The latest move is to head on over to Europe to lobby those European gun makers to enact gun control. Because surely those European gun makers will be more enlightened, because they’re all so Euorpeany.
They want the European gunmakers, for example, to refuse to allow their weapons to be sold through unlicensed gun dealers. They also want the manufacturers to renounce political meddling in the U.S. through contributions to lobbying groups like the National Rifle Association.
It demonstrates how little they know about how the gun industry works. Manufactures don’t make shipments to unlicensed gun dealers. That would be illegal. They will sell to their US division, who are federally licensed to import. That importer will sell to a licensed distributor, who will sell to a licensed dealer, who sells to the general public. How exactly is, say, Berretta, supposed to control what happens to it after the point of retail sale?
Also, gun industry money is a fraction of NRA’s total contributions. Most of NRA’s money is raised in small increments from its members through traditional fundraising. While losing industry money would certainly hurt a little, it would far from cripple NRA, and you can bet if they were successful in doing this (which they won’t be), NRA would have a fundraising letter out next week talking about how anti-gun forces are bullying manufacturers into cutting off funds, and won’t you pretty please donate 25, 50, 75 or 250 dollars to help NRA make up the short fall.
And before the fundraising letter would even hit the mail, any cooperating European manufacture will have their US market share destroyed by our grassroots. The manufacturers are will aware of this, so all this is doing is costing the anti-gunners money. Though I’m sure they will enjoy the European Vacation on their organization’s dime.
Anyone else see the irony of a Jewish rabbi meeting with a German gun maker to ask for more gun control?
They have enough enthusiasm to travel to Europe and beg companies to stop trying to run a business, but not enough enthusiasm to bother figuring out the difference between NRA and NSSF.
Google ‘Kapo’.
Well, Beretta is a strong 2nd company here in the US and HK doesn’t much exist right now outside of handguns, and like 5 people care about Walther. So who are they talking to?
Maybe Uberti ;-)
Or Umarex.
This is more about establishing a narrative about “unlicensed gun dealers who give away guns to criminals* ” than is it about actual results.
* Other than the BATFE, of course…
This. That lie wasn’t an accident.
How much money does NRA even get from European gunmakers?
I’d be reasonably shocked to find that and of the EU manufacturers make any corporate donations to the NRA.
They’ve gotten quite a bit of money from Beretta and Glock. But most of those donations, ironically, aren’t going to lobbying. They are going to the foundation, meaning they are being used to support shooting sport programs.
And when I say quite a bit, I mean a million or so. NRA’s total budget is 250 million dollars a year. It’s a drop in the bucket.
Ah, indeed.
Any to NRA-ILA, that you know of?
Yeah, they donate to ILA too. MidwayUSA’s round-up program donates to ILA, and I believe Brownell’s also donates quite a bit to ILA as well. I also believe Beretta has donated to ILA.
Yeah, but let’s be a bit careful when discussing the round-up programs like Midway’s. Where does that money come from? NOT from Midway’s profits–it’s a bit extra the customer like me ADD ON to our invoice. In other words Midway is just a conduit from the individual to the NRA–i.e. it’s not INDUSTRY money it’s just another vehicle for INDIVIDUAL money.
Midway and Brownell’s doing this, and promoting it, is a good thing. But ultimately it’s still the individual’s money. (And note I surely was not alone in so donating even before I was an NRA member.)
Beretta, check.
(Midway and Brownell’s, of course … but they’re not European gunmakers!
And Mr. Parker’s point is important; I don’t know if Midway actually gives any money rather than making it Very Easy for customers to do so.)
The interesting thing about Beretta is that I presume it’s more about their shotguns than their pistols; I’d love to know their US sales breakdown, and I suspect that outside of the M9 they make more money on long arms than pistols in the US.
But that’s just a guess…
Maybe Bloomingidiot can be convinced to start a PAC to lobby farmers to not sell to ADM unless ADM promises not to sell grain to the alcohol industry so drunk driving will cease.
Shorter version of what the antis- are asking manufacturers to do: please completely alienate your customers in order to win favor with a bunch of people who will never buy your product anyway.
Yeah, THAT’S a good plan. Let me know how that works out.
It may not be a good plan, but don’t forget that Smith and Wesson did exactly that when it collaborated with the Clinton Administration.
Here is a link to the details:
http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/New/html/20000317_2.html
Most have forgotten and forgiven their sell-out. I haven’t and never will.
Smith & Wesson had british owners when they cut a deal with Clinton, and the British owners were calling the shots. The reason they’ve been forgiven is that once the British owners sold them, their new owners rejected the deal and promised never to return to those ways, and they haven’t.
That taught the industry a lot. If gun owners could nearly kill a brand and company as iconic as S&W because they had become collaborators, who couldn’t they kill?
It is all a plot by Smith & Wesson and Ruger to steal the law enforcement market from Glock and SIG! That’s who is behind those clergymen.
Yeah, right.
Beretta is the oldest family run business in history. Somehow, I don’t see the Beretta family willingly destroying nearly 600 years of success to appease a bunch of wussies who aren’t their customers.