Dan Cooper, Founder of Cooper Arms, Sacked [snip]

Doctorbulldog ^ | October 29, 2008 | unknown

[Daffynition]

Wow! The People have spoken!!! Now, if only we could get our Government to be like Cooper Arms and actually listen to Voice of The People!

Gun Manufacturer Executive Backs Barack Obama, Watch What Happens Next:
Wednesday, October 29, 2008 - Transsylvania Phoenix

Dan Cooper CEO of Cooper Arms, one of the elite makers of hunting rifles, is backing Barack Obama.

WASHINGTON — Dan Cooper, a proud member of the National Rifle Association, has backed Republicans for most of his life. He’s the chief executive of Cooper Arms, a small Montana company that makes hunting rifles.

Cooper said he voted for George W. Bush in 2000, having voted in past elections for every Republican presidential nominee back to Richard Nixon. In October 1992, he presented a specially made rifle to the first President. Bush during a Billings campaign event.

This year, Cooper has given $3,300 to the campaign of Democrat Barack Obama. That’s on top of the $1,000 check he wrote to Obama’s U.S. Senate campaign in 2004, after he was dazzled by Obama’s speech at that year’s Democratic National Convention.

Just minutes after the USA Today broke the story on the Internet, thousands and thousands of gun owners sent angry emails, called and sent boycott letters to Cooper Arms threatening to never purchase any of their firearms again.

Just 48 hours later, this is what appeared on the company website:

In response to the recent article highlighting Dan Cooper’s personal political donations, the board of directors, shareholders and employees of Cooper Firearms of Montana, Inc would like to issue the following statement.

The employees, shareholders and board of directors of Cooper Firearms of Montana do not share the personal political views of Dan Cooper.

Although we all believe everyone has a right to vote and donate as they see fit, it has become apparent that the fallout may affect more than just Mr. Cooper. It may also affect the employees and the shareholders of Cooper Firearms.

The board of directors has asked Mr. Cooper to resign as President of Cooper Firearms of Montana, Inc.

Daily operations will continue with the competent staff currently in place in Stevensville, MT producing the finest, most accurate rifles money can buy.

Dan Cooper has spent all of his working life producing the highest quality rifles built here in the USA. He started with nothing but the American Dream and built that into firearms company anyone would be proud of. We firmly believe Dan stands by the 2nd amendment.
We wish him all of the best in his future pursuits.

He’s gone, I guess. That was quick

[amchugh]

A manufacturer of high end non-”assault style” long guns whose most capacious magazine holds five shots? Think about it... cynically.

[Lurker]

It seems your post of yesterday was more than just a bit incorrect.

L

[mlocher]

Although we all believe everyone has a right to vote and donate as they see fit, it has become apparent that the fallout may affect more than just Mr. Cooper. It may also affect the employees and the shareholders of Cooper Firearms.

The board of directors has asked Mr. Cooper to resign as President of Cooper Firearms of Montana, Inc.

Way cool! A business that looks out after its own self interest.

Taking this in a slightly different, although related, direction, I get irritated when the Dixie Chicks (and others) complain when their fans turn against them when the take a political position in direct opposition to their fans. Their complaints are similar to, "Hey, we are private citizens too and we have a right to an opinion."

My answer is, "Yes you are. Make your opinion known under your real (non-stage) name, and definitely not on stage. Stop using your popularity."

You know, if I worked for company XYZ, and said, "On behalf of company XYZ, we support candidate ABC," I would be disciplined. And the this story about Cooper Rifles is a case in point.

Let's hear it for Cooper Rifles for having the fortitude to do what is right!

[DocH]

First of all, is he REALLY "gone"?

Second, and most importantly, do they REALLY expect us to believe that someone who supports Obama, "firmly" believes in and "stands by the 2nd amendment"?

NO WAY.

No Cooper rifles for me.

[hiredhand]

Your word is GOOD with my clan and I believe what you say about Cooper....but I can’t find this info on their website....and the original posting is from somebody’s blog. I’m not saying it didn’t happen this way, but I’m wondering if he really did get sacked!

[hiredhand]

Uh oh....Cooper's bad choice in political donations is being discussed at ar15.com as well as THR! Cooper Arms is FINISHED.

[Centurion2000]

He should have learned from Zumbo. Gun owners strike quickly!

And from far away ;)

[hiredhand]

Aw....poor Cooper will be O.K. He can always go crying to Ted Nugent who will have photos taken of them shooting AR-15s together and then he can talk about how sorry he is for making bad choices.

BOHICA....ZUMBO!

[Squantos]

Link that 2.5 posted last night had the statement where he said he donated to Obama only in the primaries to beat Hillary !

I read that myself late last night ......linked here at FR !

I think the statement has been pulled now.

Stay safe !!

[cherry]

what the Hell is wrong with people?.....are they stupid?....mentally ill?...closet homosexuals that are attracted to hussein?....even more sinister, are these people like Cooper so far right that they are actually leftist...similar to McVeigh in their hatred of Jews?....

[Covenantor]

Well, I apologize for posting to you the Cooper arms statment by him.

In this day and age who would be such a fool to lie in public about things that can be so readily disproved.

Well, the lying sack of s*** got the first taste of what he deserves.

[hiredhand]

I saw mention of that...him donating to Obama, and why. I think it’s not much of a good reason. Is there any reason to donate money to a communist? This is too much like admitting to murder in order to stop something worse, when there isn’t much worse!

[gieriscm]

Link that 2.5 posted last night had the statement where he said he donated to Obama only in the primaries to beat Hillary !

Which doesn't explain his 2004 contribution to Obama. Obama was running for Senate then.

Also, as has been pointed out, Cooper Arms is a private, family-owned and run business. Just because Dan Cooper is no longer the president doesn't mean that he won't reap the profits from this company. He could still easily be a major policy maker and shareholder in it.

[mad_as_he$$]

Montana Justice swift and sure. Hope he rots in new life. Idiot.

[Scythian]

Dan Cooper has spent all of his working life producing the highest quality rifles built here in the USA. He started with nothing but the American Dream and built that into firearms company anyone would be proud of. And then decided to support a Marxist, thereby nullifying his American Dream

[Joe Brower]

Good news. Too bad they didn't sack this useful idiot before he made headlines supporting The MessiahObamalama-ding-dong.

[Doomonyou]

THAT"S IT, YOU"RE GONE!

[yarddog]

The whole thing is totally incomprehensible to me.

I could understand him being angry at Bush as he has pretty much let the BATFE run wild but supporting Obama is just plain idiotic.

[Daffynition]

Some more info from TheOutdoorWire and commentary from Jim Shepherd:

Two Ways To Approach The Election

Yesterday, a deluge of negative publicity and feedback from gun owners angered by Cooper Firearms of Montana founder Dan Cooper's support of Barack Obama's candidacy for President of the United States.

Gun owners were outraged that someone who made their living in the firearms business would support a candidate and a party that has consistently tried to limit or eliminate firearms ownership. They also made it abundantly clear they would not have anything to do with Cooper or Cooper Firearms in the future.

Apparently the employees and board of directors of Cooper Firearms of Montana realized the remarks of an individual was going to damage - if not destroy the company that carried his name. They decided to take action, posting the following on the Cooper Firearms (www.cooperfirearms.com) website:

In response to the recent article highlighting Dan Cooper's personal political donations, the board of directors, shareholders and employees of Cooper Firearms of Montana, Inc would like to issue the following statement.

The employees, shareholders and board of directors of Cooper Firearms of Montana, do not share the personal political views of Dan Cooper.

Although we all believe everyone has a right to vote and donate as they see fit, it has become apparent that the fallout may affect more than just Mr. Cooper. It may also affect the employees and the shareholders of Cooper Firearms.

The board of directors has asked Mr. Cooper to resign as President of Cooper Firearms of Montana, Inc.

Daily operations will continue with the competent staff currently in place in Stevensville, MT producing the finest, most accurate rifles money can buy.

Dan Cooper has spent all of his working life producing the highest quality rifles built here in the USA. He started with nothing but the American Dream and built that into firearms company anyone would be proud of. We firmly believe Dan stands by the 2nd amendment. We wish him all of the best in his future pursuits.

While the action is definitive, the firestorm of controversy continues. As bloggers have noted, Cooper's resignation hasn't been announced. As one of the co-founders of the company, there's also a probability that Cooper still owns a stake in the company. One blogger summed up many of the posts regarding Cooper: "I'm sorry, but this is one of those 'I need to see the head on a pike' situations before I'm ready to call it quits."

Harsh? Maybe, but the news that a firearms maker would choose to put his personal money behind a candidate that has made no secret of his anti-gun feelings and intent was the equivalent of pouring gasoline on a roaring fire.

The Cooper story isn't over. Hopefully, the people of the company won't be collateral damage from one man's personal decisions. But we'll keep you posted.

Even as one gun company's owner appeared to have turned away from his customers, Pete and Frank Brownell, owners of the largest catalog company in the firearms industry, decided on Monday they would offer a course of action all firearms owners could take as the various campaigns head into the home stretch in order to protect the Second Amendment for the next four years.

In their message, distributed across the industry, the Brownells point outthat regardless of the outcome of the presidential race, gun owners can protect their Second Amendment rights by supporting pro-gun candidates in critical U.S. House and Senate races. There, they wrote "Our votes-and our dollars - make a much larger impact than the run for President." Crucial Congressional races, they pointed out, might have a huge impact on your Second Amendment rights.

That's exactly right. All dollars are important in House and Senate races. Running out of money in the final stages of a campaign today is dangerous - if not fatal.

Their message is the same one you've been hearing for months - and it's still correct. Every vote counts -please don't think your voice isn't heard. We know better.

Jim Shepherd

Editor's Note: You can read the full Brownell's message note by clicking here

[Daffynition]

I tried to find out if Cooper Arms is a publicly traded company ... and did not find it on the exchanges, so I assume it is privately held. Since Dan Cooper and two others founded it, I surmise that he retains control of the stock. He’ll hardly suffer.