What No One Bothered To Tell You About The Smith & Wesson Settlement
by Jeff Snyder
[An abridged version of this article appears in the July-August 2000 issue of American Handgunner magazine, published by
Publishers Development Corporation. The full-length version is presented here for the first time, with the publisher's and author's permission.]
http://communities.prodigy.net/sportsrec/jeffsnyder.html
Smith & Wesson, the nation's largest handgun manufacturer, has become the first
company to fall to the federal, state and local governments' litigation campaign against
gun manufacturers. On March 17, it entered into an agreement imposing sweeping
restrictions on the design, marketing and distribution of firearms with the Department of
Treasury, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and various state and
city governments. The agreement was entered into in settlement of several lawsuits and
in exchange for an agreement by other state and local governments not to bring suit on
similar grounds. HUD, Treasury, and various cities are now putting intense pressure on
Glock and other handgun manufacturers to sign the agreement. It's bare-knuckle
coercion. Upon hearing of Glock's refusal to sign the agreement, New York Attorney
General Elliot Spitzer warned the company that "If you do not sign, your bankruptcy
lawyers will be knocking at your door."
The S&W Settlement Agreement has dire implications for the remnant of the right to
keep and bear arms. Unfortunately, blatant and massive incursions upon the Bill of
Rights, along with record high peace-time taxation and Presidents who bomb people in
far away places (i.e., kill them) in order to divert attention from personal problems at
home, do not seem to excite much attention these days, so perhaps it is also necessary
to point out that the agreement represents a new paradigm for regulation of business
that, from government's perspective, simply offers too many benefits not to be used
again and again. Yes! Should your industry be targeted next, it will certainly limit how
much money you can make!
Mainstream reporting on the actual contents of the agreement has been minimal,
focusing primarily on the new safety requirements for firearms, and the fact that dealers will not be able to sell firearms at gun
shows unless all purchasers are subject to background checks. The agreement goes far beyond this, however, imposing
significant restrictions long sought by gun control activists, including a ban on selling cheap, concealable handguns and a
requirement that gun buyers first take a safety course, and substantially expands existing federal gun control laws. But more
importantly, if the major gun manufacturers can be pressured to sign this agreement, it will successfully nationalize the
operations of the gun industry, controlling manufacturing and design, distribution and sales and, to a lesser extent,
advertising and marketing. Not surprisingly, then, the agreement also presses manufacturers and dealers into service as
adjuncts to law enforcement. Manufacturers and dealers will become government informants.
continues...
by Jeff Snyder
[An abridged version of this article appears in the July-August 2000 issue of American Handgunner magazine, published by
Publishers Development Corporation. The full-length version is presented here for the first time, with the publisher's and author's permission.]
http://communities.prodigy.net/sportsrec/jeffsnyder.html
Smith & Wesson, the nation's largest handgun manufacturer, has become the first
company to fall to the federal, state and local governments' litigation campaign against
gun manufacturers. On March 17, it entered into an agreement imposing sweeping
restrictions on the design, marketing and distribution of firearms with the Department of
Treasury, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and various state and
city governments. The agreement was entered into in settlement of several lawsuits and
in exchange for an agreement by other state and local governments not to bring suit on
similar grounds. HUD, Treasury, and various cities are now putting intense pressure on
Glock and other handgun manufacturers to sign the agreement. It's bare-knuckle
coercion. Upon hearing of Glock's refusal to sign the agreement, New York Attorney
General Elliot Spitzer warned the company that "If you do not sign, your bankruptcy
lawyers will be knocking at your door."
The S&W Settlement Agreement has dire implications for the remnant of the right to
keep and bear arms. Unfortunately, blatant and massive incursions upon the Bill of
Rights, along with record high peace-time taxation and Presidents who bomb people in
far away places (i.e., kill them) in order to divert attention from personal problems at
home, do not seem to excite much attention these days, so perhaps it is also necessary
to point out that the agreement represents a new paradigm for regulation of business
that, from government's perspective, simply offers too many benefits not to be used
again and again. Yes! Should your industry be targeted next, it will certainly limit how
much money you can make!
Mainstream reporting on the actual contents of the agreement has been minimal,
focusing primarily on the new safety requirements for firearms, and the fact that dealers will not be able to sell firearms at gun
shows unless all purchasers are subject to background checks. The agreement goes far beyond this, however, imposing
significant restrictions long sought by gun control activists, including a ban on selling cheap, concealable handguns and a
requirement that gun buyers first take a safety course, and substantially expands existing federal gun control laws. But more
importantly, if the major gun manufacturers can be pressured to sign this agreement, it will successfully nationalize the
operations of the gun industry, controlling manufacturing and design, distribution and sales and, to a lesser extent,
advertising and marketing. Not surprisingly, then, the agreement also presses manufacturers and dealers into service as
adjuncts to law enforcement. Manufacturers and dealers will become government informants.
continues...