Mission statement:

Armed and Safe is a gun rights advocacy blog, with the mission of debunking the "logic" of the enemies of the Constitutionally guaranteed, fundamental human right of the individual to keep and bear arms.

I can be reached at 45superman@gmail.com.You can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/45superman.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

STI follows in Barrett's proud footsteps

As most readers are probably aware, Barrett Rifles, in the wake of the California ban on .50 caliber rifles for private citizens, defied the myth of gun industry greed, and sacrificed the bottom line, out of reverence for the Constitution and a sense of moral obligation. By that, I mean they refused further sales to any unit of California government, because by violating the Constitution, the California government has itself become a criminal enterprise, and Ronnie Barrett will not knowingly arm criminals.

This was, as far as I know, an unprecedented display of both patriotism and moral courage, and I have ever since considered Ronnie Barrett something of a hero.

Now, he has company, as after suffering "a long train of abuses and usurpations," STI has adopted a similar policy (pdf file). Here's an excerpt:

As a company, STI adhered to California’s drop test certification and DOJ listing process in 1998 for the people in competition shooting and for those who desired self-protection DESPITE the financial strain placed on a small company such as ours. Listing our two most popular firearm models was not an inexpensive undertaking. We even redesigned our compensator systems to adhere to the CA “no threaded barrel” law. Then CA’s onerous liability laws were enacted and we chose at that time not to renew certification nor to sell to LEO and governmental agencies in CA, regardless of their exempt status, because there was no exemption from liability or legal fees which could bankrupt this company. When federal law overrode CA’s liability laws, we resumed LE sales because we felt our product could be used to LE’s advantage. With the micro stamping bill, we as a company have decided enough is enough. While our sales to Law enforcement agencies are not huge, all revenue sources are important to a company of our size and it hurts us to turn our backs on those revenues.
This, I am sure, is something of a financial hardship for STI, but certain things are more important than the bottom line. It takes moral courage to act on those priorities, and STI, like Barrett, clearly has plenty of that.

Any other gun manufacturers care to join this proud coalition?

7 comments:

opaww said...

I know this might hurt there sales a little but I am glad they are joining the few who have stopped selling to commiefornia

Anonymous said...

Good.

I hope more gun industry types have the guts to follow these leads.

OR, offset cost by raising prices to non civilian purchasers.

Anonymous said...

A hardy thank you to STI & Barrett.That being said,we need to get a couple things straight. 1)The constitution does NOT grant you a right. You have no constitutional right to own guns.The constitution prohibates the government from infringing on a right that already exists as a human right,to defend one's self. If it was granting a right the word "infringed", would not be used.We as a group need to stop whining about our constitutional rights. We have a right as human beings to defend ourselves with all means nesessary. Weather you believe in god your not. 2)We need to stop using communist propoganda verbage. It's not a assult weapon, it's a defence weapon. Were not 2nd admen. gun nuts. Were the pro-defence folks. Their the anti-defence mob. Feel free to sprinkle in "civilian", and "home". Whenever it seems proper. As in home defence weapon. Civilian defence weapon......Anyway,thats my rant for the day. mthead

Anonymous said...

Dont get too excited about this. STI sells branded frames, slides and parts to Bar-Sto in Irving Ca, to build up as their own brand. It sounds good to hear but the reality?

Kurt '45superman' Hofmann said...

Point taken, Joe, but I submit that even if it's just symbolic, it's still some symbolism we can use.

I'll have some more on a somewhat related idea tomorrow.

tom said...

I just called Rabbit down at STI, because I hadn't heard about this even if they're just the other side of the river from me and thanked them.

Guess who has a STI 1911 Frame being hard chromed as we speak in West Texas for the hopefully ultimate mousegun for a Thomas...

STI. Good People.

Pics will be you know where in a gloating blog post on a page more oriented to larger caliber firearms when I get it next week and it's been exercised a bit.

I forgot to put them on the links part of my webber pagification. Shall fix that now.

Kurt '45superman' Hofmann said...

Sweeeet. You get all the cool stuff.