NSSF Post-Election Day 2016 Statement
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for the firearms and ammunition industry, today congratulates President-Elect Donald Trump on his historic victory.
The American people have spoken. We have elected a president who has pledged to protect our Constitutional rights and a majority of both houses of Congress that will work to ensure that our individual right to keep and bear arms will be preserved.
The work of those who love liberty and our nation’s hunting and shooting traditions is never over. Americans need to remain involved to help ensure that the defense of our Second Amendment remains strong and the lawful commerce in firearms is protected at all levels of government.
We thank all those Americans who supported NSSF’s 2016 #GUNVOTE voter education and registration initiative. We know that we can count on you. You should know that we remain steadfast in our mission to help promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports.
Smith & Wesson’s Battenfeld Technologies to Acquire UST Brands
Acquisition Will Add Survival and Camping Brands to Accessories Platform – Closing Expected November 2016
Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation, a leading manufacturer of firearms and provider of quality accessory products for the shooting, hunting, and rugged outdoor enthusiast, today announced that its Outdoor Products & Accessories segment, through a subsidiary of Battenfeld Technologies, Inc., will acquire the business of Ultimate Survival Technologies, Inc. (“UST Brands”), a provider of high quality survival and camping equipment, in an asset acquisition for $32.3 million in cash. In addition, up to $2.0 million will be due over a period of two years following the closing, contingent upon the financial performance of the acquired business.
UST Brands is a recognized provider of some of the finest survival and camping equipment on the market. The UST Brands line of personal safety and survival tools includes LED lights, patented all-weather fire starters, unbreakable signal mirrors, premium outdoor cutting tools, first aid kits, signal whistles, survival kits, camp kitchen products, and more. UST Brands’ products are sold through a variety of outdoor, sporting goods, and large retailers, as well as through online merchandisers. Based in Jacksonville, Florida, UST Brands operates from a 100,625 square foot facility.
James Debney, President and Chief Executive Officer of Smith & Wesson, said, “We are very excited to announce the acquisition of UST Brands. With its complete offering of survival gear, UST Brands is our first acquisition that is entirely focused on the outdoor market, which is a key part of our vision to become the leading provider of quality products for the shooting, hunting, and rugged outdoor enthusiast. By expanding its product portfolio and retail presence, UST Brands delivered impressive compound annual revenue growth of 49% from 2012 through 2015. We believe that UST Brands’ broad distribution network, which includes strategic retailers, online retailers, and distributors, will create incremental opportunities for our existing accessories products. Moreover, we believe that the UST Brands product portfolio will benefit synergistically from the product innovation, distribution network, and efficient sourcing model that have contributed to the success of our Accessories Division under the leadership of its President, Jim Gianladis.” Continue reading
Springfield Armory Hopes to “Defend Their Legacy” with New SAINT
The Wait is Over: Oh, Good – Another AR-15 on the Market!
Springfield Armory has been teasing and building hype for their new SAINT product for a while now with their “Defend Your Legacy” campaign and, yesterday, they revealed what it is. It’s an AR15. Try to contain your excitement.
If you think that releasing yet another version of a rifle that will be celebrating its 60th birthday next year is not exactly a game changing event worthy of all the hype… well, we probably won’t argue with you. To be sure, the SAINT is a nice enough rifle, but is it really “the ultimate refinement of the AR-15 form” that they claim it to be thanks to its “relentless execution of core features?”
The SAINT features a flat top upper receiver that is ready for your optics and includes a Springfield-branded flip-up rear BUIS (rumored to be a UTG Pro) but, curiously, they opted for a fixed front sight to which the handguards are anchored instead free-floating the A2 birdcage-equipped 16″ 1:8 CMV barrel inside of full-length rail system. Do you know what you do get though? KeyMod. The twelve people who like KeyMod, and the three companies who make native KeyMod accessories, will be very happy about that.
Speaking of the small handful of companies who make KeyMod accessories, other than the fact that it is KeyMod (and that it is load bearing against the front sight), the handguard is probably alright, considering that it is made by Bravo Company. However, a far cry from their Alpha handguards, the exclusive PKMT handguard looks a lot like a KeyMod version of the basic Magpul MOE-SL handguards, BCM also makes the included Gunfighter Stock and the Mod 3 Gunfighter Grip that round out the furniture department. Continue reading
Trump: The Official NRA Q&A
via NRA-ILA
This year’s race for the White House is like no other in our history. Hillary Clinton has made it clear that, if elected, she will come after our firearm freedoms on her very first day in office. So it’s no exaggeration to say that the Second Amendment is on the ballot this November. Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, to discuss our right to keep and bear arms and what’s at stake for America’s gun owners in this election.
Chris W. Cox: Mr. Trump, I’d like to begin with an issue of concern to many gun owners. In your 2000 book, The America We Deserve, you stated that while you oppose gun control, you support the federal ban on semi-automatic firearms—the so-called “assault weapons” ban—and also support a longer waiting period to purchase a firearm. During this election, however, you’ve repeatedly pointed out you oppose gun and magazine bans and only support background checks that are instant, accurate and fair. Would you say your position has evolved on these issues?
Donald J. Trump: Absolutely. Over the past 15 years I’ve learned a great deal about how we can protect the good people of this country from those who mean to do us harm. Gun control is not the answer—protecting the rights of law-abiding citizens is the answer. Furthermore, gun bans don’t work. Studies were done after the 1994 “assault weapons” ban expired. They clearly showed that the ban didn’t protect anyone, didn’t reduce crime. It just made it harder for law-abiding citizens to protect themselves with the firearm of their choice. Like with all things, I believe in what works, and gun bans don’t work. I have two sons who don’t just believe in the Second Amendment, they live it. They hunt, target shoot, shoot competitively and carry firearms for personal protection. They’re NRA members, and so am I. I also have a concealed-carry permit. Our commitment to the Second Amendment is unshakable.
CWC: As you know, the future of our firearm freedoms hangs in the balance with the passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia—the author of the Heller decision—which held that the Constitution guarantees the individual right to keep and bear arms. I have a couple of questions related to the Supreme Court, but first, do you agree that the Second Amendment guarantees a fundamental, individual right to own and use firearms for lawful purposes? Continue reading
Branco: MSM Has Fingers Wedged in Hillary Clinton’s Cracks
Liberal “mainstream media” appear to be a modern-day version of Hans Brinker’s Hero of Haarlem. Drip, drip, drip.
A.F. Branco: Damn! Put a plug in it. Wikileaks exposes Hillary Corruption.
HuffPo Pulls Anti-Gun Article After People Notice Them Advocating Gun Theft
It is not as if a story like this will surprise anyone who has taken any notice of the anti-gun “movement” for the past decade or so. That crowd has a rich history of having no respect or appreciation for the rule of law and for projecting their own sick personality disorders onto the rest of society. This behavior can be seen frequently when gun-grabbers spout off their sick world views, such as “nobody needs a gun unless you plan on killing someone” or when they advocate new (and useless) gun control laws which are in direct conflict with state preemption laws or, almost universally, the United States Constitution. This has been the case for decades, if not centuries, and the advent of the internet and the growth of social media has added some fun new twists into the mix.
Further evidence of the bizarre mindset of many associated with the anti-gun movement can be seen on just about any pro-gun social media page, where the talk inevitably devolves into obsessive conversation about male genitalia. Anti-gunners are so desperate to decry “lax gun laws” that they cannot be bothered to figure out what the laws are and end up committing felonies, as Katie Couric and her team did during the production of their gun control hit piece. They also take to social media to continue spreading their anti-law-and-order platform, like when the absurdly-named Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (nee National Coalition to Ban Handguns) recently for citizens to misuse the 911 system and waste police resources by sending police on an emergency run any time they notice someone carrying an open or concealed firearm. “For the children.”
But now, the anti-gun groups, their army of social media robots and astroturf trolls, and their sympathetic media puppets are sinking to even greater depths.
The latest group of social media malcontents is a small contingent (perhaps as small as one) of anti-gun trolls operating a large number of Twitter accounts whose main shtick has been violent, potty-mouthed attacks on anyone who disagrees with them (whom they have, again, strangely sexualized with the nickname “gun humpers”), sharing photos of their sex toy collections, and promoting vandalism of public spaces with anti-gun messages. As if online harassment, stickers, and spray paint were not enough, this group has now apparently graduated from cyberbullying and petty crime to promoting out-and-out felonious theft of firearms, to include breaking and entering and burglarizing of people’s homes, garages, and vehicles. Continue reading
