glockguy45
New member
Glock Mulls Joining U.S. Handgun Settlement
http://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/03/20/glock.settle/index.html
Gun manufacturer Glock mulls government settlement
March 20, 2000
Web posted at: 12:03 p.m. EST (1703 GMT)
SMYRNA, Georgia (CNN) -- Gun manufacturer Glock Inc. may be days away from adopting a gun safety agreement similar to the landmark settlement announced Friday between Smith & Wesson and federal officials, according to company officials.
Glock may adopt nearly 90 percent of the agreement in exchange for legal protections, according to Paul Jannuzzo, vice president and general counsel in the Austria-based company's U.S. office.
Glock is "still doing the balancing test," Jannuzzo said. "We are still weighing the idea of bleeding to death with legal bills versus the cost of complying" with government demands.
The Connecticut-based Smith & Wesson on Friday agreed to include child safety locks, ensure background checks both at retail stores and gun shows and take so-called ballistic fingerprints of its guns, among other key provisions, to avoid lawsuits filed by approximately 30 states, cities and counties.
The suits were filed against the industry in an attempt to recover the gun-related costs incurred by state and local governments.
In exchange for the sweeping changes Smith & Wesson will make in its sales, manufacturing and marketing practices, state and local governments will drop the pending lawsuits against the company and the federal government will not file suit, which it had threatened last December to do unless a settlement could be reached.
The accord does not affect suits pending against the nation's other gun manufacturers, but President Bill Clinton said Friday he hoped it would encourage other companies to respond in kind.
The Smith & Wesson gun safety agreement is signed at a news conference Friday.
The National Rifle Association and other gun organizations quickly predicted that the nation's seven other gun manufacturers would not sign onto the agreement, calling it "tantamount to back door blackmail."
During the round of Sunday talk shows, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre downplayed the deal's importance, saying there was not much new in it. And NRA President Charlton Heston said the British owners of Smith & Wesson do not place the same value on the Second Amendment's right to bear arms as do Americans.
"I am not comfortable about the Brits telling us how to deal with our Bill of Rights," Heston said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "I think we settled that in 1776, didn't we?"
But White House's Bruce Reed disputed that and credited Smith & Wesson with a "courageous decision."
Glock has been importing parts for its well-known 9 mm pistol into the U.S. since 1986, and assembly is completed in Smyrna, Georgia.
The rapid-fire pistol is popular within U.S. police departments, and the Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Glock could suffer from a new government policy of having law-enforcement agencies give preference to gun manufacturers that sign a version of the Smith & Wesson settlement.
Reports that Glock may sign on to some or all of the agreement come just one day after some congressional Republicans attempted to distance themselves from the NRA over the organization's fiery anti-gun control rhetoric.
LaPierre said last week that the president is "willing to accept a certain level of killing to further his political agenda."
Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Illinois), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said LaPierre's remark about the president was not "terribly helpful to trying to reach a consensus on a very difficult issue" that Congress continues to struggle with.
"I think it's an extreme statement," Hyde said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "I wish it hadn't been said."
But LaPierre remained firm. "I stand by my comments that if this administration would enforce the federal law they'd save lives, and they're not doing it," he said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."
This p*s*es the hello out of me, time to think of a new call sign
http://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/03/20/glock.settle/index.html
Gun manufacturer Glock mulls government settlement
March 20, 2000
Web posted at: 12:03 p.m. EST (1703 GMT)
SMYRNA, Georgia (CNN) -- Gun manufacturer Glock Inc. may be days away from adopting a gun safety agreement similar to the landmark settlement announced Friday between Smith & Wesson and federal officials, according to company officials.
Glock may adopt nearly 90 percent of the agreement in exchange for legal protections, according to Paul Jannuzzo, vice president and general counsel in the Austria-based company's U.S. office.
Glock is "still doing the balancing test," Jannuzzo said. "We are still weighing the idea of bleeding to death with legal bills versus the cost of complying" with government demands.
The Connecticut-based Smith & Wesson on Friday agreed to include child safety locks, ensure background checks both at retail stores and gun shows and take so-called ballistic fingerprints of its guns, among other key provisions, to avoid lawsuits filed by approximately 30 states, cities and counties.
The suits were filed against the industry in an attempt to recover the gun-related costs incurred by state and local governments.
In exchange for the sweeping changes Smith & Wesson will make in its sales, manufacturing and marketing practices, state and local governments will drop the pending lawsuits against the company and the federal government will not file suit, which it had threatened last December to do unless a settlement could be reached.
The accord does not affect suits pending against the nation's other gun manufacturers, but President Bill Clinton said Friday he hoped it would encourage other companies to respond in kind.
The Smith & Wesson gun safety agreement is signed at a news conference Friday.
The National Rifle Association and other gun organizations quickly predicted that the nation's seven other gun manufacturers would not sign onto the agreement, calling it "tantamount to back door blackmail."
During the round of Sunday talk shows, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre downplayed the deal's importance, saying there was not much new in it. And NRA President Charlton Heston said the British owners of Smith & Wesson do not place the same value on the Second Amendment's right to bear arms as do Americans.
"I am not comfortable about the Brits telling us how to deal with our Bill of Rights," Heston said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "I think we settled that in 1776, didn't we?"
But White House's Bruce Reed disputed that and credited Smith & Wesson with a "courageous decision."
Glock has been importing parts for its well-known 9 mm pistol into the U.S. since 1986, and assembly is completed in Smyrna, Georgia.
The rapid-fire pistol is popular within U.S. police departments, and the Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Glock could suffer from a new government policy of having law-enforcement agencies give preference to gun manufacturers that sign a version of the Smith & Wesson settlement.
Reports that Glock may sign on to some or all of the agreement come just one day after some congressional Republicans attempted to distance themselves from the NRA over the organization's fiery anti-gun control rhetoric.
LaPierre said last week that the president is "willing to accept a certain level of killing to further his political agenda."
Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Illinois), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said LaPierre's remark about the president was not "terribly helpful to trying to reach a consensus on a very difficult issue" that Congress continues to struggle with.
"I think it's an extreme statement," Hyde said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "I wish it hadn't been said."
But LaPierre remained firm. "I stand by my comments that if this administration would enforce the federal law they'd save lives, and they're not doing it," he said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."
This p*s*es the hello out of me, time to think of a new call sign