Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => Politics => Topic started by: Silver Bullet on September 28, 2020, 05:50:34 PM
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Twenty years ago this had the attention of all the folks who hung out on these sites.
https://www.nraila.org/articles/20000320/the-smith-wesson-sellout (https://www.nraila.org/articles/20000320/the-smith-wesson-sellout)
HUD strongarmed S&W into an agreement that required them to not have guns sold at any dealer that didn't meet a list of stipulations, stipulations that applied also to other manufacturers. A lot of folks and dealers responded by boycotting S&W.
Does anyone know where this conflict stands now? Are gun buyers still boycotting S&W?
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Some are still boycotting, but their M&P line (rifles and pistols) are selling pretty well. What happened back when they were owned by a British company is mostly a historical footnote these days.
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But their revolvers still have The Lock. (IIRC, there may be a very few that don't.)
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Some are still boycotting, but their M&P line (rifles and pistols) are selling pretty well. What happened back when they were owned by a British company is mostly a historical footnote these days.
Essentially, the boycott ended when that British company sold S&W to Saf-T-Hammer and Clinton left office. I don't know if the actual agreement had a sunset date, but there is not a binding contract with the government, AFAIK. S&W lost a ton of money in that deal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_%26_Wesson#Acquisition
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But their revolvers still have The Lock. (IIRC, there may be a very few that don't.)
"The Lock" was a strong factor in taking a pass on a shiny new 586 a couple of months ago.
I did pick up a brand new 642(no bloody dash) several years ago that is sans lock.
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I participated for a time in the boycott, but in the late 90’s, maybe early 2000’s I purchased one of the 340PD Scandium J frames with the lock. I think I locked it once to see how it worked. I’m not sure if I even know where the key is anymore. I suppose there could be some possible failure with the lock, but I think the risk is extremely low. I’ve fired thousands of rounds through it and carried it daily for a few years and never had an issue.
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I still have a couple of guns with a hole where a lock should be. I don't factor in the boycott anymore, but then again I haven't bought much in a long time.
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Old owners & past history. Long past due for people to move on.
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Old owners & past history. Long past due for people to move on.
I'm not carrying a grudge. I just want to know how it turned out.
Might be a good lesson for the future.
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I'm not carrying a grudge. I just want to know how it turned out.
Might be a good lesson for the future.
Summary: S&W lost a ton of money, the parent company sold S&W for a huge loss, the Clinton agreement never did anything and finally dissolved. The boycott worked.
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Thanks! Perfect summary, and perfect result.
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I banged the anti-S&W drum for a long time.
A guy I knew locally was a lawyer for the company representing S&W here in DC.
S&W's management blindsided the lawyers when they signed onto the agreement against their very strong advice.
S&W signed onto the agreement, in part, because they were offered a carrot to become the primary firearms supplier to a bunch of Federal agencies -- basically no bid contracts worth millions. Only they found out months later than that promise wasn't binding on the government, but the agreement was binding on S&W.
And by that time they were deep in the throes of the boycott and losing money hand over fist. That's when Thompkins finally decided to pull the pin and sell the company at a huge loss. Not a huge deal for them, though, because they had the "quality" of their Murray lawn care products division to fall back on (Murray's quality sucked then, and sucks now, by the way, never buy a Murray just because they're crap).
Worked out fine for the lawyer I knew, though. He went on to bigger and better things, and a few years ago was appointed to the Federal appeals court by President Trump.