Smith & Wesson Spurns ‘Smart Guns’ – IOTW Report

Smith & Wesson Spurns ‘Smart Guns’

WFB: Smith & Wesson announced on Friday it will not pursue so-called smart guns or abandon any of its current product line despite pressure from a group of investors.

The declarations accompanied a report prepared by the gun manufacturer’s parent company, American Outdoor Brands, on potential “reputational risk” associated with gun violence in the United States and efforts it was making to develop guns with electronic locks or GPS monitors. The company produced the report after a group of investors, who bought shares in the company with the express purpose of trying to change its internal policies, were able to win a vote forcing them to do so.

The report found customers don’t blame Smith & Wesson for criminal acts committed with firearms, that smart gun technology is “neither reliable nor commercially viable at this time,” and the company’s performance and reputation “are rooted in Smith & Wesson being a strong defender of the Second Amendment.” Instead of changing the company’s position, American Outdoor Brands said the report reaffirmed their current commitments.

“Today’s report complies with a Resolution that was passed by a small percentage of our shareholders in September,” American Outdoor Brands told the Washington Free Beacon in a statement. “Despite the fact that the Resolution was put forward by parties whose interests were not aligned with those of our customers, or those of our shareholders seeking true risk mitigation and value creation, the report represents our good faith effort and investment of company resources. Its contents demonstrate that our reputation with our customers for protecting their Second Amendment rights, and our ability to manufacture the high-quality firearms they want to purchase, are paramount to sustaining and growing our market share and stockholder value.”

The statement is sure to disappoint the activist investors who initiated the report. That group is led by the Adrian Dominican Sisters, a small group of about 600 women who decry “easy access to guns” as responsible for gun crimes. The group has engaged in similar activism at a number of other publicly traded companies to pursue a wide range of political goals. The group said its goal is to achieve social justice and change the way gun companies operate.  more here

20 Comments on Smith & Wesson Spurns ‘Smart Guns’

  1. “The statement is sure to disappoint the activist investors who initiated the report. That group is led by the Adrian Dominican Sisters…”

    I remember when nuns took an oath of poverty. That was back before they became marxists.

    Good for S&W. I don’t really need another gun right now, but I may have to buy one of theirs.

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  2. Good for S&W – for those that don’t remember, S&W was a partner with govt for a gun control initiative in ’93(?). They lost their asses when gun owners boycotted their products as a result. Some people (myself included) still won’t buy them because of that. Once bitten, twice shy.

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  3. This sounds like the vegans who move next door to a chicken farm, then try and get the health department to shut it down.

    OpenTheDoor

    Or like the Muslims moving next-door to a pig farm and complaining.

    I was happy the farmer’s answer was:

    “ Let the pig races begin “

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  4. “… I don’t really need another gun right now…”

    …a man once told me, “You just need one more gun”, @Tony R…which applies regardless of how many have OR how recently you purchased the last one.

    …That man was my gun dealer…

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  5. Smart guns won’t sell, if people wanted them we would already have them. That’s the way the free market works.

    But if they turn out effective and actually improve gun safety people will want them. They will dominate the market then, so when we see all police departments and government agencies reject their current firearms and replace them with smart ones because they are superior and safer to what they use now we’ll see the public follow them and demand the same for themselves.

    Let the law enforcers lead the way and the general public will follow.

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  6. Actually, I have a S&W “smart” Model 10.
    He sits in his secret place, doing nothing, until such time that I need him.
    Oh, and he’s never snuck out and perpetrated any violence on anyone.

    Pretty smart.

    izlamo delenda est …

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  7. Gut and wife hear noise at 2 AM, he grabs his smart gun and the batteries are dead, the bluetooth connection is down, his finger print is misread by his shaking, the Government has temporarily shut down the wifi needed, a gremlin is noted his wife and him are hacked to death so their son sues S&W for 60 million dollars and a gun control judge awards him the money…S&W is gone, next…

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  8. I think maybe it’s time to investigate the Adrian Dominican Sisters with a view to removing their tax exempt status since dabbling in political issues is well beyond the churches purview.

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  9. S&W seems to have figured out
    that one bankruptcy caused by
    lefties was enough.
    I remember that deal the Brit’s
    who owned it cut with Slick Willie.
    Their customers walked and they were
    out of business and bought for a fire sale price of 2 million dollars by
    people who wanted to make guns for
    honest people who wanted them.

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