Cooper Arms, who’s CEO we talked about earlier, have updated their web site:
Regarding the USA Today Article. Cooper Firearms of Montana, Inc. did not contribute and does not support in any fashion the campaign of Senator Obama.
Nine months ago Dan Cooper (personally) made an online donation to the campaign in an effort to help defeat Hillary Clinton and in protest of American plant closures and the shipping of jobs overseas. Three months ago he made yet another donation to the McCain campaign and the RNC totaling over twice that given to Obama campaign.
There is no doubt that the article in USA Today has caused a considerable response. To this end we are encouraged and stand with our fellow NRA members and supporters of the Second Amendment and against those who oppose it.
There’s one problem with this claim, the USA Today article was an interview. Dan Cooper was quoted as supporting Senator Obama. He was also quoted as being “chief executive of Cooper Arms, a small Montana company that makes hunting rifles.” I appreciate that Cooper Arms didn’t donate to Senator Obama, since corporate contributions to candidates for public office are illegal, but the man who runs the company, and represents himself as its CEO, did. But what about the other claims? Fortunatly, John McCain keeps his entire donor list online:
You will notice there’s no donation from a Dan Cooper. Now, it’s possible that he donated to McCain’s camp after September 1st, which means his donation went to the RNC, rather than the McCain camp. But we look up his donation history on OpenSecrets.org:
Of course, there’s not to be found the donation for 3,300 that was mentioned in the USA Today article. I’m not buying Cooper Arms spin on this. They need to explain why their CEO is on record, in an article that he was pretty clearly interviewed for, as supporting Barack Obama this election. I can understand why the employees of Cooper Arms might want to minimize the damage something like this could do to their company, but there are consequences to be suffered by the poor decisions of their CEO, who should have thought about his company before endorsing a candidate who has voted to ban guns, and common hunting ammunition.
The irony is that they will pay no matter what. If Obama is elected the company will suffer for all the obvious reasons, and even if Obama is not elected they will suffer by losing customers. I, for one, will not be able to buy from Cooper arms until there is some explaining done, and if that is satisfactory I will put them low on my list of companies to patronize.
Why he did not keep his big mouth and wallet shut is beyond me.
Dan Cooper IS the registered agent for Cooper Firearms of Montana, Inc, according to the records kept by the Montana Secretary of State. I would think if anyone else owned stock in Cooper Firearms, they would have him explain why he made the questionable choice of linking the corporation to his personal political opinions. It’s a poor business decision.
An Obama administration and a Congress controlled by Democrats will cause more American jobs to be lost with increased regulation, higher income and capital-gains taxes, price ceilings, even more spending on questionable social welfare programs, and trade restrictions.
The complete list for all candidates is found here as well:
http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/campaign-finance/search-contributions.html
It shows all the contributions by zip code, with 59870 for Cooper.
No contribution to McCain is listed.
Bill
Besides taking a look at Dan Cooper somebody should also take a look at Larry Potterfield at MidwayUSA. I don’t trust him at all!
MidwayUSA is a big donor to NRA. I doubt there’s any problem there. What makes you not trust him?
I did a search of the Federal Election Commission database earlier this morning, which includes “soft money” contributions to political parties. Indeed there is no record of Cooper donating anything to the McCain campaign or the Republican party.
It also shows his home addresses. There’s a home in California and Ohio–not one in Montana.
I pity his employees, who no doubt are taking most, if not all, of the phone, e-mail, and fax heat. They need change. The president and CEO should take full responsibility, not the Montana-based employees.
Potterfield’s wife is recorded as giving solely to Republican candidates. No donations to anyone from Larry.
BTW, Brenda and Larry Potterfield of MidwayUSA have donated thousands to pro-Second Amendment candidates in Missouri. I will continue to redistribute wealth to to them and their employees, all fine people, as I have done since the inception of their mail-order business.
I have a MidwayUSA order right in front of me. The add-a-buck option to the NRA that MidwayUSA and a growing number of other companies such as Brownells offers to customers is always a plus for me. And I’ve never seen an NRA contribution can sitting on the sporting goods counter at Wal-Mart. Gun stores that support the Second Amendment in any way such as funding 4-H shooting sports deserve our wealth.
Sebastian,
Thanks for taking the time to actually dig into this and discover if there’s any “there” there. I prefer knowing the truth about someone’s actions before I grab my torch and pitchfork and join the angry villagers.
Somerled makes a good point. All of my gun business is with the local dealers in the Richmond area (Dance’s Sporting Goods, Greentop and Degoffs are my favorites) that support Friends of NRA events and they always allow me to put pro-gun political flyers in their stores. Cabela’s, Gander Mountain, and Bass Pro Shops get a lot of my hunting supplies business and all three in some part support either NRA’s efforts or the shooting sports with their money. I’m not a Wal-mart basher but they don’t do anything for gun rights and buying guns and shooting supplies from them doesn’t help our cause.
Well, now the little “explanation” on their webpage has been removed. Perhaps they did not like being caught in the lie?
Maybe more than didn’t like getting caught, now the website says that Dan Cooper has been asked to resign.
No indication that he will, or will be forced to, resign. However, it should cover their posteriors until after the election.
This is an absolute tragedy that a person can’t back who they believe will be better for the country. I am an Obama supporter and if I thought he would take away my guns I would not vote for him. Here is a bit of info on Republicans on gun cuntrol. Had you known this info about them would you have voted for them?
http://reformed-theology.org/html/issue11/dont_blame_liberals.htm
We are all Americans and we all support our country. It’s a shame that there is so much divisiveness between parties. I have always had and always will have guns. So how different are we.
Obama is endorsed by the gun control group The Brady Campaign. Also by the Humane Society of the United States, who’s goal it is to ban hunting species by species. Look what gun people in his own state say about him.
See this too. It’s all cited, you can look it up.
If you believe Obama isn’t and hasn’t been a huge supporter of gun control in the past, you’re willfully deluding yourself at this point.
And Dan Cooper is free to vote for whomever he wants. Gun owner are equally free to say we won’t patronize his business because the candidate he’s a supporter of will destroy our movement.
You’d better check to see who else at Cooper Arms is a closet Obama supporter. Maybe the Engravers and Machinists.
As far as “our movement”, what frigging movement – this whole thing stinks of the Nazi movement!
Well, I just was listening to GunTalk on the radio, and the snippet below confirms what I just heard on the show. Dan Cooper has just been sacked as the CEO:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2119230/posts?page=50
I guess this is another example how some of these CEOs have lost touch with the common folk (and reality).
Having known Cooper personally for many years, its funny reading the cr*p on this site. All you homos can sit in the closet with your $99 winchester and stroke it thinking about how great it would be if Sarah Palin was president. Having been a life-long republican, you idiots don’t have enough higher brain function to see that you’ve been sold-out by your own party. It’s not Coopers fault that you choose not to see it… you’re as retarded as Palins youngest child.
Well, if you had actually read the crap on this site, you’d know I prefer shooting $1000 dollar AR-15s when I shoot CMP or high-power, or prefer shooting my .22s in handgun silhouette, rather than stroking a 99 dollar Winchester.
Considering you seem to live in Westchester County, New York, I’d really like to understand how it is you know Dan Cooper, who lives in Montana. Perhaps you can explain.
I DO live in montana you idiot… how can you understand complex political issues if you can’t even use a computer properly. Does your mother know you’re playing with her computer? I’ll bet she’d be upset to know the ignorant trash you’re spewing on the internet. You can always support Palin in 2012 moron.
Your ip resolves to NY. Probably because your service provider is located there. Either way, pretty clearly you have some maturity issues. BTW, where can I find a 99 dollar Winchester?
RJ–Your comments about Trig Palin show you to be an insecure, juvenile, classless lowlife. Q: What kind of man attacks a special needs infant? A: A flaming liberal. If Dapper Dan Cooper hangs with your ilk then he definitely deserves to lose his company. Incidentally, the only Winchesters I own are heirlooms from my late Grandpa, a pre-1964 Model 70 .30-06 and a Model of 1873 .40-60 lever gun. Both are worth a tad more than $99.
BTW, Sebastian, GREAT job on this! All of us in the shooter/hunter fraternity are in your debt. FWIW, I believe Cooper actually resides in Ohio now, near his new plant and NOT in MT any longer.
(Oops, typo, Model of 1876, not 1873, Winchester…getting late here!)
Hey Matt, anyone that thinks Palin would be a suitable president if Mcain should die in office is not only a closet liberal homo, but also dangerous and shouldn’t be allowed to vote let alone own guns… let the big boys take care of this one Matt, you go back to your closet and hope you’re not found out.
I hunt, I own a gun and I voted for Obama. Almost 1/2 of Montanans voted for Obama and one hell of a lot of hunters did as well…all of them proud red blooded Americans.
Did you know that he is endorsed by the radically anti-hunting Humane Society of the United States, or did you overlook that in addition to his record on the Second Amendment?
Oh, and if you’re from Montana, why does your IP address say Denver? :)
Obama is Muslim !!!!!!!!!!!
A patriot is someone who takes a stand for the best interest of the people….regardless of how poplular the “perceived” public opinion…. I’m a gun nut, but I voted to get an organized crime group out of Washington… Dan did the right thing…. Never condemn someone for taking a moral stand
A patriot is someone who stands up for the constitution. I hope you enjoy what the Democratic Congress and President are about to bring you Bob.
Dan did the right thing,…. a patriot takes a stand for the best interests of the people….there was an organized crime group in charge of the White House…. someone (including me….gun nut) had to make a responsible vote.
We’ll see how responsible it is when Congress bans most semi-automatic firearms from future sales.
don’t know about semi-automatics…. my deer drop w/ one shot. The Supreme Court has (correctly) supported gun owner’s rights….and I won’t let anyone take my Win. Mod 70 FW 7×57 away ….I’m a patriot…and I’m ordering a Cooper .221 Fireball.
Thanks Bob, but I’m not a hunter. I shoot high-power, where the AR-15 is the platform of choice, and practical pistol, where we use magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. I support your right to hunt. I’d sure appreciate it if you supported my right to participate in the other shooting sports.
BTW, did you know Obama was endorsed by the anti-hunting group Humane Society of the United States?
ALSO….. the current administration has tried to suspend the Constitutional Rights of American citizens for their convenience….I won’t give up my rifles whatever the new admin. says……Obama (see the U.S. Constitution) can’t change that & there’s at least a hope that common sense will rule the congress.
Hey, I’m not much of a fan of Bush either… but McCain wasn’t Bush.
Sebastian ….. shoot away; I’m looking at a new 1911 for the same reason and my best friend has a AR-10 and a LWRC 6.8… shoot away……it’s your Constitutional right. …..and I hate all those little weenie fringe groups.
last comment before I crash….. Dan Cooper is a patriot… the guv’mint can’t take our 2nd Amendment rights (even by force)…and anyone who shoots has every right to hunt, punch holes in targets, or pulverize beer cans….and a Cooper rifle does it better.
That’s good to know. I’ll remember that when the feds coming kicking down my door because I put the wrong parts in one of my rifles. People have gone to jail for that already, and with any new bans, it’s only going to get worse.
don’t let ’em
Sebastian, ….. don’t know you …or where you live, but I’d be there to back you up rlwkjc@comcast.net Houston
Bob:
If you think Dan Cooper is a “Patriot” and was right in what he did, why would you buy a Cooper firearm now?
He was asked to resign, you know. So why would you be buying a gun from a company who disagrees with you so strongly?