My buddy Sebastian is getting a lot of crap over the whole Dan Cooper issue – as an aside, Dan if you’re reading this, you’re still welcome on my show – but back to the issue, Sebastian has received a lot of hate mail from people telling him how bad and wrong he is to come out against Cooper.
The problem of course with that is Sebastian was using the same 1st Amendment rights that Dan Cooper used – and no one, not Cooper Firearms, not bloggers, and certainly not the eeeebil gun lobby suppressed Dan’s right to free speech. He exercised that right, and then had to live with the consequences of it, just like I would have to do if I went on this blog and said that I supported Obama or something equally silly.
What’s funny is that I kind of have a bad feeling about what happened to Dan Cooper; which is hard to explain. I personally disagree with his politics, but I sometimes worry that in the pro-gun community we’re too fast to eat our own. Whether or not that’s an accurate feeling is what I’m struggling with right now.
The haters are only hating because their boycotts are not effective.
They are also hating because the curtain of their “Great Oz” was pulled aside a bit and The People we allowed to see all the Joyce Foundation posters on the wall.
This is, unfortunately for Sebastian, the natural reaction to those whose only weapon is misdirection.
I initially read the post title as “Hatters in the house”.
I am far less amused than I was.
Caleb:
If Cooper were manufacturing EBR’s (Evil Black Rifles) instead of boutique, high-end bolties, do you really believe that he’d be supporting the Big O? It is my estimation that he was offering up some sacrificial dollars in the (vain) hope that his upper-crust-appearing firearms would be exempted from any gun-ban stemming from the Annointed’s coronation.
Further, it is my belief that he is mistaken in this hope, because with the passage of time (and un-Constitutional laws) his boutique bolties will eventually be vilified as “ESR’s” (“Evil Sniper Rifles – capable of hitting small children from miles away”), and then banned also.
His willingness to throw the rest of the shooting community under Obama’s bus indicates clearly to me that he is not “our own”. It was his own actions of supporting a blatant gun-banner that led to his ouster. The gunnies didn’t “eat our own”, because he wasn’t.
I’m a Fudd myself…I’ll be heading up to northern MN this week for deer season. I would have loved to be able to afford one of Cooper’s bolt guns (instead of my rather utilitarian Savage). But I’m also a proud owner of an EBR. And pistols. And shotguns.
Throwing ANY portion of the gun-owning community (whether you’re part of it or not) under the bus in a vain attempt to save your own small portion of the shooting world is unconscionable. Do I have a bad feeling about it as well? Yes, certainly. I feel bad that the founder of a gun manufacturer felt he could support a gun-banner and not suffer any consequences for that heinous action. I feel sorry for him that his judgment was so poor.
Sometimes reality sucks, but it’s a harsh (though justified) reality that gun purchasers will NOT support through their hard-earned dollars a manufacturer that had undermined their sport and their rights.
Quick to eat our own? I think not. Blackwing1 has pretty much nailed it. This is the Jim Zumbo incident on a smaller scale and with different guns, but it’s the same basic concept. Gun owners and manufacturers have to stand together, shoulder to shoulder. After this election, no matter who wins, that will become even more important. We can’t simply accept this sort of behavior–we can just shrug it off as “Well, that’s his opinion,” and then go on as if nothing had happened. Sure, it’s his opinion, and he’s welcome to it. However, actions have consequences, and now he has suffered the the consequences of his action. He acted foolishly, and more than once. It hurt him, probably badly. It should have–painful stimuli is how we learn not to do foolish things.
I see it less as “eating our own” as punishing those that would sacrifice our children.
Name another industry where a leader has come out against portions of that industry. Do you see beer makers opposing hard liquor sales? Cigarette makers supporting bans on cigars? Beef ranchers calling for restrictions on sheep or chicken production?
Those people know enough to understand that their own business would just move up the list every time one above theirs gets checked off.
I have thought more on this, and I’m still conflicted on the issue – I don’t like casting anyone out, because I’d rather try and convert them. But at the same time, I really do understand all the points made, especially w/regard to him just trying to sell us out to curry favor.