Cerberus to sell gun company that makes Bushmaster
The company that makes one of the weapons used to kill elementary school children in Connecticut is being put up for sale by its owner, which called Friday’s tragedy a “watershed event” in the debate over gun control.
The private-equity group Cerberus Capital Management said Tuesday it will sell its controlling stake in Freedom Group International, the maker of Bushmaster rifles. Investors also continued to bail out of other gunmakers while the retailer Dick’s Sporting Goods said it would stop selling military-style rifles.
The activity comes as the political winds appear to be shifting. Some Republicans now say they’re willing to discuss the issue of gun control - along with mental health issues and violent video games,
Cerberus cobbled Freedom Group together by buying Bushmaster, Remington, and other well-known gun brands starting in 2006. On Friday, a gunman using what is believed to have been a Bushmaster military-style rifle killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in one of the worst mass shootings in U.S history. SOURCE
According to MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, in 2010, 211 children were killed in drunk driving crashes. Out of those 211 deaths, 131 (62 percent) were riding with the drunk driver.
Over 1.41 million drivers were arrested in 2010 for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. MADD - Statistics
It’s ILLEGAL to drive under the influence! Maybe we need to outlaw alcohol? Oh, wait, that’s already been tried and it was a miserable failure.
I know … force all the car makers worldwide stop making cars and ban all existing cars. That should take care of the drunk driving issues shouldn’t it?
Of course it won’t, and those ideas are about as silly as a ban on a particular type of rifle or the company that makes that particular rifle selling their company because a few, VERY few, lunatics have used their rifle to commit heinous acts of carnage!
“It is apparent that the Sandy Hook tragedy was a watershed event that has raised the national debate on gun control to an unprecedented level,” Cerberus wrote in announcing the planned sale. Cerberus owned 95 percent of Freedom Group, according to a year-end 2011 filing for the gunmaker on its website.
Freedom Group said it’s the largest firearms manufacturer in the U.S. It sold 1.1 million rifles and shotguns last year, along with 2 billion rounds of ammunition. Its products are sold to law enforcement and military customers, as well as retailers who sell them to hunters and gun enthusiasts.
Right about now is when I wish I was a man of means. I see an opportunity to take a company that is, apparently owned by a group of *feel-good* egg-heads that are getting rubbery knees because some LOON used a gun made by them to commit mass murder and make a fortune.
• While the perception in the wake of this year’s mass shootings has been that such acts are on the rise, the Associated Press found that it’s actually the exact opposite when you look at the data on a macro level.
• “There is no pattern, there is no increase,” says criminologist James Allen Fox of Boston’s Northeastern University.
• He adds that the random mass shootings that get the most media attention are the rarest.
• While mass shootings rose between the 1960s and the 1990s, they actually dropped in the 2000s. And mass killings actually reached their peak in 1929, Grant Duwe, a criminologist with the Minnesota Department of Corrections who has written a history of mass murders in America, says.
• Chances of being killed in a mass shooting, he says, are probably no greater than being struck by lightning. SOURCE
But now about half of the nation is running around like a chicken with its head cut off, screaming and crying about the EVIL of GUNS and GUN OWNERS, when in all truth, the facts just don’t substantiate their allegations.
But Freedom Group is going to run like cowards, the anti-gun cabal is going to get even more hysterical, the POTUS is going to make bold speeches, many in the Senate and House will stand with the POTUS and his HOT AIR and all the while American gun owners will continue to be blamed for everything that’s wrong with America.
BAN ICE CREAM … and CHEESE BURGERS … and CARS … and oh hell, just ban everything in the world because ALL of that is as much responsible for the recent shooting as is a gun!
We are living in the Age of Cowering.
I wonder if Cerberus is wary of a law suit.
It wouldn’t surprise me if litigation based on what happened in Newtown, Connecticut, were to arise.
I went last night to order some 30 round magazines for my Bushmaster M4 and the place where I order them from was all sold out. All AR-15 and AK-47 high capacity magazines were sold out. Same thing with ammo selling out fast.
I think the government needs to disinvest in General Motors. In August 2012, five children in Texas were killed when the GM Envoy they were riding in rolled over. It doesn’t matter the Envoy was overloaded with passengers or the kids weren’t buckled in. The deaths were GM’s fault and that of the government for bailing them out. And, since the government used taxpayer money, my money, to bail out GM, does that mean I’m responsible for the kids dying in the accident?
I guess that Cerberus will not receive any of my investment funds. It is my money and I have the right to put it with groups that support my values.
And I have already told Dick Sporting Goods of my displeasure and have vowed never to shop there again. I have been known to spend about $1000 or more there a year, but can shop at other stores that support my values.
It was not the guns that killed these children. It was a madman who was out of control that killed them. If his mother had asked a friend to store her guns, none of this would have happened. If the school had spent a few extra dollars installing shatter-proof glass on the doors, the children would be alive. I don’t see anyone blaming the school. They should.
You are right Fred. More insanity to come.
If you recall, in 2007 DaimlerChrysler sold to Cerberus, which then owned a controlling share of Chrysler. Fiat then purchased controlling shares and is about to purchase the rest of the shares.
Being a firearms manufacturer in the US is about to go the way of the dodo bird. As, at one time, if you recall, American aircraft manufacturers essentially dried up due to lawsuits. Cerberus is simply making a business decision based upon lawsuits/profits and risk/failure, and it apparently sees little future for gun manufacturers in the US.
That’s called a CLUE, ladies and gentlemen.
BZ
America is upset about Obamacare but I don’t see them cowering to abolish it. Excuse my French but F*** them all. Bring on the Civil War and try to take my guns. I will definitely be in the market to add more to my arsenal.
I am proud to have you as a friend and neighbor!!
Yesterday, I was shopping in my Gun Barrel City,TX Walmart, and when I pushed my cart up the aisle next to Sporting Goods and ammo, I noticed they had a BushMaster M4 in the rotary rack.
So I stopped and perused.
I asked the clerk if they had one in stock? He said YES!
I answered go get it for me, I want to buy it. The clerk went back to the gun Vault in the back of the store and returned with a brand new box with black gun case, with a M-4 Patrol Bushmaster.
I paid 895 plus tax= 971 dollars cash.
It is beautiful, Made in Ilion, NY,,,USA…
For an investment I say.
The exact one used in this latest elementary school killing.
Macabre, you say??? Nope, just an investment.
I already have a Kel-Tec SU-16 223, which I prefer.
The Wal Mart clerk said they sold ALL,,,,16 they had in stock, after the school shooting!!!!!
Remember,,, it is the communist OBAMA that wants to dis-arm the USA for an easier “take-over””’ REMEMBER THIS!!!!!!!
After they bankrupt the gun makers, then Holder can ban imports. Thanks for the info.
Well, being out on the road I am doing the next best thing. Better half is heading to the toy store and getting an M1A and a Ruger Mini, and perhaps an AR too!
On the good side, Wal-Mart has sold out of guns and ammo. Magazines are going fast too.