Was this actually an issue at one time? S&W and Ma. Compliancy Laws

[BMass]

A few weeks back I was in a gun shop and a worker was suggesting Ruger handguns as opposed to the S&W models they also sold. He then went on to state he will never buy a S&W product after they stood by doing nothing while the other manufacturers, selling in Ma. at the time, worked together to fight the soon to be enacted Ma. compliancy laws.

I guess he means they could have been helping to fund lobbyists? He said S&W had no problem if the new restrictive compliancy laws went into effect because S&W are an investment conglomerate with plenty of capital to fill the state with a huge variety of Ma. compliant guns. While smaller companies could not afford to. Thus eliminating competion. He thinks S&W is cashing in on something they should have been helping to fight.

I had no way of contesting him at the time since S&W has the largest selection of MA.compliant guns of any maker and many companies don't /can't do business here anymore.

That was the first I had heard of this. But it's quite possile I just missed this story since it was probably an issue (if at all) over 10 years ago. Not trying to be a troll. I like S&W products. But since talking to him I've always wondered if this was an issue at one time.

 

[RKG]

A few weeks back I was in a gun shop and a worker was suggesting Ruger handguns as opposed to the S&W models they also sold. He then went on to state he will never buy a S&W product after they stood by doing nothing while the other manufacturers, selling in Ma. at the time, worked together to fight the soon to be enacted Ma. compliancy laws.

I guess he means they could have been helping to fund lobbyists? He said S&W had no problem if the new restrictive compliancy laws went into effect because S&W are an investment conglomerate with plenty of capital to fill the state with a huge variety of Ma. compliant guns. While smaller companies could not afford to. Thus eliminating competion. He thinks S&W is cashing in on something they should have been helping to fight.

I had no way of contesting him at the time since S&W has the largest selection of MA.compliant guns of any maker and many companies don't /can't do business here anymore.

That was the first I had heard of this. But it's quite possile I just missed this story since it was probably an issue (if at all) over 10 years ago. Not trying to be a troll. I like S&W products. But since talking to him I've always wondered if this was an issue at one time.

Old news. While Smith & Wesson was owned by the Brits (PLC Thompkins), they kowtowed to the antis. The result was a consumer boycott, which (given Smith's poor performance in the police market at the time) really hurt the company. Ownership has now changed, as has the corporate attitude. If you like the S&W product of today (a different question altogether), this issue provides no basis for avoiding it.

 

[SheepDog_B]

For me, S&W is a local company. I have friends who work there, (I've even worked there). They have deep history and have been a large player in the arms world as well has the work force in MA over the years.
I support them, and I hope that people in MA do.

Also, their Customer Service folks at TOP NOTCH.

 

[drgrant]

Well, at one time (Pre 2001?) S+W was owned by an anti gun British company called Tomkins PLC. So, a bunch of people were pissed at them because they signed the HUD deal with clinton, etc. The thing is though, S+W is not owned by that company anymore. The brits are long gone. Make of that what you will.

As far as the MA compliance BS goes, S+W has the most amount of MA compliant guns because they bothered to pay to have them all tested. Additionally, well over 50% of their product line is revolvers, which also pretty much fly right by the AG's regs half of the deal. (The AG's office has never really taken issue with a revolver, to my knowledge).

S+W pay for LOBBYISTS?

If I was an S+W investor I would actually be pissed if they wasted company cash on fighting with idiots in the MA legislature. Lobbying for gun rights doesn't work when the voters represented by the lobbyists wield little to no electoral power in terms of influencing elections. Maybe once the CA list issue is settled and a court battle can be waged in MA over compliance via the 2nd amendment cases,
then you might have an idea .

Otherwise, what do you think is going to bring a bigger ROI for any gun company selling stuff in MA.... blowing say 250 grand on certifying guns, or paying the same amount to a lobbyist/lawyer to have them blow hot air at MA pols who don't care anyways? The investors are going to want the board to choose the "path of least resistance to the most amount of profit possible. "

I won't even get into the fact that MA is one of the smallest gun markets in the entire country. We're lucky S+W bothers to certify anything at all. I believe the "why" they do it is because after getting rid of the brits, they wanted to significantly reshape the image of the company as being friendly to gun owners in general. Having the shooting sports center, and a gun store in MA, and a bunch of gun stores in MA prominently displaying their products is a big image thing for them, even if 95% of their customers aren't from MA.

-Mike

 

[BMass]

Interesting. That's why I asked for the other side of the story. Thanks

 

[chris_1001]

I gave them a second chance after all this... But was pi$$ed when they caved... Took me a bit to get over it... But I did...

 

[jrbtzx12r]

That's pretty funny how the gun shop worker would rather buy from Ruger than S&W. Wasn't Ruger a huge proponent of the '94 AWB?

 

[jshooter]

That's pretty funny how the gun shop worker would rather buy from Ruger than S&W. Wasn't Ruger a huge proponent of the '94 AWB?

"An honest man doesn't need more than 10 bullets" or something to that effect. FU Bill Ruger.

 

[drgrant]

That's pretty funny how the gun shop worker would rather buy from Ruger than S&W. Wasn't Ruger a huge proponent of the '94 AWB?

http://www.thegunzone.com/rkba/papabill.html

ETA: He's dead now, and it seems like Ruger is somewhat less accommodating to the anti viewpoints..... I would have thought that hell was going to freeze over before ruger released handguns for CCW, AR-15 type rifles, and polymer framed striker fired autos, and normal capacity magazines for all of the above. They even make a version of the ruger mini now for free states that has all the "ban" stuff back on it.

-Mike

 

[C & F Guns]

That's pretty funny how the gun shop worker would rather buy from Ruger than S&W. Wasn't Ruger a huge proponent of the '94 AWB?

My thoughts exactly