could they have been.

By the way, even if they back out of this agreement, I still don't trust the current management. The more I hear Ed speak, they less sympathy I have for them AND this is coming from an owner of many S&W pistols.
 
*&* can't back out of the deal because HUD hasn't sued them. Even if the other signatories back out of the deal, the contract is still valid as to signatories who did not back out. HUD hasn't breached the deal, so *&* would have breached the contract as far as HUD is concerned. The logic is this: should a party to a contract who is fulfilling every obligation assumed as part of the contract be penalized simply because another, independent party breached the agreement? The courts universally say no.

If *&* backs out, HUD can get damages, costs, and specific performance. Which is exactly what HUD is waiting for.
 
Just sent an e-mail to the CEO of S&W of the Washington Times article along with my remarks;
Congratulation, you have just failed Business 101!! Piss off the customer base that put you where you are today, and watch your company be distroyed. Nice going!!


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Donnez-moi la liberté, ou donnez-moi la mort!
 
Went into a local gun store today, and noticed an ad on their front door. They're have a Slick & Wesson summer sale. ;)

As I came to the counter, I asked, with a bit of a smirk, how the sale is going. One of the employees just gave a chuckle, and the other said fine. I didn't say a word.

Smith & Wesson must die. Period. Anything less will weaken the rest of the industry, and strengthen the anti-self defense movement. Gun owners have it in our power to accomplish this goal. Smith & Wesson must die.

Regards from AZ
 
I'd tell the gun store owner I'd never spend one penny in a place that supported those traitorous backstabbers at Slime and Wusson.
 
I went to a gun show this weekend in Indianapolis and talked with a dealer at a booth who was selling new S&W firearms. He said that S&W sales in his store have not dropped off that much!!!! Nobody Should purchase a new S&W until they repent fully or go belly up and shut the doors. Nuff Said.

Regards.
 
Just received this from the Ammo Company that I deal with:

T-M-S Ammunition Supply - http://www.tmsammunition.com

Just wanted to inform you about recent issues with the boycott of Smith & Wesson. At this time the British company that owns S&W has decided to sell the company to get out from under the financial burden that has been caused by the boycott. Of course the best part of this is that they have absolutely no interested buyers at this time. Keep up with the support of the boycott - Thanks for your continued support.

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To own firearms is to affirm that freedom and liberty are not gifts from the state.

[This message has been edited by Elker_43 (edited August 29, 2000).]
 
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