BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation today applauded Smith & Wesson President and CEO Mark Smith for his reaction to a subpoena issued as part of an attempt by Capitol Hill anti-gunners to blame his company and other gun manufacturers for a wave of violent crime resulting from soft-on-crime policies promoted by the same Democrat congressional majority.
In a statement, Smith observed, “A number of politicians and their lobbying partners in the media have recently sought to disparage Smith & Wesson. Some have had the audacity to suggest that after they have vilified, undermined and defunded law enforcement for years, supported prosecutors who refuse to hold criminals accountable for their actions, overseen the decay of our country’s mental health infrastructure, and generally promoted a culture of lawlessness, Smith & Wesson and other firearm manufacturers are somehow responsible for the crime wave that has predictably resulted from these destructive policies. But they are the ones to blame for the surge in violence and lawlessness, and they seek to avoid any responsibility for the crisis of violence they have created by attempting to shift the blame to Smith & Wesson, other firearm manufacturers and law-abiding gun owners.”
“We think Mark Smith speaks for the entire firearms community, from manufacturers on down to individual gun owners who are tired of being the whipping boys for congressional gun grabbers,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “For decades, Democrat anti-gunners have scapegoated gun makers and gun owners for their own ineptness in preventing crime and keeping our communities safe.
“Beltway gun prohibitionists, supported by billionaire-backed gun control lobbying groups and their media lapdogs have endeavored to erode the Second Amendment with the ultimate goal of erasing it from the Bill of Rights,” Gottlieb continued. “They have demonized the firearms industry, firearms owners, the guns they own and the organizations that fight a daily battle in defense of the right to keep and bear arms. And they deny any responsibility for the crime wave their failed social policies have cultivated. In short, their collective moral compass is so dysfunctional the needle has twisted off the dial.”
Gottlieb said he concurs completely with S&W’s Mark Smith, who noted in his public statement, “We will continue informing law-abiding citizens that they have a Constitutionally-protected right to defend themselves and their families. We will never back down in our defense of the 2nd Amendment.”