Smith & Wesson Quotes

“Smith & Wesson M&P15”

“Wikipedia: Smith & Wesson”

“There was some fear-based buying that would take place from time to time. There is no fear-based buying right now.”

“Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. agreed to pay $2 million to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into allegations of foreign bribery by the gun maker.”

“Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. agreed to pay about $2 million to settle U.S. regulatory claims that it bribed officials in Pakistan, Turkey and other countries to win firearms contracts.”

“In the years since Obama took office, gun makers have had some of their most profitable years. Last year, Smith & Wesson sales hit a record high of $626m, up 6.7% from $587.5m in 2013.”

“Smith & Wesson, the US firearms manufacturer, has paid more than $2m to the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly bribing foreign officials to win contracts to supply arms to overseas police and military forces, the SEC said on Monday.”

“Police officials said that two suspects, Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, were armed with two semiautomatic rifles and two semiautomatic handguns.
The semiautomatic rifles were a .223-caliber DPMS Model A15 and a Smith & Wesson M&P15. One of the handguns was manufactured by Llama, and the other by Smith & Wesson.”

“Smith & Wesson was in the midst of getting new leadership, having been further shaken when its chairman, James Minder, proved to have served time in prison for a string of armed robberies while a journalism student at the University of Michigan. The young Minder had started with one of his future company's revolvers but had then opted for a sawed-off shotgun.”

“Gunmaker Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. yesterday stood by board member and former chairman James J. Minder despite revelations that the 74-year-old executive spent more than a decade in prison for using a sawed-off shotgun to commit holdups in the 1950s. The company said yesterday that Minder, who stepped down as chairman earlier in the week, will remain on the board of directors.”

“This story ends with an embarrassing moment in February 2004. That was when executives at Smith & Wesson, the firearms manufacturer, found out their new board chairman, 74, had spent a dozen years in prison for armed robbery — armed with a Smith & Wesson pistol, actually.
Naturally, the board chairman faced some questions. For one: Why didn’t you mention this to the company?
“They never asked,” he said.”

“The Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation, the nation's oldest maker of handguns, named Dennis Bingham chairman after the departure of James Minder, whom a newspaper reported served prison time in the 1950's and 1960's. Mr. Minder offered to resign this month after telling the board he spent 15 years in prison in the 1950's and 1960's for armed robberies and an attempted escape from prison, The Arizona Republic reported.”

“While recognizing the very serious mistakes in his early life, the board believes that Mr. Minder has led an exemplary life for 35 years and has provided tremendous services to the community. Based on this, and other successful business experience, the board believes he should and can continue to provide invaluable input to Smith & Wesson within both strategic planning and the ongoing drive toward operational excellence.”

“In 1989, rather late in the computer revolution, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) was finally able to say which gun manufacturers turned up most often in trace requests. The company whose handguns were traced most often from January of 1990 to December of 1991 was the giant Smith & Wesson.”

“Smith & Wesson is one of many firearms manufacturers to produce a version of the AR-15, marketing more than a dozen models that range in price from about $700 to $2,000.
The weapon is popular among collectors, military veterans and target shooters who say it is easy to handle and can be modified in numerous ways. Some soldiers call it “a Barbie doll for men” because it has a wide range of accessories and replacement parts, including different styles of barrels, stocks, magazines and scopes.”

“Political and other factors also can affect our performance. Concerns about presidential, congressional, and state elections and legislature and policy shifts resulting from those elections can affect the demand for our products. For example, we experienced strong consumer demand for our firearm products following a new administration taking office in Washington, D.C. in 2009. In addition, speculation surrounding increased gun control at the federal, state, and local level and heightened fears of terrorism and crime can affect consumer demand for our products.”

“The money continued to roll in. On July 20, 2009, exactly three years to the day before the Aurora mass murder, Golden stated in an interview that a “category that has been extremely hot is tactical rifles, AR style tactical rifles.” On a June 2009 investors conference call, Golden enthused that “tactical rifles were up almost 200% versus the same period the year before. We have increased our capacity on that rifle.” The company was doing so well with its assault rifles that it decided to introduce a new variant in 22 caliber because the ammunition is much cheaper than the military-style ammunition used in the M&P15.”

“The future of the chairman of handgun maker Smith & Wesson was in question on Thursday night after it turned out he knew more about guns than the company might have liked: he once carried out a string of armed robberies holding a sawn-off shotgun. James Joseph Minder's criminal past emerged this month in newspapers in Detroit and Arizona, which reported he spent 15 years in prison in the 1950s and 1960s for the robberies and an attempted prison escape. Mr Minder was quoted by a Massachusetts newspaper on Thursday as saying he had voluntarily resigned at a directors' meeting on Monday as he felt it was "the best thing, given the circumstances".”

“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 long ago switched to handguns from Glock, an Austrian company.”

“The suspects in the San Bernardino holiday party shooting were armed with four guns, an explosive device and several magazines of ammunition in a “well-planned” attack, police and federal officials said.
Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, a U.S.-born health inspector for San Bernardino County, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, were carrying two .223-caliber assault rifles and two semi-automatic handguns...
San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said the two .223-caliber assault rifles were a DPMS model and a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 model, while the two semi-automatic hand guns were manufactured by Llama and Smith & Wesson.”