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The Big Cities' Financial War on Guns May Backfire
The relevant lesson from the 1990s’ municipal gun litigation is that by attacking the firearm industry as a whole-and looking away from the criminals who pull triggers-politicians provided the NRA and the gun industry with a cause to rally their loyalists. Rather than split the industry away from the gun lobby, as they aimed to do, the proponents of the litigation bound the two closer together. Indeed, one major company that tried to settle the litigation through compromise, Smith & Wesson, was punished furiously by consumer boycotts and nearly driven out of business. S&W’s troubles did nothing to reduce the prevalence of firearms in private hands. Its struggles became a boon to Smith & Wesson’s main competitor, Glock, which saw its sales increase. (I discuss this episode in detail in my book, Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun.)
The relevant lesson from the 1990s’ municipal gun litigation is that by attacking the firearm industry as a whole-and looking away from the criminals who pull triggers-politicians provided the NRA and the gun industry with a cause to rally their loyalists. Rather than split the industry away from the gun lobby, as they aimed to do, the proponents of the litigation bound the two closer together. Indeed, one major company that tried to settle the litigation through compromise, Smith & Wesson, was punished furiously by consumer boycotts and nearly driven out of business. S&W’s troubles did nothing to reduce the prevalence of firearms in private hands. Its struggles became a boon to Smith & Wesson’s main competitor, Glock, which saw its sales increase. (I discuss this episode in detail in my book, Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun.)
