There's a very simple reason why S&W signed the deal. An attempt to further their profits and make the company more attractive to potential buyers.
Like the rest of the firearms industry, S&W was facing a significant burden of lawsuits filed by cities and the threats by HUD to sue the industry.
HUD made a number of offers to S&W, including relief from the lawsuits and preference in future Federal contracts. S&W saw that it could significantly ease its legal burden while picking up scads of Federal contracts.
Only, there were a couple of problems with that, problems that have made S&W's decision to sign the agreement a financial nightmare for the company:
1. S&W apparently didn't realize that HUD had absolutely no authority to act for the entire Federal governemnt regarding contract procurement. Several months after the agreement was signed, Congress effectively negated this promise when it banned S&W from receiving any preference in Federal contracts.
2. S&W apparently didn't realize that the Feds had absolutely NO sway with about 99% of the entities that were suing the company, the individual cities. HUD never filed its threatened lawsuit against the industry, so that was another hollow promise.
Since S&W signed the agreement nearly 2 years ago, the courts have acted on many of the lawsuits that were facing the industry, tossing the majority of them out.
3. What S&W REALLY screwed up on was the reaction of gunowners. After the terms of the agreement became know, S&W's business dropped by over 50%, and has remained significantly depressed.
The financial situation was so bad that last year the annual company summer furlough was 2 months instead of the traditional 1 month, and something like 125 works were permanently laid off.
Contrary to the claims of some of the S&W apologists that are out there, who desperately want you to believe that if you're not buying new S&W products YOU'RE forcing good people out of work, the only people to blame for those lost jobs are S&W's top management -- the people who signed the agreement, -- and the Clinton administration that offered it.
S&W tried to get a leg up on the competition by selling out your rights to the Government. They failed because the government couldn't, or wouldn't follow through on what it promised (gee, what a surprise), and lots of American gunowners recognized this agreement for what it was, a dangerous assault on YOUR rights.
You're probably going to hear a lot of static from people who say that the agreement is dead, that it's not being enforced so we don't have to worry about it, etc.
To them I say BULLS***. They're
LYING. They may be telling you what they personally believe, but it's still a lie.
The agreement is DORMANT, but NOT dead. Until it is formally revoked by both S&W and the government, it remains a viable, legal agreement between two parties.
While the Bush administration may see no reason to enforce the agreement, how long do you think it would take for someone like Al Gore or John McCain to mandate STRICT compliance with this agreement?
Not long. If anyone else tells you otherwise, they're either lying or living in a fantasy land.
George W. Bush's election bought gunowners breathing room. Nothing more. If the agreement is not repudiated, it WILL come back to haunt all of us.
There are a few very simple steps that you can take to show your displeasure about this agreement.
1. Write your Congressmen, asking that the government formally drop the agreement.
2. Write S&W. Tell them to quit dragging their feet and work toward repudiation of the agreement. Let them know that you won't purchase a new S&W firearm or S&W-branded products until that is done.
3. Don't buy new S&W products. Purchasing a new S&W product is supporting those who would sell your rights for a few hollow promises.
4. Don't buy guns or equipment from dealers who persist in carrying new S&W firearms, and be sure to let them know why.
5. Purchase firearms ONLY from dealers who refuse to deal in traitor's bargain firearms. The most effective way to get S&W to move from their end is to put pressure on their dealers.
A good example of such a dealer can be found here:
Virginia Arms, Manassas, Virginia
I drive an extra 20 miles to get to this shop, but as far as I'm concerned, it's worth every bit of it.
6. Don't fall for sob stories about how you're being a cruel bastard to the honest, hardworking S&W employees who didn't have any part in this agreement.
Quite frankly, they can find other jobs. Being laid off sucks, I know that first hand. But it wasn't the end of my life. I got another job, and I'm doing just fine. They can do the same thing.
What none of us can get, though, are more rights. Once a right is damaged or gone, it's pretty much gone for good.
If fighting for my rights means that every one of S&W's employees is put out of a job, so be it. They are, quite frankly, acceptable losses for the preservation of a fundamental Constitutional right guaranteed to us by men who were one hell of a lot wiser than the S&W management that signed this agreement in the first place.
7. Let your gun owning/buying friends know about this. An educated guy buyer, who cares about his rights, is the most potent friend your rights can have.
An uneducated guy buyer, or one who simply doesn't care, is the most potent enemy your rights will ever face.
Quite frankly, the choice is yours about what kind of legacy you wish to pass on to your children and to future gun owners.
It can be a legacy of personal apathy and increasing governemnt interference in fundamental Constitutional rights that the Founding Fathers left to law-abiding gunowners, or it can be one of saying enough is enough, this is the line I draw, this is where I make my stand.
But whatever choice you make, choose wisely. Far more people than just you have a stake in it.