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One of the nation’s largest gun manufacturers won’t sell its newest firearm in California because of a state law that requires firearms to imprint a unique stamp on bullet casings. Smith & Wesson said Thursday it would not sell a semiautomatic pistol in California because of the law, signed in 2007 by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and implemented last year. It’s the second big gun manufacturer to pull some of its products out of California in the last several months. The gun companies said the law, which requires each firearm to imprint a so-called “microstamp” on bullet casings, impose unbearable...

Gun maker Smith and Wesson announced this week it would cease selling in California due to the state’s new semi-automatic regulations. Smith and Wesson has been around since the mid 1800s. Breitbart reported: On January 22nd renowned gun maker Smith & Wesson joined Sturm, Ruger, & Co., by announcing it would cease California sales of its semi-automatic pistols due to microstamping requirements that went into effect last year. Ruger made the same announcement earlier this month. Microstamping is a requirement that each firearm be fitted with a special firing pin that leaves a fingerprint on a bullet casing which differs...

A new gun law proponents say helps law enforcement has driven Smith & Wesson and Sturm Ruger out of California, and affirmed the suspicions of firearms rights advocates that the measure is really about making handguns obsolete. The two companies have announced they will stop selling their wares in the nation’s most populous state rather than try to comply with a law that requires some handguns to have technology that imprints a tiny stamp on the bullet so it can be traced back to the gun. The companies, and many gun enthusiasts, say so-called “microstamping” technology is unworkable in its...

Ahead of the Tape Smith & Wesson Can Still Defy the Odds By Spencer Jakab Updated Dec. 10, 2013 12:17 a.m. ET America's largest gun maker will get some extra attention this week. Four days after it unveils fiscal second-quarter results on Tuesday, the nation will mark the anniversary of last December's school massacre in Newtown, Conn. The shooting's effect on Smith & Wesson Holding Corp.'s SWHC -0.08% financial fortunes shows how wrong the market's initial reaction was. The stock fell sharply as the grisly details of the rampage emerged, but it has bounced back by 58% since its trough...

Gunmaker Smith & Wesson announced Thursday it will spend $200,000 refurbishing and renovating the Roosevelt Avenue veterans memorial flagpole near its headquarters. The memorial, built in 1932 at the entrance to the former Veterans Memorial Golf Course, suffered weather damage for decades before the pole itself blew over in the June 2011 tornado. At the time the monument was built, Smith & Wesson was located on Stockbridge Street. "First off, we pass it by every day," said James Debney, Smith & Wesson's president and CEO. "It's right on our doorstep. It would be insulting not to do something." The monument...

Big time. Totally. Game over. Look no further than the reaction on Wall Street this week to the latest gun rampage, at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. Once upon a time, news of a killing spree would have sent the stocks of major gun manufacturers into a tailspin, as investors fretted that an outraged public would at last demand new gun-control laws. As recently as last December, in the wake of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Connecticut, shares in gun makers Sturm, Ruger & Co. and Smith & Wesson Holding Co. both crashed. But this week?...

Back in February, several gun manufacturers decided to boycott law enforcement in states that are hostile to the Second Amendment, states like New York for instance. They would not be providing weapons or ammunition. Within a week that number had grown by over 700%. In the first article I provided information for several gun manufacturers that could be contacted to come on board with this boycott, including Glock, Sig Sauer, Smith & Wesson and Remington. Well, now we know where Remington stands. They stand on the side of government as they have let it be known that they will be...

Smith & Wesson will not attend or support or participate in the 2013 Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in Harrisburg, Pa. in response to organizers banning the display and sell of tactical-looking firearms often called assault rifles from the show. Smith & Wesson manufacturers a successful line of what it and the industry calls “modern sporting rifles” under the M&P brand name. ... In a news release, James Debney, president and CEO of Smith & Wesson, said: “As a market leader in the firearm industry and an iconic brand that spans 160 years of American history, we believe it is...

I live in what is considered a safe neighborhood and stay in "safe" areas, never had a problem YET. Not familiar with guns although my husband used to have quite a collection and I had a Baretta shotgun. I'm not so much afraid of home invasions or robberies at this point - but times are changing. What I'm more afraid of is our government setting off a stampede of marauding hoards. I have NO clue what might be useful for me - need advice.

Hello. I was in a new local gun shop and I noticed the Taurus Judge on display; a weapon that I had been interested in. It seems like a good choice for VEHICLE DEFENSE, only it wasn't a Judge, it was a Smith and Wesson Governor. This revolver holds 6 rounds, not the five that the Judge holds and its chambers can handle three distinct rounds, the .45 Long Colt, .45 ACP, and the .410 gauge 2.5-inch shotshells. I don't really know the difference between the ACP & 45 long colt, but the ability to fire multiple types of ammo...

Thank you Barry Obama - America's all time best gun salesman!

My brother just found a footlocker that belonged to my dad, a 24 year USAF veteran. (He was a special agent in the AF/OSI). Inside was a Smith and Wesson box with a .38 cal Combat Masterpiece that is very lightly used. He had a log with it that indicated he only fired 12 rounds but we don't know if that is complete. The piece is a Combat Masterpiece model 15-4 with a 4 inch square barrel as identified by the box. It was still in the S&W brown packaging paper with the cleaning kit.

Do you have anti-gun Democratic friends who do not seem as ‘joyous’ as they were after the election of the “Great One”? Maybe they’re worried about their ‘security’ at home with the increasing “residential crime” they’ve been reading about. Also, maybe they realize now that the police can’t be everywhere to protect them within seconds. Well here’s ‘good news’ for them. Smith & Wesson has just announced a new handgun designed just for the person who is un-familiar with – and possibly afraid of – handguns, yet wants to have adequate home protection: The “SW18044L” (‘L’ signifies ‘liberal’).. You will...

What do you Freepers think of the S&W m&p 9mm? I've been hearing some really good things, but a few people have had nothing but trouble. I'm inclined to think that any gun could potentially be a lemon, and that people are more likely to tell about a bad experience than a good one. Still, I want your opinions if you have one. Thanks as always, FA

Gun Sales Thriving In Uncertain Times By Fredrick Kunkle Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, October 27, 2008; Page A01 Americans have cut back on buying cars, furniture and clothes in a tough economy, but there's one consumer item that's still enjoying healthy sales: guns. ...SNIP... Several variables drive sales, but many dealers, buyers and experts attribute the increase in part to concerns about the economy and fears that if Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois wins the presidency, he will join with fellow Democrats in Congress to enact new gun controls. ...SNIP... "Even though [Obama] has a lot going for him,...

The Washington Post article is already being commented upon here in Free Republic. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/12/AR2008091202414 The purpose of this thread is to help Freepers and lurkers decide upon what the best mode of self defense would be in the case of the breakdown in social order such as happened with the Rodney King riots. Joe Brower owns one of the RKBA (Right to Keep and Bear Arms) ping lists. I tried to convince him to open this vanity because he and his friends are more knowledgeable about guns. He says, "there have already been threads on the subject you mention right...

Rudolph W. Giuliani will go before the rank and file of the National Rifle Association on Friday, seeking support for his Republican presidential campaign from a group he once likened to "extremists" for its efforts to repeal the ban on assault weapons. But even as the former New York mayor strives to burnish his Second Amendment credentials at the gathering in Washington, a panel of federal judges in his home town will be hearing arguments on the lawsuit that Giuliani filed seven years ago aimed at punishing the nation's gun manufacturers for violent crimes involving firearms. Announcing the lawsuit in...

On This Day In History August 2, 1876 : Wild Bill Hickok is murdered "Wild Bill" Hickok, one of the greatest gunfighters of the American West, is murdered in Deadwood, South Dakota. Born in Illinois in 1837, James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok first gained notoriety as a gunfighter in 1861 when he coolly shot three men who were trying to kill him. A highly sensationalized account of the gunfight appeared six years later in the popular periodical Harper's New Monthly Magazine, sparking Hickok's rise to national fame. Other articles and books followed, and though his prowess was often exaggerated, Hickok...

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — It is hard to imagine a company sinking as low as Smith & Wesson, the legendary arms maker that equipped soldiers from the Civil War to Vietnam and 98 percent of American police forces. Just two years ago, the company's chairman was found to be a convicted felon: he had failed to disclose spending 15 years in jail for armed robbery. Federal investigators were looking into accounting irregularities, and the company's stock was stuck at $1.50 a share. Adding to the company's woes, American soldiers for the last decade have carried Italian-made Berettas, while most police forces...

It is hard to imagine a company sinking as low as Smith & Wesson, the legendary arms maker that equipped soldiers from the Civil War to the Vietnam War and 98 percent of American police forces. Just two years ago, the company's chairman was found to be a convicted felon: he had failed to disclose spending 15 years in prison for armed robbery. Federal investigators were looking into accounting irregularities, and the company's stock was stuck at $1.50 a share. Adding to the company's woes, American soldiers for the past decade have carried Italian-made Berettas, and most police forces long...