[url]http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/911252/posts[/url]

What he said makes sense.  Renewing the ban won't hurt their sales.  Neither will not renewing the ban.

Obviously Bushmaster will offer pre-ban configs (new to civilians) once the law is no longer in effect.  Otherwise they will lose market share.

Well if they are indifferent on the AWB extension, then I am indifferent on the lawsuit against them.

This kind of crap is pissing me off.

And while I was planning on buying a bushie when I get another job and back on my feet, I won't be making any more plans. I will buy another ArmaLite, when the time comes.

Another gun mfg has joined the ranks of Bill Ruger, S&W and Glock.


Face it guys, we are being sold out for the dollar, no one cares about our rights.

Way too early to say we are being sold out and Bushmaster is right that from a business perspective the first ban didn't hurt business at all and they need the gun lawsuit protection a lot more than they need the ban to die.

However, I think they have poorly estimated how their customers are going to respond to such commentary. I know I'd rather support a manufacturer who looked at a little more than just the bottom line when it comes to guns.

I agree with that 100%.  They easily could have said, "The 1994 law places a burden on us to maintain separate lines of products which is a cost to our business.  It would be helpful to us if the ban was allowed to disappear."

Unfortunately Bushmaster was being represented in that article by a less-than-market-savvy spokesman.  I'll bet that they are opposed to a reauthorization, but are worried about bad press.

"Companyt that supplied beltway sniper rifle wants to flood street with assault weapons".

Can't you just see the headline?

A "No Comment" reply would have been acceptable, and would allow for some speculation as to what was really their stance.

I am not interested in giving them the benefit of the doubt, just because of a chance that they used a poor choice of words.

The company had to know that this discussion/question would come up, and I think this was a prepared statement. I think it was carefully thought out and stated. Don't try to read into it, take it at it's face value.

Hey folks, look at the source of this BS! It's the "PortlandPressHerald," another one of those @$$wipe liberal "newspapers." PortlandPressHerald can bend/spin the BS facts anyway they want, but the ban is going away, pure and simple; and of course these folks are gritting and knashing their teeth. Those news media folks have lost their creditability at least in the gun control debate.

Where is the bend/spin?

How was Bill Ruger's statement on limiting the number of rounds in a magazine bent/spun?


It is about the money.

We need more people like the owner of Barrett Firearms. Not more like Bill Ruger.

I think Bushmaster should respond here as they have a forum here. One can be misquoted in a newspaper. He may have said that Bushmaster would be ok if the ban was renewed, not that "it" would be ok. Then again, he may have been quoted accurately. They should repond to us, their customers, and do it right here.

Bushmaster/Quality Parts Corp has been a friend of the AR15 shooters for many years, and who are you folks going to believe first, the anti-gun news media or a friend. What the word "psych-ops" mean?

"From our view, extending the ban is probably OK."

WTF!!!

This made my freakin' blood boil when I read it!

The AWB isn't about the "evil" features of an AR-15 type rifle - it's about my right to own a firearm per the CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES!!! I don't give a GD what kind of gun it is - I DO NOT view any gun ban as, "OK."

What in the hell was this guy thinking when he said that? It is amazing to me that BM has asked it customers for help (in which I have written and my senator, rep) with preventing frivolous lawsuits against the firearms industry then turns around and spits in our faces with kind of BS.

Is he kidding himself? The AWB is a veiled attempt by the anti-gun rights groups to get their foot in the door. It is only one attempt of many to come toward complete gun confiscation. Ask Mr. Faraday how that will affect BM's bottomline then?

No kidding, I just bought a BM 20" A3 Target rifle last Wednesday. Now I see I should have waited.

I am livid over this. Mr. Faraday's comments need to be confirmed, denied or clarified by BM. If indeed he did say it and it wasn't taken out of context, they have lost a customer. IMO, this puts Glock's support of ballistic fingerprinting to shame!

Has anyone actually called or E-mailed Bushmaster to see what their comments are on this story???

I've emailed them... no response yet. In the other GD thread someone indicated they called and Bushmaster said Farraday was misquoted and they will be posting a statement on their website clarifying his comments.

Wow, they're quick.

[url]www.bushmaster.com[/url]

YEah, check their web site and other posts here

My brother in law used to work for the Portland Press Herald as a senior business reporter.  He left when his editor told him to RADICALLY change his stories to a HIGHLY biased editorial policy.  He was vividly confronted with the fact that the media is extremely biased toward liberal politics and will ignore facts and parts of interviews that do not support their pre-ordained positions.

He left the paper to start his own publishing company and never looked back.

Bushmaster never said what they are reported as having said and the Portland Press Herald will never admit that until a lawyer drops a lawsuit on the publisher's desk.

Spoke with Tom Tyler, their Retail Sales Manager and told me that everything was taken out of context! Bushmaster does not support renewal of the AWB. He blamed most of the article on liberal reporting BS. I am satisfied.


Called Portland Press Hearald and asked if they would comment on Bushmaster's statement on their website. Called Editor Jennine Guttman at 207-791-6310.

Please call her now to see if they will print a retraction to this.

Sorry, I type it in wrong this morning,I was in hurry to leave.

I meant to type:
"...is the slant/spin?"

From Quality Parts Co./Bushmaster website:
Bushmaster Firearms has always been a proud and strong supporter of the Second Amendment and an individuals right to access, own and use firearms. Bushmaster has fought the anti-gun movement continually in their constant efforts to eliminate firearms from our society. We have committed a great deal of our resources to support this effort and will continue to do so.

Unfortunately, the anti-gun movement finds a great deal of favor in much of the press with their bias and slanted reporting. Bushmaster has always tried to be open and honest with the press in an effort to help them see the other side and to educate them on the real issues. Often the real story is left out or slanted in an attempt to feed the anti-gun agenda.

In a May 14th article in a local newspaper, regarding the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban and its sunset provision, the reporter took totally out of context what Mr. Faraday said and slanted the article in a way that made it appear that Bushmaster was in support of extending the Ban. One of the quotes that was taken out of context and was incomplete was "From our point of view, extending the ban is probably OK, in terms of affecting our sales, but we have always supported legislation protecting gun rights, including the Assault Weapons Ban sunset provision." The reporter asked how Bushmaster dealt with the ban in the first place and how we were able to continue our business. The quote that we would consider supporting the bill that would strengthen the current Assault Weapons Ban law was totally mischaracterized. The discussion was about how far apart the pro-gun groups and the anti-gun groups are in trying to understand each other, and that if the anti-gun groups would propose ideas or suggestions that made sense, then we would consider them, but instead their entire effort is to shutdown the industry.

The firearms industry's ongoing battle with the well-financed anti-gun groups creates an atmosphere of absolute non-understanding and non-compromise on both sides. From the point of view of the firearms industry, it has become an issue of survival. As long as the press continues to distort and slant the issues, and the anti-gun groups are determined to destroy the industry, then there never will be any meaningful discussion of the issues.

What did Bill Ruger do?  I want to see if you spout the same bullshit that I have heard before.

He was filmed with Tom Brokaw as Bill said "No honest man needs more than 10 rounds in any gun" and "I never meant for simple civilians to have my 20 or 30 round mags or my folding stock" and "I see nothing wrong with waiting periods".

This interview was used (with Bill Rugers permission) over and over again to rub our faces in the fact that "even a gun manufacture thinks gun control is good".

Following is an excerpt from the March 30, 1989 letter Bill Ruger sent to every member of Congress:

"The best way to address the firepower concern is therefore not to try to outlaw or license many millions of older and perfectly legitimate firearms (which would be a licensing effort of staggering proportions) but to prohibit the possession of high capacity magazines.

By a simple, complete and unequivocal ban on large capacity magazines, all the difficulty of defining 'assault rifle' and 'semi-automatic rifles' is eliminated. The large capacity magazine itself, separate or attached to the firearm, becomes the prohibited item.

A single amendment to Federal firearms laws could effectively implement these objectives."

This letter was taken from the American Handgunner mag, dated Sept 1992 (pg. 18)



Any more questions?


I furthered addressed Bushmaster in another thread. They quickly answered the questions concerning what was written in the paper, I accept their explanation, FWIW, but feel they could have chosen their response to the reporter better.

And there would be no preban or postban guns if his COMPROMISE would have been accepted.  They would have left the guns alone.

He did not initiate this crap, it was an attempt at a compromise to head of the AWB.  Maybe he shouldn't have tried to compromise with these assholes, but his deal would have been a lot better than what we wound up with.  He also acknowledged after it was all over that he learned that you cannot compromise with the antis and has made every effort to atone for his mistake up until the day he died.

Could it possibly be that his comments were edited and quoted out of context the way Bushmaster's were in this latest incident, or is that only reserved for gunmakers you like?  I couldn't possibly be that they edited the tape to twist his words, could it?  No, probably not, since his guns aren't expensive enough to suit some, he gets no break.

Look LarryG,

I am not looking for an argument over this, this was on broadcast tv and in the NRA magazine. Maybe he did regret it later in life, but the damage was already done.

I agree to disagree with you about this, an argument will solve nothing.

Didn't mean to bring up a sore point, we have had enough of these lately.

What's your opinion?
Should Congress ban certain types of assault rifles?

No, I am not in favor of a ban on assault rifles: 82.16%

Yes, I am in favor of a ban on assault rifles: 14.66%

I'd need more information to make a decision: 3.18%



Total Votes: 1132

The reporter can be contacted atStaff Writer Matt Wickenheiser can be contacted at 791- 6316 or at: [email protected], and let him know how "brilliant" aka bull$hit his story is.
=============================================================

Wednesday, May 14, 2003

http://www.pressherald.com/news/state/030514assault.shtml

As sales soar, Bushmaster shrugs at bid to renew gun ban

By MATT WICKENHEISER, Portland Press Herald Writer

Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

Nearly a decade after Bushmaster Firearms and other gun makers lost their fight to block a federal ban on assault weapons, the Windham company has increased its sales by at least 900 percent, erasing fears that the ban would put some manufacturers out of business.

At Bushmaster, revenue is 10 to 15 times what it was before the 1994 law, said Allen Faraday, the company's vice president of administration.

"We adjusted our business as to what was allowed and what wasn't allowed, and we've grown since then," Faraday said. "Basically, what we did was, going forward, we eliminated all of those items that made it a banned firearm."

So, as Congress begins to consider an extension of the assault weapons ban, Bushmaster is largely indifferent. At the same time, some gun-control proponents cite the sniper shootings around Washington, D.C., where a Bushmaster gun was used, as an example of the need to extend such bans.

Legislation has been filed to indefinitely extend the ban, which is set to expire in September 2004.

"Of course we were opposed" to the ban initially, Faraday said. "It was the latest attempt - and a very powerful one - for the anti-gun people to ban firearms. What they do is go after the military, sinister-looking firearms first."

But Bushmaster is less worried about an extension. "From our point of view, extending the ban is probably OK," Faraday said.

In fact, the 77-employee company is so bullish about the future that on Tuesday it announced plans to buy a bankrupt competitor, Professional Ordnance Inc. of Lake Havasu City, Ariz.

Faraday declined to reveal sales figures and is not required to do so because Bushmaster is a private company. However, he said the firm - which makes semi-automatic rifles for civilians, as well as automatic weapons for the military and foreign government agencies - has increased its sales across all markets.

Bushmaster has pushed quality and customer service, Faraday said, while a major competitor, Colt, was having problems in those areas. Colt also lost support from traditional supporters, such as the National Rifle Association, when it agreed with a federal government request to put trigger locks on its guns.

"In terms of non-government sales, we are the largest in the country," said Faraday. "We're much larger than Colt for AR-15-type rifles," a semiautomatic version of the most common military weapon.

An extension of the federal ban has been proposed by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. President Bush has also indicated he would support extending the ban.

According to a statement from Feinstein's office, assault weapons accounted for 8.2 percent of all guns used in crimes in 1993. In 1996, the latest date for which statistics are available, the number dropped to 3.2 percent.

The original ban listed a series of specific firearm models that were prohibited. Bushmaster's AR-15, a civilian version of the M-16, wasn't on the list, said Faraday, and that allowed the company to make product modifications that helped it thrive.

The federal law defined "assault rifle" by characteristics. Bushmaster's weapons included several of the features, including a telescoping stock, threads for a screw-on flash suppressor and a lug for mounting a bayonet, Faraday said.

Bushmaster fought the ban until it was clear the legislation would become law. Then the company began to redesign its AR-15 to comply with the new statute, he said. The changes were all cosmetic and didn't affect the gun's performance, Faraday said. Also, a limit on the size of magazines for the guns lowered the number of rounds to 10 from 30, he said.

Faraday said most of the gun manufacturers made similar changes to their designs, and that he wasn't aware of any business that would suffer if the ban weren't lifted as scheduled.

If the ban is removed, Faraday said a market probably would develop for weapons with the missing modifications, because that would make the guns more like their military cousins.

"I suspect we would respond to the market, and if the market wanted some other rifles in the pre-ban configuration, we would follow the law and we might offer those," said Faraday. "There was nothing we were required to do that would make that rifle safer."

Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, both Republicans, have yet to announce their positions on the proposed extension.

The House version of the bill would strengthen the current law by including weapons modified to get around the ban, such as Bushmaster's Superlight Carbine. Faraday said he wasn't familiar with the House bill, but said, "If it makes sense, then we certainly will consider it."

Bill Harwood, president of Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence, said the ban should go further. "It has had some effectiveness, but it's not nearly what it could be," he said.

"Manufacturers are very, very successful at finding ways of getting as close to the line as possible," Harwood said. "Bushmaster's a good example. They've learned how to work around the assault weapons ban and still supply firearms to people who are capable of doing things like those done by the Beltway (Washington) snipers."

Bushmaster made the gun used in the shootings last fall, and the company is facing a lawsuit by relatives of victims. The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, also names the Tacoma, Wash., gun dealer that either sold or lost the rifle, as well as the sniper suspects, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Malvo. Muhammad and Malvo are accused of killing 13 people and wounding five others in Washington, D.C., Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland and Virginia.

Faraday said Bushmaster supports a pending bill that would not only ban lawsuits unless the manufacturer commits a crime, but would also allow for current lawsuits to be dropped after judicial review.

"These are lawsuits that are . . . saying the industry needs to be held responsible for who buys their firearms, and how they're used, marketed, etc.," said Faraday.

The House version of the bill passed 285 to 140, said Faraday, but the Senate version hasn't been heard yet.

Staff Writer Matt Wickenheiser can be contacted at 791- 6316 or at: [email protected]