Power of the Internet: S&W now vs. Ruger then.

C

Correia

New member
I was thinking about this this morning, about how much power the internet holds.

This year S&W sold out, with in days everybody here knew about it, and had seen the entire deal in writing, and all of our local dealers had read the agreement off of the web. With in a few weeks their major distributors were dropping them. The only info presented in the main-stream press painted this as a rosy saftey effort that was just reasonable common sense. In the regular gun press, the only article I have seen about this comes from the Guardian.

Go back several years, Bill Ruger screws us all on the importation of assault rifles so they can't compete against his mini-14, and speaks in favor of a magazine capacity limit because Glock is hurting his sales because of their higher capacity. At the time most of us in the gun world never even heard about it. In fact I didn't even learn about this, except for a few gunshop rumors that I was hesitant to believe, until about two years ago.

There was no backlash against Ruger then that I am aware of. But I believe that if the same thing should happen now, he would have had his head handed back to him on a platter. Why?

The power of the Internet.

Anytime anything relating to RKBA happens, somebody here finds out, and tells the rest of us that are online, we all go to the gunstore and tell our shooting buddies, with in a week every hard core gun nut in America knows whats up.

Do I think that we should boycott Ruger also, no I don't. It's to late for that, I don't think that it would accomplish anything if we did it now except put another US gun company out of business, plus people aren't as ticked off about something that happened years ago to mobalize like they did against S&W.

But Gunmakers, legislators, and the media have been shown that they can no longer slip any shadey deals past us.

Sorry for ranting, but this is another reason why I'm so glad we have this board.
 
Your are 100% right!!
The internet, and boards such as TFL, empower us by:
- providing information,
- showing us that we need not stand alone, and
- providing a means of coordinating our efforts.

This empowers us.

And that empowerment of "We the People" terrifies our leaders to such an extent that they will continue to try to tax the internet or otherwise degrade our ability to communicate.

We have the wrong people in charge of our government.
We have the wrong people in charge of our country.

They will continue to present themselves to the ignorant as their saviour.
They will continue to misrepresent anyone who stands in their way.

I, for one, will stand in their way.
Thanks to the internet, and especially the fine people of TFL, I will not stand alone.

[This message has been edited by Dennis (edited June 03, 2000).]
 
You are right. Things are gonna change for the better, with any luck.

And I got my TFL t-shirts yesterday. Cool! Thanks.
 
Sorry it took so long Futo, but the longsleeve black one didn't get made right away. It didn't come in with the rest of the order. I almost refunded your money and just mailed you the grey one but it came in just in time.

Well that was off topic. :)
 
The Internet certainly has been key in spreading information.

And I see no reason why Bill Ruger should not continue to pay for his unrenounced transgressions against the American gun owner.

I'm no Cooperite, but Jeff Cooper, in his Commentaries, mentions that we should never forget the lessons of the past, lest we repeat those mistakes in the future. People's anger at certain transgressions will dim over time -- and while time can heal all wounds, there are certain instances when it should not. Thus, he constantly reminds us of shameful incidents that we should recall and retain our anger over -- like that Lon Horiuchi is still walking around free.

So let's hear it again:
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/1976/ruger.htm

and let's not forget.

Justin

------------------
Justin T. Huang, Esq.
late of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania
 
Before the Web I'd speak to my pro-RKBA friends. It was a small circle. Now I can communicate with people from around the world. I'm able t learn new things and maybe even pass on a bit of what I know. Had it not been for the Web S&W would've gotten off easy. Our emails to companies like Midway USA has made all the difference. We've got a LONG way to go. Yet there's no worse battle than that one which is not fought.
 
Amen to all that has been said.

That was brought home to me when I came across that item about Rosie in an obscure Connecticut paper (I live in Nevada).

One-half hour after I posted it, there were about a dozen comments on it from all over the Union.

Boards like these are a splendid medium to pass the word, and their contents are available to the world as soon as you click "submit reply" or it's variants.

No wonder the liberals are worried.



------------------
The New World Order has a Third Reich odor.
 
I agree that the net has us communicating on levels we never imagined possible, and that is power to our side. Given that I'm sure I'm not the only one who owns BOTH S&W and RUGER firearms (and will continue to do so), and my apologies if this is a bit off topic, but the Ruger-Bashing must end.
Here's the REAL story on what happened in regards to Bill Ruger's ALLEDGED "sell-out":
The following is a post about Bill Ruger’s “turncoat actions” on Glock Talk by Nick, a moderator there:
QUOTE:
“man you guys are way way off.
There is a book out called "Ruger and his guns" it terminates all these rumors and no Bill Ruger did not write it plus many still have it wrong about the Gun show deal; Ruger never said that!
The message was taken out of context from a memo sent to distributor in 1987 or 1988!!!
by the Denver Post. The memo stated that dealers should not sell at gun shows unless their products are properly displayed with class!
That was it!
Note Rugers are still being sold at
gun shows!!

"This has been published in several places but I'm reading now from the book Ruger
& His Guns by R. L. Wilson. (pages 217-218 if you have the book). The idea for a
magazine limit (which was originally set at 15 not 10) was approved by the 14-member
Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute. Bill Ruger was just outspoken in the way he became involved in a very up front way. They were trying to head off further banning of entire classes or types of firearms (virtually ALL of which weren't even manufactured by Ruger).
Please remember, SAAMI includes such
manufacturers as Smith&Wesson, Remington, Winchester, Browning, Marlin, Mossberg, and others. Anyway, congress passed an Assault Weapons Ban in 1994 that took an additional 5 round limitation on magazines (10, rather than 15) and banned 19 groups of military style firearms.

Unfortunate/bad stance by SAAMI, you bet.

Blame it ALL on Bill Ruger, NO WAY.

Anyone, please feel free to check this book as well as other publications. It IS a great
book for any firearms enthusiast, not just Ruger fans!

So please read the book it does clarify a lot of what happened so if people still want to boycott Ruger then boycott Remington, Winchester, Browning, Marlin, Mossberg, and
others as well.” -ENDQUOTE --------------
Hope that clears up some things, and feel free to check a different source than this book. All of this is, of course, still arguable.
But whatever side you take on these issues, lets not forget ONE IMPORTANT FACT:
The gun manufacturers didn't impose these restrictions on us; THE GOVERNMENT DID. Don't lose sight of the TRUE enemy of our rights.

Take Care- Dakotan

[This message has been edited by Dakotan (edited June 03, 2000).]
 
who you calling a hard core gun nut?
are you talking to me?

------------------
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what is for lunch.
Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the outcome of the vote.
Let he that hath no sword sell his garment and buy one. Luke 22-36
They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night. Song of Solomon 3-8
The man that can keep his head and aims carefully when the situation has gone bad and lead is flying usually wins the fight.
 
Gentlemen, you are correct. That's why our masters are foaming at their corrupt, socialist mouths, to "regulate" the internet.
Stay informed, stay active. Write snail-mail letters to your reps, etc, etc...please?
 
Since I'm Swiss, I can't do much for the poor slobs who have to live
with institutions like the BATF. Bad. At least, it's not quite too bad
in the US. Just imagine you'd have to display a 'need' for owning
firearms. Here, we only need permits for anything semi-auto,
lever-action or pump-action (in the old days (prior to 99), we could
buy any long gun without permit). Here, we have state-sponsored
shooting events.

But I'm following the situation closely in the US as it might have an
effect down here in our country. People already want to ban a lot,
but they have a stiff resistance over here (check out http://www.protell.ch ).

Internet is a great weapon against the antis. Let's line up the sights
and smash them in our parliaments. And....only 'dead center' hits
count. :)
 
WHOA mussi.... Those french lessons from highschool are all coming back to me...(everything else was giberish) How come none of it's in english??
 
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