S&W Continues To Suffer
Financial Woes
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"...[S&W being] British-owned has been one of the problems in how we have come
to be perceived in this country..." |
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-- S&W spokesman Ken Jorgensen |
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The February 25 edition of The Observer, an on-line British news
outlet (www.observer.co.uk), reports that Smith & Wesson (S&W)
continues to face serious financial difficulties because of
dwindling sales brought about by last year's agreement between
S&W and the Clinton Administration. The storied gun maker is one
of the oldest based in America, but has been owned by the British
corporation Tomkins PLC since the mid-1980s. Tomkins, is now
trying to sell S&W - a somewhat daunting task, perhaps, due to the
gun maker's financial situation.
The most tangible evidence of S&W's dire financial situation came
to light last October, when S&W was forced to lay off 15% of its
workforce. The company's sales have been plummeting ever since it
signed the agreement last March with the Clinton Administration's
HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo.
Ed Schultz, S&W CEO at the time of
the agreement, brokered the deal in an attempt to bring the gun
maker out from under the threat of reckless lawsuits faced by the
entire firearm industry. According to The Observer, Cuomo and
Schultz met secretly in a Connecticut hotel, where Cuomo laid
down the challenge, "I have two five-year-olds and a
three-year-old and I have a gun in my home. If you can make me a
safer gun, I'll buy it."
Of course, S&W firearms have always been
extremely safe when handled by educated, responsible gun owners.
Many gun owners did not agree with the Schultz-Cuomo deal, which
led to the precipitous decline in S&W's sales. Schultz has since
left S&W, leaving the company and its workforce to deal with his
ruinous legacy, and Cuomo is now a candidate seeking the
Democratic Party's nomination to run for Governor of New York.
The Observer interviewed S&W spokesman Ken Jorgensen, who
acknowledged that what S&W has experienced has been "a disaster,"
and pressure from pro-Second Amendment consumers "is something
you can't ignore." Jorgensen also stated that the fact S&W is
"British-owned has been one of the problems in how we have come
to be perceived in this country."
Perhaps S&W's woes can be
remedied if it is sold to new owners who have an appreciation of
our constitutional legacy and respect for the Second Amendment.
There are signs that S&W is already moving to distance itself
from its past. The article states that the company is trying to
"dilute the agreement it forged" with Cuomo, which is certainly a
step in the right direction.
Related Stories...
History of the S&W Sellout
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