In a surprise move last Friday, the nation’s largest handgun maker,
Smith & Wesson, caved in to zealous anti-gunners in the Clinton
administration and in the courts.
The decision, we are being told, was financial: The gun maker, in
essence, is scared to death it will lose in
court to the 30-odd cities, municipalities and counties (as well as the
Department of Housing and Urban Development) and go bankrupt.
I’ve already heard some grumbling in the ranks about Smith & Wesson
“selling out” to the enemy in the fight over the Second Amendment, but
I’ll tell you something: Blaming the company for the decision they made
is misguided.
It’s easy to say — if you’re not a Smith & Wesson corporate
executive and you’re not the one responsible to stockholders — that you
wouldn’t “sell out to anyone, no matter how tough it got.” But the
reality is S & W is a business, first and foremost, even if their
business involves selling a product ostensibly protected in the
Bill of Rights. And in this day and age, it is a business that has few
powerful allies.
Consequently, it was only a matter of time before they “caved,” but
it’s my belief they won’t be the last. Others will follow.
If you’re looking for somebody to “blame” for this, look no further
than Washington, D.C. The very people who have the power to stop all of
this or, at least, use their bully pulpits to defend the Second
Amendment to the Constitution (even if they don’t agree with it), have
neglected their duties.
If anyone should “pay” for this, it’s them. We can start in the Oval
Office.
Though he comes from a rural state filled with residents accustomed
to being armed, President Bill Clinton has used his power of the
presidency to lobby hard against guns since the day he raised his right
hand and swore an oath before God Almighty to uphold and defend the
constitutional law of the land.
In Congress there are precious few lawmakers who manage to get enough
press who speak authoritatively about our right to be armed and who
support the Second Amendment as strongly as they oppose any efforts to
reform the way “business” is done in the nation’s capitol.
Then there is the establishment press, always too willing to publish
stories and editorials decrying “all the gun violence” but seldom
mentioning all the good an armed populace can do when we use weapons to
defend ourselves. The press could write dozens of stories per day on
the subject of how armed Americans were able to protect themselves or
prevent other heinous crimes from occurring because Americans defend
themselves with firearms millions of times per year.
It is in this political and cultural climate that today’s gun makers
have to survive. But many saw their fate sealed the day this country
allowed the tobacco industry to be extorted nearly to death.
Though most courts, so far, have ruled that cities and municipalities
have no constitutional standing to launch class-action lawsuits against
gun makers, courts used to say that tobacco companies weren’t liable for
the cancer victim who chose to pick up a cigarette years ago.
What is utterly disgusting about this Smith & Wesson decision to add
trigger locks and child safety measures to their products last week is
that they were forced into this decision by people too corrupt or weak
to speak up on their behalf.
Though millions of Americans support gun control in all its different
fashions, millions more do not, and they have never been accused of
being silent on the issue of protecting a vital constitutional right in
this country.
But virtually no one who has the power to make decisions or, at
least, the power to command attention, has had the courage or
constitutional vision to stand up for a right Americans have had since
the beginning.
I can’t believe that lawmakers, pundits, presidents, and editors are
so stupid they actually believe that Smith & Wesson is responsible for
killing a family in Devil’s Crevice, U.S.A. instead of the lunatic who
did the actual shooting. I know with certainty that government
officials and lawmakers, especially, are very much aware of the
multitude of legal hoops gun makers and gun dealers have to jump through
before one firearm can ever be sold to a patron. And I know that even
the most vehement anti-gunner in America can understand that Smith &
Wesson is no more responsible for the theft or illegal use of their guns
than Ford or Chevy is for the theft or illegal use of one of their cars.
And yet, Smith & Wesson — and soon others — are being forced to
make the financial decision to cave in to some of the most ridiculous
and narrow-minded gun control measures ever devised.
Smith & Wesson didn’t “sell out.” They were sold out a long time ago
by generations of constitutionally compromised government bureaucrats,
congressmen and presidents.
