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Posted: 5/16/2001 12:43:54 PM EDT
S&W has been bought by an American company!
[url]http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010514/bs/manufacturing_smithwesson_dc_2.html[/url]
 
May 14
Firearm Safety Firm Buys Smith & Wesson

Gunmaker Smith & Wesson Corp., an American institution that dates from the Civil War, came back home Monday after being in British hands for 14 years.

Saf-T-Hammer Corp., a maker of safety locks and equipment for firearms, said it acquired Smith & Wesson from Britain's Tomkins Plc for $15 million.

The price is a fraction of the $112 million Tomkins paid in 1987 for Smith & Wesson -- a name that has come to symbolize the gun culture in America.

Scottsdale, Arizona-based Saf-T-Hammer will pay $15 million in cash, with $5 million paid upon closing and the balance due in May 2002, the company said.

Observers linked the relatively low purchase price for Springfield, Massachusetts-based Smith & Wesson to lawsuits filed by communities seeking costs from crimes committed with guns. Gun control advocates say about 30,000 people die from firearms each year in the United States.

Since 1998, more than 30 other U.S. cities and counties have sued gun makers for millions of dollars, said Dennis Henigan, legal director of the anti-gun Center to Prevent Handgun Violence. He said a suit in New Orleans was recently thrown out for legal reasons, but others are heading toward trial, he said, adding that Chicago is looking to recover $400 million from gun makers.

A Smith & Wesson spokesman was not immediately available to say how many suits were pending. No one at Saf-T-Hammer was available, but a publicist for the company said it was consulting its lawyers about the suits and their potential cost.

Saf-T-Hammer said it would incorporate its safety features in Smith & Wesson firearms, which include the famous .357 Magnum and the .44 Magnum wielded by actor Clint Eastwood in his ``Dirty Harry'' movies in which he urged bad guys to ``Make my day!''

``Smith & Wesson, a brand name for 147 years, would be at the top of any list of immediately identifiable corporate logos recognized worldwide,'' Bob Scott, president of Saf-T-Hammer and former vice president of Smith & Wesson, said in a statement.

``We are proud to return this storied company to American ownership. We intend to maximize the value of the name and to fully utilize the manufacturing, marketing and worldwide distribution assets of the company to create appreciation and value for our shareholders.''

``We're excited about the prospects afforded by this unique union of a firearm safety and security device developer and a firearm manufacturer that is synonymous with Americana,'' said Mitchell Saltz, chairman of Saf-T-Hammer.

Bob Delfay, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade organization that represents some 1,800 firearms manufacturers, said it was uncertain how much the price of Smith & Wesson guns would increase if safety features were incorporated in the manufacture.

``..many people like the idea of Smith & Wesson returning to American ownership,'' Delfay told Reuters. ``But there are many fine (gun) companies that are foreign-owned. Ownership, per se, is not going to make much difference as far as whether a company is desirable to consumers.''

Link Posted: 5/16/2001 12:49:59 PM EDT
[#1]
I'll wait and see.

I have suspicion that they'll still push the trigger locks... :).

Link Posted: 5/16/2001 12:50:42 PM EDT
[#2]
Quoted:
Smith and Wesson has been sold by British company Tompkins PLC to an American company.

If the new management does away with the old owner's B.S. agreement and starts acting pro-gun, I'll definetly start buying S&W guns again!


Here's the link:
[url]http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010514/bs/manufacturing_smithwesson_dc_2.html[/url]


View Quote


I'll be ready to buy 4-5 if they do!
Well maybe 1 or 2.
Lynn
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 1:01:36 PM EDT
[#3]
Hmm.  A company called "Safe-T-Hammer" buys S&W and you think they aren't going to make PC guns?  WTF?
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 1:09:47 PM EDT
[#4]
I'll be waiting till after the closing, and see if the sellout deal is dead. Can only speak for myself.
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 1:17:30 PM EDT
[#5]
Great.  So an American company has bought S&W.  Are they buying the company or the assets?  

What happens to the settlement S&W signed?  If Saf-T-Hammer bought the company, then the agreement still stands.  If they bought the assets, there may be an out.  

If the agreement still stands, then there is NO reason to buy S&W.  
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 1:22:55 PM EDT
[#6]
The agreement was just about a dead issue even before the sale.  I talked to a local dealer today---big time Class Three dealer, manufacturer, etc---and he said that of the people he talked to at the SHOT show and Knob Creek, he couldn't find one stocking Smith dealer who had signed the agreement yet none had lost their Smith dealer status.
The government isn't going to push the agreement thing and Smith was ready to let it die, particularly since they were selling the business anyway.
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 1:24:28 PM EDT
[#7]
I wonder where they are getting the $15 mill from? The CEO made a whopping $28,000 in 1999.

[url]ca.us.biz.yahoo.com/p/s/safh.ob.html[/url]
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 1:34:19 PM EDT
[#8]
The agreement isn't a dead issue. At the Sports inc show, a dealer purchasing group, S&W brought out the lawyers in a meeting and told people you have to sign on the line if you want to order S&W. Most dealers got up and left the meeting.
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 1:38:31 PM EDT
[#9]
They have to prove themselves first.  Personally, they may not do a thing different as far as the sellout goes.  Also, there is a distinct possibility this could be a gutting of the company for its manufacturing plants and capability and less of a gun making business venture.  Time will tell.

Also, S&W has a shit load of subsidaries making all kinds of Law Enforcement products.  I wonder if they got those too?
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 1:41:31 PM EDT
[#10]
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 1:44:43 PM EDT
[#11]
Guys, I suggest each and every one of you send S&W an email or snailmail and tell them what you have posted here - that if they publically renounce the "agreement", we'll start buying S&W immediately.

CMOS
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 1:45:07 PM EDT
[#12]
NOT until they renig on the Hud deal![heavy]
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 1:46:50 PM EDT
[#13]
I have read a release from the Safe-T-Corp that they intend to develop their trigger locks for the the entire S&W line.  I can't provide a link, because it was erased real quick.
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 1:48:47 PM EDT
[#14]
Saf-t-corp knew what they were buying!!!! And I say let the boycott go on!!! Make S & W go down in history as a blueprint for what not to do!!!
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 2:02:12 PM EDT
[#15]
Woo hoo! A saf-t-hamper for the Model 29?

"For Da Chilrun"
a Golem-Globulus production

Starring Clint Eastwood as Det. Harry Callahan

Here is an action packed scene:

"Do you feel lucky punk? I know what you are thinking: "Did he unlock that trigger or not?" Well in all of this excitement I lost track myself, but this being one of the most child safe guns in the world, it could keep me from blowing your head clean off. Well, do you feel lucky? DO YOU PUNK???" Click "OOPS! Hey punk, I was just kidd..." BLAM!

Comming to a theater near you in summer of 2002
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 2:34:38 PM EDT
[#16]
If you're interested in the company
[url]http://www.saf-t-hammer.com/[/url]

At $15M, we should have had a group purchase.


Press release saying all S&W will have locks
[url]http://www.saf-t-hammer.com/press_release.htm[/url]
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 2:50:02 PM EDT
[#17]
how can a little lock co. have the assets to but smith n wesson.why would i want to buy their products anyhow,there over priced and the quality of there semis are crap.no thanks theres too much compition out there for my gun buying money.
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 2:56:44 PM EDT
[#18]
They better be REAL nice to us and offer an I`m sorry commerative issue
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 3:02:13 PM EDT
[#19]
I don't think so. I seem to recall the Saf-T-Hammer crowd pushing for "gun safety" and "gun locks" during the Clintonista regime.

I personally don't trust the new crowd. I'm sure they are going to try to push their locks on each S&W as a selling point and to dodge the anti's.

Hell, S&W hasn't really built anything in the last 5 years that I want that bad anyway.
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 4:03:36 PM EDT
[#20]
I will wait and see if the get out of the Klinton deal.  As long as that agreement stands, I will only buy pre-treason Smiths.
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 5:31:24 PM EDT
[#21]
You guys are f***ing stupid!  There's nothing wrong with a safe gun.  I certainly agree that a renouncement of the "agreement" needs to come out from the new owners.  We have already brought S&W to their needs.  We have already taught the Brits to keep their B.S. ideas of gun control on their side of the Atlantic.  We now have new AMERICAN owners of S&W.  If they renounce the "agreement" and run their business just as pro-gun as every other gun maker then I'll be the first to say that those who stand against them need to carry their sorry *sses over to the same side of this issue as Diane Feinstein and Handgun Conrol Inc.

In other words if you aren't part of the solution, then you are most definetly part of the problem!
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 5:38:52 PM EDT
[#22]
[img]http://www.saf-t-hammer.com/grafx/saf-t-trigger/welcome.gif[/img]


The STT is a very small, highly engineered device, permanently and unobtrusively installed in the trigger guard, behind the trigger. When activated by use of a special high security key, the STT extends and prevents the trigger from moving. To reactivate the gun, the same key is used to retract the device into its housing.
View Quote


Or you just bend the bottom of the trigger guard or break it off, that things even crappier than a regular trigger lock.
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 6:33:20 PM EDT
[#23]
Quoted:
The agreement isn't a dead issue. At the Sports inc show, a dealer purchasing group, S&W brought out the lawyers in a meeting and told people you have to sign on the line if you want to order S&W. Most dealers got up and left the meeting.
View Quote


Two questions: 1) when did this happen?
and 2)ummmm...if all the dealers walked out, doesn't that CONFIRM what I just SAID, that no dealers are signing the agreement?  The fact is, if all their dealers refuse to sign the agreement, Smith CAN'T stop selling to them!
And of course, they didn't.
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 6:42:20 PM EDT
[#24]
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 6:48:45 PM EDT
[#25]
We will see. Doesn't really matter to me because they don't make anything I'm interested in.
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 9:31:32 PM EDT
[#26]
Start buying them anytime your ready. This is still a free country.
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 10:15:07 PM EDT
[#27]
I'll buy S&W. I'd like to see the new owners do well. Just leave it unlocked. I'm no sheep.
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 10:17:03 PM EDT
[#28]
So what did they do for the firearms community? Nothing!!!
All they did by buying S&W was buy a platform for thier product, a trigger lock.

[b]Boycott continues!!![/b]
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 10:28:15 PM EDT
[#29]
Actually the company was purchased for a total of $45 million in cash and debts.

The funny part is Tompkins PLC(the British firm) bought S&W for $112 million in 1987. More than 10 years later they sell it for less than half the purchase price.

Lesson learned: Don't screw with American gun buyers. It don't pay. They forgot we are the same guys who chucked their damn tea in the harbor.
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 10:42:12 PM EDT
[#30]
Two questions: 1) when did this happen?
and 2)ummmm...if all the dealers walked out, doesn't that CONFIRM what I just SAID, that no dealers are signing the agreement? The fact is, if all their dealers refuse to sign the agreement, Smith CAN'T stop selling to them!
And of course, they didn't.

This was in early February. I was not there, had to work!, but the owner went. I honestly don't know if every dealer left, that is what my boss told me. Sports inc is a purchasing group whereby a dealer, if certain volume and financial criteria are met, may buy direct from the manufacturer. You can save 5% or more with pretty good terms, which is significant in a competitive market (at least it is here in Utah). Our options to purchaseS&W's were through a distributor, not many of which carry Smith, or direct through Sports Inc. (but only twice a year). Anyways, S&W hadn't sent its Sports inc dealers any info since the original announcement last year. We all thought the deal would fall through with the change in the political climate. So, to most dealers surprise they told us we would have to sign up if we wanted to do a February order. Needless to say the business I work for is no longer a S&W dealer. It's sad because they were our overall best selling line a year and a half ago. There are a few distributors that have them, but they are charging us more than we used to sell them for. I hope the best for them, that is they denounce the agreement w/ hud and others. I still need to get a 4" 629, but I won't get one under these circumstances. The few distributors that have Smith are also circumventing the agreement by continuing to sell them to dealers, at inflated prices.
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 10:47:58 PM EDT
[#31]
I dont think so
Link Posted: 5/16/2001 10:55:57 PM EDT
[#32]

A company that makes trigger locks and has been in business for just ten years.......just bought out a company that was once one of the most respected gun manufacturers in the nation for over 100 years.  Think about it.
Link Posted: 5/17/2001 8:14:15 AM EDT
[#33]
ill only nuy em used and even then pre arregnnment unless they renengage witch i doubt
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