Yes.Originally Posted by JAD
Yes.
Okeydoke. I’m a defense contractor. I can’t speak for surefire, but from my own perspective I’m interested in:
1) feeding my family
2) helping my colleagues feed their families
3) putting tools in the hands of the warfighter that will keep him safe and allow him to accomplish his objectives, which are normally aligned with protecting the right of dumb fuckers to shoot their mouths off in English rather than Arabic
I am morally opposed to war and find that just war is an unlikely circumstance that hasn’t happened in the history of our country. We often, however, find ourselves at war; and when we do, I am very interested in assuring that our lasers shoot longer and harder than theirs do.
My company doesn’t particularly benefit when the country is at war; in fact, we have contingencies built into our contracts that prioritize the needs of the country over our needs as a business and war could be very expensive for us. We profit in periods of prudent peace and prosperity (things were awesome under Mattis, not so awesome under the wartime period of Obama’s tenure). When people are using the tools, we have to make a lot of them at low margin. In peacetime we develop products to keep our country competitive, and development and LRIP are a lot more profitable than Rosie the Riveter bullshit.
So no, companies like mine do not hope for, or ‘only care about’ war.
Ignore Alien Orders
This is what I was thinking. I don't like them donating to people that want to abrogate the 2nd, but, if they are going to offer money to anti dems, and the anti dems accept the funds, then some large, pro-gun organization should make sure the constituents know the person they are voting for has accepted money from companies that develop "weapons of war" and market those same objects to the general public. It might not get any traction, but if it did it would be pretty funny.It occurs to me, that if I were running against one of these anti-gun people who had received a donation from one or more "defense contractors" who make substantial profits selling arms and arms accessories to the public, I would use that to my advantage.
An vocally anti-gun politician accepting money from folks who make "evil" silencers and knives for to stab babies with?
I'm not saying I would do this, but sometimes it goes a long way to have ammo in your back pocket (particularly if it WASN'T paid for by ATK).
Taking it a bit further, what if it caused an incumbent to lose their primary to a socialist, who then appealed to so few voters they ended up losing to a pro-gun candidate in the general election?
Certainly possible. My guess is they catch an obvious donation from a 2A company or affiliated PAC and return the money. Surely an established senator or member of congress has people looking out for this, right?
I'm not sure Les or Benchmade did themselves any favors with this video.
From the caption:
When asked specifically, Les stated, “Our recent political contributions have been in favor of state-level legislation supporting a strong manufacturing and business environment here in Oregon while protecting knife owners across the United States in the form of the Interstate Transport Act.” The Interstate Transport Act would have created a federal protection for knife owners, to learn more, see comments.
It didn't do them any favors in my eyes (not that they care). First - their contributions have gone to at least 3 individuals that will vote for some pretty hardcore anti-gun legislation should it ever come out of the US Congress and onto the floors of the US Senate. Second - their contributions have no doubt gone to State level leftists who will probably vote for the absolutely ABSURD gun laws being tossed around the Oregon assembly. And lastly the whole "We Support the 2A" has become so cliche among the anti-gunners that really every time I hear it said I pretty much reflexively conclude them to be a hoplophobe.
My take from this whole thing is they are a KNIFE company that could give scat about gun rights and only pay it lip service because so many gun guys (and gals) are into knives.
It's humorous to me that he calls himself a "Cutlery Company." While technically he is correct the working optics are totally different. Make NO MISTAKE Les - your knifes are the Black Rifles of the Knife world and if he doubts me - he should try open carrying one of them down Abby Road and see what happens.
Last edited by Suvorov; 02-23-2019 at 12:18 AM.
Then a bunch of people need to be in jail.
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But we already knew that.
I’m just gonna say it like this - Benchmade has been going downhill since Jody Samson died.
If you don’t get that reference, then you are not a knife-knut.
It's 2019, a cringe video of the owner sweating bullets and reading a prepared statement like he's in a ISIS beheading video won't help.
Free social media advice to Les.
Now that you screwed up with that horrible video (you might as well of thrown a stray cat into the dumpster fire) own it.
"We at Benchmade realize we fucked up.
We thought we were doing right by our customers when we prioritized supporting knife rights legislation.
Unfortunately we didn't research the people we were donating to well enough on issues (especially gun rights) that also concern our customers.
Going forward we will only support individual and groups that recognize our inalienable right to self defense and our right to keep and bear arms of all types.
I am stepping aside at Benchmade and _______ will take over.
An apology isn't enough, we have set up a page on our website that will document all of our political donations with a short biography of the person receiving them and why we choose to support that person.
We hope to win you back as a customer in the future."
"For a moment he felt good about this. A moment or two later he felt bad about feeling good about it. Then he felt good about feeling bad about feeling good about it and, satisfied, drove on into the night."
-- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy --
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