Gun Manufacturer Auto Policy Cancelled Because He Is In Firearm Business
“The reason for cancellation is your vehicle […] does not meet our underwriting guidelines because it is used in conjunction with a company that deals in the weapons industry“
Note that there is a dearth of hard data as yet, so there may be more to the story. It’s a little unclear what the “weapons industry” has to do with auto insurance. Apparently the former policy holder made gun parts, a perfectly legal profession. But GEICO seems to have a problem with that. Presumably they’d also have a problem if you worked at a gun shop, or repaired guns, or worked at a sporting goods store.
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And Reed Exhibitions, the British company that caved to craven political cowardice in banning AR-15’s and similar standard firearms from from the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show scheduled for February 2-10 in Harrisburg, PA, has decided to postpone the whole show. This was no doubt brought on by the fact that a lot of the vendors decided to boycott the ESOS… as of today, 307 vendors, including (IIUIC) all of the big ones, have decided to bail. This is all-round bad news… lots of people have spent lots of money preparing for the show, including, no doubt, very many small family businesses and individuals. This may well cause some serious hardships. But the blame for that all falls squarely on Reed, who decided that Scary Black Guns “would distract from the theme of hunting and fishing, disrupting the broader experience of our guests,” something that apparently hasn’t been a problem in previous years.
Further: the National Shooting Sports Foundation owns the SHOT show in Vegas, which is a ginormous gun industry trade show… managed by Reed. The NSSF is not happy with Reed’s actions with the ESOS, and it looks like they may be ending their relationship with Reed.
Because of Reed’s recent actions, NSSF is considering all options regarding the management of future SHOT Shows.
This sort of thing is not new, of course. Back in 2000 Smith & Wesson sold out to the Clinton administration, with the result that the firearms industry as a whole and firearms owners were incensed and slowed down business with S&W. At the time S&W was owned by a British company (what the hell *is* it with Brits messing with American firearms???), Tomkins PLC; the result of a 40% drop in sales led Tomkins to sell S&W in 2001 to an American company, Saf-T-Hammer. But while this was an improvement, S&W was a damaged company that had had to shut down several facilities.
The lesson: think before you decide to screw with gun owners.