First off all, they make very well made, easy to shoot, and exceptionally well crafted firearms. To suggest they do not is just silly.
They employ a great deal of people who are hard working, good citizens, and support thousands in an environment that has lost thousands of manufacturing jobs.
Sure they pay taxes. They don’t “support” the Commonwealth per se. They support their local communities. For Gods sake, they pay taxes to the Fed gov at a time when most of them would shut down the gun industry.
If SW were to move, my guess is they would move out of the country. None of us need that.
A lot of Freepers talk out their ass when it’s easy and it doesn’t affect them personally. Unless you know what you are talking about, it’s best to support the good guys, even though we are struggling in tough territory. We used to support each other. Lately, this place has turned into a Texas mutual masturbation circle.
Rebuke well taken.
I disagree with you on the quality of their firearms. In every category of firearm that they make, someone does (or did it) it better. About the only place I’d argue they’re the industry leader is with revolvers, and that’s largely by default.
While S&W may well support thousands in an environment that has lost thousands of manufacturing jobs, that’s not necessarily the best thing for the long term. I have absolutely nothing against the folks who work for S&W. However, S&W’s presence in a state that has done everything it can to destroy industry in general and the firearms industry in particular is at best strategically unwise. They’re subsidizing those who in the long run WILL destroy them. You can’t feed a tiger your hand and not expect it to come back later for the rest.
As for S&W leaving the US, I have to assume that they’re as motivated by profit as any other large company. If they felt they could leave the US and make more money by doing so, they would have already done it. The fact that they haven’t tells me that they don’t view it in their best interest to do so.
As for changes in FR, I think there has become less of a tolerance for those areas of the country that are actively seeking to destroy what we have spent 200 plus years to build.
“Unless you know what you are talking about, it’s best to support the good guys, even though we are struggling in tough territory. “
I wanted to expand on this point a little bit more. By your site handle I gather that you’re in VT?
I think many FReepers, including myself, are all for standing tough. The problem is, there are places where you can stand tough, and other places where you’re simply fighting a lost war. VT and MA and NY are states where that’s probably true. While I don’t think that’s true throughout the northeast, there are a few states where it’s simply over.
So do we stand idly by while our conservative brethren set themselves up to be the first “guests” when the leftists decide that their conservative minorities need to be sent off for re-education? Or do we encourage them, sometimes sharply, to get the heck out of dodge while they can?