Attorneys general from Connecticut, Maryland, and New York have opened antitrust investigations into firearm manufacturers that have refused to cave in to the pressure of anti-gun reckless lawsuits designed to bankrupt them. These investigations come after gun dealers and distributors across the nation expressed their outrage over the recent sellout by Smith & Wesson (see Special FAX Alert 3/20/00). Several dealers and distributors have stated they will not carry the British-owned company's products because they refuse to abide by the draconian regulations established by the S&W capitulation. Anti-gun politicians had hoped that S&W's surrender would create a domino-effect of other firearm manufacturers caving in to the threat of reckless lawsuits. Realizing that they were wrong, anti-gun attorneys general such as Connecticut's Richard Blumenthal (D) are using the heavy hand of big government to exert more pressure through antitrust investigations. "We knew and anticipated there would be criticism (of the S&W agreement)," Blumenthal said. "We didn't anticipate there would be apparently concerted activity to retaliate." There are also reports that the Clinton-Gore Administration is exploring the idea of antitrust investigations.
"What they're alleging is hogwash," said Beretta U.S.A. Corp. spokesman Jeff Reh. "The gun industry hasn't done anything." The antitrust charges would be laughable if the bureaucrats mounting the investigations did not have the resources of our tax dollars and subpoena powers at their disposal.
Robert Delfay, president and CEO of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), which represents the interests of gun makers, stated, "If there has been any concerted action in this whole mess it is that of HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and some 30 other local officials working in concert to force compliance with a list of unproven measures that the American public does not support and the Congress has refused to enact." Delfay went on to say, "This misuse of antitrust law is at least as offensive and anti-democratic as these officials' initial misuse of tort law to circumvent the legislative process." It is critical that you call your federal lawmakers and express your outrage over the continued attacks faced by those firearm manufacturers who are gallantly fighting off the reckless lawsuits designed to beat them into the same submissive position taken by S&W. Also, urge your U.S. Representative to support U.S. Representative (and NRA Board Member) Bob Barr's (R-Ga.) H.R. 1032, and U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch's (R-Utah) S. 2270. These bills would prohibit any litigation that seeks to hold manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and importers, who deal in non-defective firearms, responsible for the criminal or negligent misuse of their products, and are awaiting action by the House and Senate. Please contact your U.S. Representative at (202) 225-3121 and urge him to support H.R. 1032, and your U.S. Senators at (202) 224-3121 to encourage them to support S. 2270. Also be sure to express your outrage over the attacks on lawful businesses by bureaucrats trying to circumvent the legislative process.
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