I have reported this info to Fox News desk and hope that they run with the information, but certainly did not want to leave out my buddies at TFL on breaking news.
We all know that S&W signed a 15 page agreement with the govt about 2 weeks ago which required all sorts of things for dealers and distributors to do to be allowed to sell S&W products. This seemed strange to me and you have not seen many comments from me on the subject, as you did on Colt. S&W had to know that these actions would cause a huge backlash in the industry against the manufacturer, as the false rumors did to Colt. I figured that there had to more to the story than S&W was letting on. Guess what? I was right and you aren't going to like it.
S&W is owned by a British company, Thompkins Ltd or something like that. Our pilanderer in chief (president clinton (lower case on purpose to show lack of respect)) has been trying to push more gun control legislation down our throats since Brady in 1994. Remember all the comments about how 'this is a first step' and 'it makes a statement'. Clinton is very upset that he cannot get legislation through congress in this, an election, year. Even the current stuff does not look like it is going to pass. Our resolve is too strong and we are too powerful. He feels that this is making him look bad because he is not able to get done what he wants, and we all know how far he will go to get what he wants, including lying and cheating. The lawsuits against the industry from the cities were the first step, encouraged by Reno, to circumvent our legislative process. Clinton then directed HUD, with help from Reno, to attack the gun industry in court, once again to get around his failure to push his agenda through the legislative branch. The gun law suits will not be successful. Reno knows this, but by bringing enough suits, and to have them go far enough through the legal system, would cost the industry millions of dollars in legal fees just to respond to all of them. Unfortunately, for the clinton administration, most of the suits have been getting thrown out of court at very early stages and have not had the impact on the industry that had been hoped for, meaning that they have not been costing them enough money. They never expected a fight, let alone that the gun people would win. The administration is fully aware of the impact that holding a manufacturer liable for misuse of a product, for the lifetime of the product, would cause. The auto industry could be especially hard hit and that means union votes. Clinton needed a company to break the 'dam' on making a deal before the rest of the cases are dismissed in court and he suffers more humiliation. Enter S&W, owned by a British company. The British system operates differently from our own, so clinton contacts British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Blair is able to apply pressure to Thompkins to force S&W into a deal. That gives clinton the win he needs to break the impass with the other companies. What he had not counted on was that HUD is not that informed on the type of people gun activists are. As we all know RSR, S&W largest distributor, and many 'stocking dealers' have been sending back inventory rather than comply with the agreement that they were committed to by S&W. Now no gun manufacturer in their right mind would sign onto the agreement that S&W did. It had exactly the opposite effect on the industry than was intended. It is less costly to go to court for them than it is to drop sales by over 25%, or even 50%. In an attempt to plug this leak we are now seeing investigations by state, and I suspect soon U.S., attorney generals of anti-trust activity on the part of the gun industry.
This is an obvious attempt to circumvent the U.S. Constitution and our entire system. We have a judicial, legislative, and executive branches separated for a reason. Each one keeps the others in check. Now were have the executive branch using the judicial branch and the power of friendly foriegn govts to bypass the legislative branch. If this is not an illegal activity, manipulating the branches of govt for personal reason, it damn well ought to be.
I like S&W. I always have. They make a great revolver, but we obviously cannot support them after signing the agreement. The only thing we can do is to get the word out on the actions that clinton has taken to circumvent our legislative process. By making this public we may find that S&W will be allowed to back out of the deal it made. That would prove all this information wrong and hand clinton another VERY public defeat. As a result will S&W be allowed to fail? I don't know, it isn't up to me. That is up to president clinton and the British Prime Minister.
I will pass on any more info I get. That's my story and I am sticking to it.
[This message has been edited by Jeff OTMG (edited March 31, 2000).]
We all know that S&W signed a 15 page agreement with the govt about 2 weeks ago which required all sorts of things for dealers and distributors to do to be allowed to sell S&W products. This seemed strange to me and you have not seen many comments from me on the subject, as you did on Colt. S&W had to know that these actions would cause a huge backlash in the industry against the manufacturer, as the false rumors did to Colt. I figured that there had to more to the story than S&W was letting on. Guess what? I was right and you aren't going to like it.
S&W is owned by a British company, Thompkins Ltd or something like that. Our pilanderer in chief (president clinton (lower case on purpose to show lack of respect)) has been trying to push more gun control legislation down our throats since Brady in 1994. Remember all the comments about how 'this is a first step' and 'it makes a statement'. Clinton is very upset that he cannot get legislation through congress in this, an election, year. Even the current stuff does not look like it is going to pass. Our resolve is too strong and we are too powerful. He feels that this is making him look bad because he is not able to get done what he wants, and we all know how far he will go to get what he wants, including lying and cheating. The lawsuits against the industry from the cities were the first step, encouraged by Reno, to circumvent our legislative process. Clinton then directed HUD, with help from Reno, to attack the gun industry in court, once again to get around his failure to push his agenda through the legislative branch. The gun law suits will not be successful. Reno knows this, but by bringing enough suits, and to have them go far enough through the legal system, would cost the industry millions of dollars in legal fees just to respond to all of them. Unfortunately, for the clinton administration, most of the suits have been getting thrown out of court at very early stages and have not had the impact on the industry that had been hoped for, meaning that they have not been costing them enough money. They never expected a fight, let alone that the gun people would win. The administration is fully aware of the impact that holding a manufacturer liable for misuse of a product, for the lifetime of the product, would cause. The auto industry could be especially hard hit and that means union votes. Clinton needed a company to break the 'dam' on making a deal before the rest of the cases are dismissed in court and he suffers more humiliation. Enter S&W, owned by a British company. The British system operates differently from our own, so clinton contacts British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Blair is able to apply pressure to Thompkins to force S&W into a deal. That gives clinton the win he needs to break the impass with the other companies. What he had not counted on was that HUD is not that informed on the type of people gun activists are. As we all know RSR, S&W largest distributor, and many 'stocking dealers' have been sending back inventory rather than comply with the agreement that they were committed to by S&W. Now no gun manufacturer in their right mind would sign onto the agreement that S&W did. It had exactly the opposite effect on the industry than was intended. It is less costly to go to court for them than it is to drop sales by over 25%, or even 50%. In an attempt to plug this leak we are now seeing investigations by state, and I suspect soon U.S., attorney generals of anti-trust activity on the part of the gun industry.
This is an obvious attempt to circumvent the U.S. Constitution and our entire system. We have a judicial, legislative, and executive branches separated for a reason. Each one keeps the others in check. Now were have the executive branch using the judicial branch and the power of friendly foriegn govts to bypass the legislative branch. If this is not an illegal activity, manipulating the branches of govt for personal reason, it damn well ought to be.
I like S&W. I always have. They make a great revolver, but we obviously cannot support them after signing the agreement. The only thing we can do is to get the word out on the actions that clinton has taken to circumvent our legislative process. By making this public we may find that S&W will be allowed to back out of the deal it made. That would prove all this information wrong and hand clinton another VERY public defeat. As a result will S&W be allowed to fail? I don't know, it isn't up to me. That is up to president clinton and the British Prime Minister.
I will pass on any more info I get. That's my story and I am sticking to it.
[This message has been edited by Jeff OTMG (edited March 31, 2000).]
. As far as I'm concerned Smith is dead,no longer exists to me 
