Posted on 12/04/2011 11:18:08 AM PST by thecodont
Sales may be showing that consolidation / centralization of the American gun industry has been good for sales but stats also indicate the increase in gun sales has been a direct effect of the faltering economy and general distrust about our future. Sorry to cite the obvious but the buying up of the arms manufactures in the US by a small group of wealthy people could result in the industry going the way of the MSM. Worse yet they could decide to close their doors and fold up shop.
This might explain the sudden interest... hunting and Airborne qualified.
Apparently he sees a good potential in the market.
.
.
.
Stephen Feinberg Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Senior Managing Director
OCTOBER 3, 2005
(much more at the link)
PICKUP TRUCKS AND BUD
The mind-boggling rise of Cerberus — from a fringe vulture fund started with a grubstake of about $10 million in 1992 to a Wall Street powerhouse — has been driven by its enigmatic boss, Stephen A. Feinberg, 45. Like other hedge-fund managers and buyout kings, Feinberg has a penchant for secrecy, although his is more developed than most. While co-founder William L. Richter deals with investors, and lieutenants such as former Vice-President Dan Quayle jet around the globe to seal deals, the mustached Feinberg keeps very much to himself in a nondescript office on the 22nd floor of a high-rise on Manhattan’s Park Avenue. The walls are bare save for a lone photograph of a motorbike that is propped up against his window; a black kid-size motorbike with training wheels — a gift from an outside adviser — is parked next to his desk.
The son of a steel salesman, Feinberg was born in the working-class town of Spring Valley, N.Y. He still describes himself as “blue-collar,” even though he’s a Princeton grad and took home about $50 million last year. “While other hedge-fund managers are collecting fine French wines and flying around in private planes, he drives a Ford truck and drinks Budweiser,” says college roommate Jonathan Gallen, who runs his own hedge fund. Cerberus doesn’t even have a Web site — and it doesn’t reveal exactly which companies it owns. Feinberg declined to be interviewed or photographed for this story, but dozens of current and former Cerberus executives, investors, and associates spoke with BusinessWeek, many not for attribution.
Feinberg may be weighing megadeals, but at least by the standards of Masters of the Universe, his tastes are unpretentious. He lives with his wife and three daughters in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan that cost less than $4 million in 1997. He also owns a 2,500-square-foot home in Stamford, Conn., that he bought in 1991 for around $500,000. To relax, he goes hunting, usually for pheasants and partridges on weekend trips to upstate New York with money-manager buddy T.K. Duggan. But last fall he raised the stakes by traveling to Colorado and scaling an 11,000-foot mountain in pursuit of bull elk. He felled the first one he saw with one shot, says Duggan.
When Feinberg was at Princeton it was far from obvious that he’d become a business mogul. He was brainy enough to beat classmates in games of chess but nervy enough to sign up for the Reserve Officers Training Corps, making jumps out of airplanes as part of his training in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. By senior year, Feinberg was the captain of the tennis team, but not because he was a natural athlete. “He was a hustler,” recalls roommate Gallen. “He wasn’t the most talented player, but he had incredible willpower.” He was also private back then: In his entry in the senior class directory, Feinberg mentioned Gallen as one of a handful of people who were his “few real friends.”
Feinberg majored in politics, producing a senior thesis arguing that drugs and prostitution should be legalized. For the paper, he not only delved into theories about the appropriate role of government but also spent a summer interviewing cops, hookers, and pimps in New York City. Feinberg took the position to impress a professor who he perceived as liberal after receiving a bad grade arguing the opposite view in a paper the previous year, says a person close to him. Today Feinberg contributes to Republican causes. He and his wife Gisela sent $114,000 in the 2003-2004 election cycle to committees working to elect Republicans to Congress.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_40/b3953110.htm
I agree. Were someone actually buying up companies to create a monopoly, to run or shut down, we have laws to deal with that, and it’s no where near the case here. My recollection, Remington was in financial trouble. If so, they might not be here. And this is a venture capital company, when the companies are healthy they’ll likely spin them off.
The local gun store I do business with has had visits from Freedom Group brass, and they love the company. All gun manufacturing is done by small companies, and Freedom Group keeps some of the most respected ones going. Partly because these companies can now share technology, and pool resources.
Don't worry about some CEO deciding to stop all firearms production as the price of admission to elite cocktail parties. As The One has shown, he can seize any corporation he wants, and distribute it to his friends. If it works for some giant like Chrysler or Government Motors, it would be even easier for some "struggling" small business like Remington or Colt.
Yes, the Justice Dept could expand on it's position as the preferred supplier to Mexican drug gangs to supplying drug dealers and terrorists worldwide.
Freedom Group is held by a good conservative. If I had his money I would be doing the same thing he is.
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/c/Cerberus-Soros.htm
http://counterpsyops.com/2011/10/18/does-soros-own-all-us-gun-ammo-manufacturers/
300winmag,
(Not to highjack this thread, but) Your handle and tagline crack me up. I was at an outdoor range a while back when a fellow with a 300 Win-magnum set up next to me.
I was sighting in my old .22 rifle. He warned that I might want to put on my hearing protection.....I did for his second shot. :)
Jeez...that thing sent leaves airborne on the ground downrange of his bench.
300winmag,
(Not to highjack this thread, but) Your handle and tagline crack me up. I was at an outdoor range a while back when a fellow with a 300 Win-magnum set up next to me.
I was sighting in my old .22 rifle. He warned that I might want to put on my hearing protection.....I did for his second shot. :)
Jeez...that thing sent leaves airborne on the ground downrange of his bench.
Those "small dealers" were/are individuals who used to have the ability to deal in firearms out of their homes if they had the proper FFL. Case in point being a friend of mine.
Once the Feds upped the licensing fee for those individuals, they stopped applying for the license since the fees, and the record keeping wasn't worth the effort for their limited number of sales which were primarily to friends and family.......
The local gun store I do business with has had visits from Freedom Group brass, and they love the company. All gun manufacturing is done by small companies, and Freedom Group keeps some of the most respected ones going. Partly because these companies can now share technology, and pool resources.
Don't worry about some CEO deciding to stop all firearms production as the price of admission to elite cocktail parties. As The One has shown, he can seize any corporation he wants, and distribute it to his friends. If it works for some giant like Chrysler or Government Motors, it would be even easier for some "struggling" small business like Remington or Colt.
Today maybe but what about tomorrow. Henry Ford would be spinning in his grave if he could see what the modern Ford Foundation has been turned into.
"The Ford Foundation’s personnel are continuing to operate under directives from the White House to so alter life in America as to make possible a comfortable merger with the Soviet Union." — H. Rowan Gaither, President The Ford Foundation (1953)
The local gun store I do business with has had visits from Freedom Group brass, and they love the company. All gun manufacturing is done by small companies, and Freedom Group keeps some of the most respected ones going. Partly because these companies can now share technology, and pool resources.
Don't worry about some CEO deciding to stop all firearms production as the price of admission to elite cocktail parties. As The One has shown, he can seize any corporation he wants, and distribute it to his friends. If it works for some giant like Chrysler or Government Motors, it would be even easier for some "struggling" small business like Remington or Colt.
Wear ear protection at all times when shooting, even with .22 cal. as hearing loss is cumulative and irreversible. Eye protection as well.
Thanks for the story behind the story
This group worries me. They control the gun industry from powder to finished rifles. If they so choose, they can shut it down over night.
Cerberus Capital Management is a private corporation, meaning no ticker to see who owns what. Wouldn’t be surprised if this was a GS corp.
Been thinking about a Remington 7600 in .308 or .300WM.
This is an interesting article on who owns which fire arm companies.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=35418
Freedom Group are a collection of gun nuts who are following a lifelong dream of owning some fine gun companies. One of the big internet gun bloggers spent an afternoon with one of the principals and the guy lives, eats and breathes guns. And has an extensive collection of guns.
I am very pleased that my own favorite company, Harrington and Richardson is owned by them. High quality rifles at very reasonable prices.
Now, if H&R would put out a .45-70 with a 32 inch barrel, rolling block action with maybe a double set trigger, life would be perfect.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.