Gun Revenge
Copyright © 2000 by Dave Badtke
If you’re in the business of buying guns, do us all a favor and buy from Smith & Wesson, the good guys in what’s turning out to be a nasty, heavy-handed effort by gun manufacturers and the NRA to destroy a company that had the courage to do the right thing.
On March 17, Smith & Wesson signed an agreement with two federal agencies, Treasury and Housing and Urban Development, two states, New York and Connecticut, and eleven cities, including Berkeley and San Francisco, that may finally result in the implementation of long-overdue gun-control measures. While imperfect, we should welcome any agreement between government and industry that promises to improve gun safety and that begins to loosen the second-amendment, totemic stranglehold that guns have on our society.
Among the points in the agreement are: external trigger locks 60 days after the agreement was signed; child-proofing within 12 months, so that a gun cannot be operated by a child younger than 6; internal trigger locks within 2 years; commitment of 2% of annual firearm sales revenues to the development, within 3 years, of smart-gun technology that will allow only authorized persons to use a gun; sales only to distributors and dealers who agree, in writing, to various control measures, including compliance with the Brady and Gun Control Acts; and a commitment to participate in gun shows only if all sellers at the show perform background checks.
While Smith & Wesson may have been motivated to sign this agreement to reduce the threat of legal action – many of the 30 lawsuits filed against them will be dropped, and they will not be sued by New York, Connecticut and HUD – the agreement is also a good deal for Smith & Wesson, the customers they serve and all the rest of us, especially our children, who are increasingly in the vicinity of the 20 percent of Americans who own handguns. In 1996 there were more than 9,000 handgun murders in the US compared to 30 in Great Britain, where handguns are illegal.
A good deed done, one might imagine that Smith & Wesson would be experiencing increased sales, since most Americans favor gun control, rather than fighting for its financial life. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who helped negotiate the agreement, said: "Smith & Wesson is under absolutely unprecedented pressure, both financial and personal within the gun industry, with threats that are almost violent in nature, and I have heard the fear that it could be put out of business."
To date, as reported in the New York Times on March 30th: the RSR Group of Winter Park, Florida, a major wholesaler of Smith & Wesson guns for the past 20 years, has stated it will no longer carry its products; the Chicago law firm of Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon, which also represents Sturm Ruger and Colt, told Smith & Wesson that it was dropping them as a client; and many gun retailers have announced they will not sell Smith & Wesson products.
Of course, I mustn’t forget the NRA, whose chief lobbyist, James Baker, said: "[The agreement] is a futile act of craven self-interest … jeopardizing an entire U.S. industry and undermining a constitutionally guaranteed right." Oh yes, the NRA web site, from which this quote was taken, points out that Smith & Wesson is owned by Tomkins PLC, a British-based corporation. One can almost hear, "The British are coming! The British are coming!" echoing off the walls at NRA central.
Personally, I’m tired beyond measure of such strident NRA pronouncements. In a March 21st New York Times editorial, novelist, gun owner and hunter Richard Ford said: "…[T]he NRA’s gibberish sounds like the big lie strategy – the corrupted logic and bizarre exaggeration associated with doomsday cults ... and other single-issue, antigovernment crazies who rely on apathy, sloganeering and fear to force their points into prominence."
If you’re wondering if these attacks on Smith & Wesson smell of illegal antitrust activity, you’d be right. Maryland has joined New York and Connecticut, with other states expected to follow, in investigations which should soon result in the issuance of subpoenas.
Is there anything you can do?
Far be it from me to suggest you actually buy a gun to support Smith & Wesson. On the contrary, I would much prefer a dramatic reduction in the number of handguns in America. But police forces buy about 25% of all handguns sold each year, so do your part: Support gun control and help your community by personally urging your local government to buy exclusively from Smith & Wesson.
- Dave Badtke is founder of the developing Carquinez Review literary journal. Find him on the web at www.CarquinezReview.com.
Contact him at:
Dave@CarquinezReview.com or Dave@Badtke.com