Kimber throws gun owners under the bus?

[loneviking]

California gun owners have already been thrown in front of the bus, run over by the bus and are being drug down the road by the bus. Kimber, Barrett and others are only trying to get the bus too stop! :banghead:

 

[Just Jim]

Guns should be seen like every other product you buy. Does buying the product support the American way of life or cause it harm?

Buying from gun compannies that are just concerned about the bottom line or buying from companies that outsourced American jobs is the same thing. Keep buying cheap chinese junk and watch fuel go sky high and keep buying guns from businesses that don't respect private ownership and you are paying them to lose your rights.

jj

 

[.38 Special]

I thought we'd already established that all gun companies were anti-gun. Also all makers of gun accessories, all gun writers, all West coast gun owners, all East coast gun owners, and pretty much everyone else except for you and me -- and I'm not too sure about you.

 

[Robert Hairless]

Look how the U.S. Mint has pandered to California:

Boycott its products.

 

[M203Sniper]

Your talking about 21 officers who bought a 125 pistols with their own money.

http://www.gunsandammomag.com/tactical/GA_kimbersis_200804/index3.html

If you need more of an endorsement, consider the officers of SIS: As an optional but not issued piece of gear, they have to personally purchase their Kimbers. The 21 officers in the SIS have dug down into their own pockets and purchased a total of 125 SIS-model Kimbers. When someone who depends on a particular piece of lifesaving gear buys it themselves, I notice. When a group of them buys almost six each, I want one.

I have no desire for a Kimber and don't really care that much who they sell to, although I can see the point of the OP; How much has this company done to support the second? It looks like after a quick Google search that they give some money to the USA shooting team ($100,000?) every year and are a part of the NSSF. that is worth more than some custom (UGGLY) slide serrations for 1 police unit in my book.

Can anyone put these antics in perspective.

 

[rbernie]

According to an article by Ken Hanson, Esq., circulated on the Web by
the Buckeye Firearms Association, and appearing on _U.S. Concealed
Carry Magazine_'s website, Kimber has acquired a bad habit: kissing up
disgustingly to the destroyers of individual liberty by creating
weapons especially dedicated to various California police agencies. In
Hanson's words, these guns were specifically "designed for a local
government committed to stripping civilians of the right to own _this
same gun_."

So now we define the making a LEO-version of a weapon by a manufacturer to be anti-Second Amendment? How? Are Kimbers not on the CA handgun list?

What a load of self-serving pap. I am so dang sick-n-tired of some 'gun rights organizations' spending their time manufacturing issues out of the ether just so they can shout, "The sky is falling!" from the rooftops.

Sheesh.

And people wonder why I have a hard time with JPFO and GOA and such.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

Initially I thought there's nothing wrong with making a special model to the specs of a LE outfit and offering it to the public as well, but I didn't realize CA citizens couldn't buy the SIS pistols. Does it not have one of their idiotic mandated safety features?
The police don't make the laws, although with barrett the politicians not only banned .50s altogether, the police held up one of his rifles that they use to help promote the ban. Refusing to enforce something that is unconstitutional isn't good for job security, but the concern is how far they'll go before saying "this just isn't right". I'm sure there were plenty of nazis that were "just doing their job". If it goes too far they might want to consider removing the I from the SIS engraving.

 

[Big Boomer]

Yar! Boycott the Kimbers I say!

*in my best pirate voice* because it's pirate Sunday don't ya know?

I've been boycotting Kimber for any and all reasons. My other firearms refuse to have one in the household.

They are a bit jealous though, kimber's are pretty, and one has to ask why other manufactures don't make such a pretty firearm at reasonable prices?

I can't answer that one. But I have to go with what my other firearms say and keep kimbers out of the house lest they all turn on me!

 

[rust collector]

It's a marketing decision, to attempt to sell guns to those who buy such things on the basis of special slide markings, or because they are endorsed by the pros. These people are in business to sell guns. If they don't, they are not in business for long.

I don't think gun owners need many more enemies, especially those that help feed the need for US manufactured handguns. Let's not feed on our own, regardless of our opinion of Kimber's guns or politics, real or perceived. As others have noted, these histrionics just distract attention from the real challenges to gun ownership and use.

 

[DougDubya]

If I had the money, I'd buy one of those Kimber SIS models just to spite you.

+1

 

[Pilgrim]

Please don't lump civil servants and the politicians they work for in to one group.

Sadly, it is tough to tell the difference in many law enforcement departments.

Pilgrim

 

[RONSTAR]

In short, we must ask shooters to _kick the Kimber habit_.

We should also kick the Glock, Ruger, Sig, Smith&Wesson, Heckler&Koch, Remington, Bushmaster, and Fn firearm munufaturers, because the also supply organizations that do that. I think this is a little extreme.
P.S. I have never had any issues with my Kimbers and I doubt they want civilians to be unarmed.

 

[MachIVshooter]

Did JPFO bother to find out WHY the SIS is not able to be purchased by CA civilians?

Here's a clue..........Springfield and Colt make 1911's the same way, and they also don't make the CA "drop list".

If we're gonna boycott gun companies who make guns that can be bought by LEO's and civilians in free states but are off-limits to CA civilians, it's gonna be a REALLY long list.

 

[GingerGuy]

Kimber helps to insure its future with CA contract. Good, helps Kimber and no doubt they should continue to make their products available to me...

 

[SSN Vet]

let's see....

Colt makes the M16 for the DOD and LE....

yet the government has significant restrictions on average Joe guys owning them.

Hmmm!

 

[JohnBT]

"How much has this company done to support the second?"

Making guns is a good start I'd say.

John

 

[TexasRifleman]

Colt makes the M16 for the DOD and LE....

DAMN fine point

How many are gonna boycott Colt for it's production of machineguns for the military.

You sir win the "best spin of the thread" award. Nicely put.

 

[sernv99]

this reasoning doesn't make sense (boycotting Kimber). Let's boycott the AK and other ex-commie block guns since that's what most of our adversaries use to kill American civilians and troops. Heck, the AK is symbolized on one terror groups flag that has killed American troops (Hezbollah).

 

[.cheese.]

The fact that we can't own true Colt M4s, or Glock 18s, etc. doesn't say anything to me about the company.

I'm sure Glock would be happy to sell us Glock 18s if they could.

Companies like HK hate us - granted, and Rugers 10 round limit is just weird, but for Kimber to manufacture guns tailored for SIS doesn't even phase me. They found a way to make more money, so sue them. They're a business, not a political action group.

I love what Barrett and STI did - and absolutely am more inclined to buy from them as a result (STI wasn't even on my radar before for 1911s), but to expect the same from the rest of the industry is unrealistic.

 

[MaterDei]

Much ado about little.

 

[taprackbang]

"This abject loss of perspective and resultant shrieking histrionics is precisely why the credibility of the JPFO, L. Niel Smith, Lew Rockwell and GOA has been swirling around the drain for the last couple of years."

I must agree with what someone in this thread said about California. Fix the problems with the legislators, or sit down. (Or better yet, MOVE to a gun friendly state!)

Obscure phrases like 'Shrieking histrionics' do not bother me. (I have a dictionary.) Someone says 'loss of credibility', but should we believe it? I would rather listen to Lew Rockwell ANY DAY over John "Triggerlock" McCain.
Lew Rockwell is an avid purist of the 2nd Amendment. I don't need explain McCain's blemished record. (NRA props him up high)

JPFO lobbies hard, GOA lobbies hard, and even the NRA guys do too.
But what I have always been suspicious about is the NRA. One reputable gunsmith claims that the NRA higher ups want to protect their six-figure salaries. So, the NRA may be the problem. What if the very group we have been supporting all of these years has perpetuated our own demise?

I have no problem boycotting Kimber, but I do like their 1911s. They shoot well.

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

JPFO lobbies hard

They do? "JPFO is a non-profit tax-exempt educational civil rights organization, not a lobby."

So, the NRA may be the problem.

Oh, not this again...

 

[M203Sniper]

The reasonable conclusion is that California is the problem and not any manufacturer.
GM, Ford and Dodge are (mostly) American companies that pander to California idiot rules too; how many of us have one of those at home. The simple fact that you get the second amendment and wish to uphold the Constitution for what it means and not what someone else thinks means that you are a true patriot. A quick read over the sig lines of the members here would give you 20 examples of how the founding fathers warned us against these encroachments on our liberties and gave us the tools to act 230 years ago they knew what would happen. Now it is up to us to change it. GOA, NRA, JPFOA BSA whatever at least they have a voice.

Who are you voting for?

 

[taprackbang]

"Oh, not this again... "

Oh yes... This again and again and again, until we get it right.
Kind of like a science project gone bad.

November 20, 2006
"The NRA does not call for the BATF to be abolished. In fact, the association does not object to many of the federal laws against violent criminal behavior committed with firearms that BATF is charged with enforcing."
NRA - Institute for Legislative Action

Now pardon me for a sec., but I have major problems with this letter. The gun control rhetoric runs thick on page one alone... And the entire letter is 7 page long! If you read it in its entirety, you would think that Clinton and Reno wrote it themselves.

Please do not tell me you are all pro-ATF. (Waco, Ruby Ridge)
Violent criminals at Waco?! The real violent criminals were all Govt thugs dressed in black.

 

[dogmush]

Here's a clue..........Springfield and Colt make 1911's the same way, and they also don't make the CA "drop list".

Actually, (and before we get too far off topic) I'd be really interested in why the SIS's aren't on the list. Most Kimbers that I'm familier with have a FP safety, and indeed there are plenty of Kinbers for sale in CA. If Kimber made this special edition at the behest of the SIS and then didn't care to spend the extra money to get it tested for CA (I.E. it's functionally the same weapon, just with ugly slide cuts) I'd be much more tempted to shrug and move on. (This is my bet on what happened)

If Kimber actually made a new pistol, sans whatever CA safety is on the rest of them, specificly for a CA LEA, well that smacks of eliteism on that LEA's part. "We're safer then civilians, so we get this cooler gun." and I would take a dimmer view of Kimber supporting this behavior.

Obviously, the real enemy here is the CA govt. (and to some extent the majority of the voters), but one legitimate way to pressure them is to not sell them things (like weapons) they think they need. And the best way to do that is to pressure the makers of those items. This is an effective way to bring about change. And the question of what level of complicity deserves a boycott is each individual persons choice.

Finally, while semi-valid, the comparisons to the M-4 and such are rendered less by the fact that the pistol in question is available for sale to civilians in all of CA's nieghboring states. It's ONLY in the jurisdiction they were made for that civilians can't have them.

And both SA and Colt have plenty of 1911's on CA's list.