That was fast. I just received this email from Dan Pickett of Cooper Firearms in response to my letter, immediately below this post.
Unlike a lot of big corporations these days, at Cooper Firearms the board actually appears to wield authority. Good for them. They will get my business.
In response to the recent article highlighting Dan Cooper’s personal political donations, the board of directors, shareholders and employees of Cooper Firearms of Montana, Inc would like to issue the following statement.
The employees, shareholders and board of directors of Cooper Firearms of Montana do not share the personal political views of Dan Cooper.
Although we all believe everyone has a right to vote and donate as they see fit, it has become apparent that the fallout may affect more than just Mr. Cooper. It may also affect the employees and the shareholders of Cooper Firearms.
The board of directors has asked Mr. Cooper to resign as President of Cooper Firearms of Montana, Inc.
Daily operations will continue with the competent staff currently in place in Stevensville, MT producing the finest, most accurate rifles money can buy.
Dan Cooper has spent all of his working life producing the highest quality rifles built here in the USA. He started with nothing but the American Dream and built that into firearms company anyone would be proud of. We firmly believe Dan stands by the 2nd amendment.
We wish him all of the best in his future pursuits.
Incidentally, I’m well aware that as Cooper Firearms is a privately-owned business, Dan Cooper may well continue to retain a majority of the shares in the company, and thus continue to profit personally from any firearms I may buy from them. To me, that’s irrelevant. Lots of shareholders of Ruger, S&W Holdings and the like are guaranteed to be lefty nutjobs because they’re publicly-traded companies and anybody can buy shares. What’s important is the public position of the company and of the management that runs it. Even if Dan Cooper remains as a backroom influence, or even as the majority shareholder, he’s learned to shut up where gun rights are concerned. Cooper Firearms has done the right thing here, and now — as with Remington beforehand in the Jim Zumbo affair — IMO we should applaud and support Cooper Firearms, Inc. for doing it so quickly.
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Wow, that was fast.
That was quick. Really quick.
Good job!
Not so fast though – He has been ASKED to resign. He hasn’t resigned or been fired yet.
I’m sorry, but this is one of those “I need to see the head on a pike” situations before I’m ready to call it quits. Also, if he’s a majority share holder, I don’t think his ‘resignation’ does much besides being a little symbolic. When you buy a Cooper firearm, you are putting money into his pocket which you know will go directly to anti-gun politicians.
Plus, the company still lied to everyone about the other donations.
*grumbles*
You get a response. I get didly. Figures.
😉
Good to see them taking the appropriate course of action… and, really, the only course of action if they want to keep their profits more-or-less where they are.
Unfortunately, Robb, so far as I know, there is nothing Cooper Firearms can do to prevent Dan from owning stock in the company. I suppose they could try and buy him out, but can you force an individual to give up shares of a company?
Hell, given mutual funds and the like, the Obamamessiah probably owns shares of Micro$oft, Exxon, and who knows what else.
Robb, if I had to make a wild-ass-guess, I’d guess that the earlier statement about the fictitious McCain/RNC contributions was direct from Dan Cooper himself, and that once he got caught (by the blogosphere!) the statement was yanked and either the board turned on him or he chose to fall on his sword.
I’ll be flabbergasted if he doesn’t accede to the board’s “request.”
Putting my tinfoil hat on, yes it’s possible that Dan Cooper IS the entire board, but I doubt it. Cooper Firearms was founded by Dan Cooper “and two other former employees of Kimber of Oregon” and I’d suspect they are both Directors. I think this is a legitimate action by a stunned corporate body.
Linoge, I’m not so special. Looks like they’ve posted the statement on the Cooper website.
I do find it interesting that it looks a bit rushed, what with the grammatical error. On the website version they stuck the introductory sentence at the bottom, too. It was in the proper place in what was emailed to me.
All of which tells me folks got spooked.
Oh hell yeah they got spooked. You should see the letter I wrote to them. Unfortunately, I didn’t bcc myself, but I did cc Sebastian at Snowflakes on it. I’ll see if he’ll put it up on here or fwd it back to me.
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Cooper Arms is a privately held company, not public. Thus the shares in question and who owns them is secret. This is a symbolic move only since the BoD could be Cooper’s own family. Make it appear they are tossing him out but if he still owns 51% of the shares, so what? His dog could be on the board for all we know.
If the company was publicly traded, I’d agree with you. Not in this case. Unless they start opening up their kimono and show us what is inside, I’m not buying a word of this and the whole company should be Zumbo’d into oblivion.
…and they aren’t the ONLY good custom rifle-makers on the planet, either. Dakota comes to mind…
Head on a pike! Cut off the ears! 🙂
As a gun owner, it is important to me to know whether I am supporting a vendor who supports my Second Amendment rights. Until the company says otherwise, I have to assume that the pool of shareholders includes Dan Coooper. I hate to be cynical, but the company’s press release appears to be an attempt to protect Mr. Cooper’s investment in the company he founded. Perhaps if Cooper Firearms of Montana could provide some clarity as to who owns the legal and benefical interests in the stock of the company (in addition to who the Directors and Executive Officers are), customers could then make a determination as to whether to purchase their products…Of course, the company is under no obligation to do so…and gun purchasers are under no obligation to purchase Cooper Firearms.
You all make me embarrassed to be a ‘gun nut’. You claim to be advocates of civil liberty – but one guy has an opinion that differs from yours, and your response is to crucify him.
I guarantee that I support the 2nd amendment as much as any of you, and I support Obama. Rather than actually opening your eyes to facts, you seem to be much more content to just exchange lies and propaganda between each other. It doesn’t make sense to me why idiots have such a monopoly on gun rights. Democrats like guns, too. Get used to it.
And please put a stop to this witch-hunting bullshit. You’re only hurting the very people that are on your, and my, side.
Shane, it’s simple.
We’re TIRED of being sold out, we’re tired of giving money to people to use against us. When you give money to someone who is 1000% ANTI no matter what campaign lies you choose to believe you are NOT supporting the second, not to mention the rest, amendment.
[Edited because I thought of a better example]
Shane, the parallel in my mind is if Cooper
manufactured ballots, rather than guns, and publicly supported a candidate who pretty clearly was dissembling about his intentions to restrict or ban voting.published a newspaper, rather than building guns, and publicly supported a candidate who pretty clearly was dissembling about his intentions to restrict or ban our rights to buy newspapers.The 2nd Amendment protects a fundamental civil right, and the folks who wrote in to Cooper believe that very strongly. We don’t “like guns.” We treasure the right to own one without government interference. The battle to define that right is very much ongoing.
Shane,
Saying that there are Democrats who like guns is akin to saying there are crocodiles that like chicken carcasses. Democrats are not on our side. As for you and those of your ilk–look up the term “fifth column”.
If our defending the 2A makes you uncomfortable, please, by all means, cancel your NRA membership, sell your firearms at the next gun buyback, and send your money to the DNC. You won’t be missed.
Cheers
I fully support your defense of the Second Amendment, and I’m there with you 100%.
I don’t believe Obama will take away my right to bear arms (which I treasure as much as anyone). I’m sure Dan Cooper doesn’t believe he will take it away either, hence his willingness to vote for him.
I’m sure both of us could provide evidence that he his pro or anti 2A, but that’s really beside the point. The point is that we all have a right to support who we want, and it’s ridiculous and unpatriotic to crucify each other for these decisions – ESPECIALLY when we are all on the same side, regarding the Second Amendment!
I understand your fear that Obama is a guy who doesn’t respect your rights. However, I, and many others, respectfully disagree. And I don’t think that merits this insane outcry of hate.
I also want to apologize for implying that conservatives/Republicans are “idiots” in my first comment – I don’t really believe that. This issue just gets me more than a little heated.
Shane, you don’t believe that Ob is anti-gun?
The man was on the board of the freakin’ JOYCE FOUNDATION!!!
His only “pro-gun” statement was carefully worded to say that he couldn’t take guns away because “the votes weren’t there”, not that he wouldn’t. I don’t know how you could possibly believe that he wouldn’t, at the very least, go along with the wildest wet-dream fantasies of Shumer and Feinstein.
Leaving that aside, I can’t understand how you can characterize people’s refusal to patronize a gun maker as “hate”.
People can choose not to buy Cooper if they want – but hate is the thousands of hate emails and calls he has received since the article was published, and the thousands of angry and inappropriate comments popping up all over the internet. How about the comment on this very page “Head on a pike!” – that’s not refusal of patronage, that’s ignorance and hate.
Anyway, like I said, I’m not here to argue about his 2A stance. I believe time will prove me right – because Barack WILL win on Tuesday, and I WILL still have all of my guns in eight years.
You can call me “fifth column”, and say I’m buying into campaign lies, but at least I have my own opinions. I’ll take “fifth column” over being a lemming zealot any day of the week. I agree with liberals on many things. I agree with you guys on many things. I’ve received hate and misunderstanding from both groups – but at least I’m sticking to what I believe in. And that’s what Dan Cooper is doing, as well.
Shane, you are absolutely, flat out, wrong on Obama not wanting to take away pieces of your and my right to own firearms.
He is a supporter of a new Anti-Scary Looking Guns and Standard Capacity Magazine Law.
Got an AR, HK, FN/FAL? Like it? Too bad. Your favored candidate will demand that you give it up.
Got a Glock, Sig, HK pistol that accepts magazines that hold more than, lets say, 10 rounds? Like it? Too bad. Your favored candidate wants you to give it up.
These are topics covered in his standard statement pulled directly from his campaign website.
http://origin.barackobama.com/issues/urban_policy/#crime-and-law-enforcement
Do you legally carry concealed outside of your home? Too bad. Your favored candidate wants you to be disarmed. He believe that you are not enough of a decent human being to have the need to protect your life or the lives of those you love.
http://www.bucksright.com/audio-obama-supports-federal-ban-on-concealed-carry-2138
You sir, are a dupe. And you deserved to be duped by “that guy” because you refuse to take the blinders off.
The rest of us, however, do not. We know what Obama stands for because we will actually listen to what he says and watch what he has done in the past.
I can give you an address, if you like, where you can send the firearms and accessories that your preferred candidate wants to have banned if he gains the Executive Office.
Unlike you, I will not walk willingly to the local “Firearms Drop-Off Location” like a sheep to turn in these to-be-banned items. They will have to forcibly remove them from my possession. And will return said force knowing that I am right and they are wrong.
You will not. You have already made this readily apparent. So just send those items my way where they will get the respect they deserve.
And then don’t bother darkening this comment box again. We don’t tend sheep round these parts.
Thanks for the links, Phil, I will look into those.
But please remember that you don’t know me. At all. Your general attacks and insults only devalue the cause that both you and I support.
Made the Montana Media: http://billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/10/31/news/state/40-obamagun.txt
Shane, it does not seem that you and I support the same cause.
You support a candidate whose stated position is contrary to the human right of self defense.
I support that right fully and without question.
You support a candidate whose stated position is that there are some firearms which are to innately dangerous for me, a law abiding citizen of this country, to own.
I support the right for me to own any weapon I deem necessary for my self defense.
You support a candidate whose stated position is to declare me untrustworthy to be armed in public.
I stand behind the fact that I have a flawless 24 years of firearms training and handling, which is evidence that I am more trustworthy than he is.
You support a candidate who wants to legislate a technology that does not exist.
I know the difference between fantasy and reality.
I am not attacking you. I’m attacking your ignorance. If you want to take it personally, well then, that is an issue you and a medical professional should talk about.
Shane-
I like assault rifles, high-capacity semi-automatic handguns, concealable handguns, magazines of whatever capacity I desire, surpressors, full-auto rifles, submachineguns, belt-fed machineguns, and every accessory one can have for them.
Oh, and I don’t hunt.
I seriously doubt the Messiah shares my beliefs, and given that he’s a product of the hardcore left-wing Chicago Machine, I have little doubt that he’d happily use a democratic majority to take all that away.
I voted for McCain, well, actually I voted for Palin. I think he’s a moderate Republican at best, and while he’s not the best, at least he had the courage to sign without hesitation the letter opposing the Justice Department’s amicus brief.
If Obama was a “true” supporter of my right to own any damned gun I want, he would’ve signed it right along with him.
He didn’t. I hope he loses.
Phil, you are over-simplifying, generalizing, and trying to veil your insults to make your argument seem more mature. It’s not working.
I realize I may have come off as a supporter of Obama’s ideas on gun control – I am not. I think he’s wrong in a lot of important areas. But I also think he’s the better candidate, and a reasonable enough person so that progress can be made, through INTELLIGENT discussion, not hate and division.
Shane, I again remind you that we do not tend sheep here. But let me try and point you to the pasture of your favored.
I have generalized nothing. I have over-simplified nothing. I have absolutely veiled nothing. I have taken your favored candidates talking points, that you so willingly ignore, and shown you what a monster he truly is.
There is no such thing as a Democrat friend of the 2nd Amendment, especially if one calls themselves a Obama supporter. The Democrat Party, and Obama especially, do not believe in property rights or in private ownership. Go read the party platform. How can you claim that it is a sacred right to own a firearm, but not to own anything else?
You can attempt to draw these into personal attacks upon yourself, but as I pointed out above, they are position attacks. I realize that to believe Obama is qualified to be President is to prove yourself a whiner, but go whine somewhere else.
As for your “I realize I may have come off as a supporter of Obama’s ideas on gun control – I am not.”
Which of these previous statements might have led us to believe that, I wonder?
“I don’t believe Obama will take away my right to bear arms”
“I’m sure both of us could provide evidence that he his pro or anti 2A, but that’s really beside the point.”
“I understand your fear that Obama is a guy who doesn’t respect your rights. However, I, and many others, respectfully disagree.”
“Anyway, like I said, I’m not here to argue about his 2A stance. I believe time will prove me right”
The only reason you think the letters telling Cooper Arms were “full of hate” is that none of the boycotts your side has attempted were ever as effective. I have read a number of letters from a number of sources that went to Cooper Arms and not one of them had a damn bit of hate in it. they were factual and reasoned.
You have your “Hate-O-Meter” turned up to 11 and any disagreement with your stated positions is labelled “Hate”. Where as you actually leave ignorant and name-calling invective, which you have to later come back and apologize for, but no one had better label that as “hate” or you will fill their comments section with whining.
We gunnies had our intelligent discussion with Cooper Arms. They made a decision based on that discussion. We celebrated our victory.
There is no hate there except for your jealousy.
Don’t go away mad, Shane. Just go away.
“I have generalized nothing. I have over-simplified nothing.”
“There is no such thing as a Democrat friend of the 2nd Amendment”
This made me chuckle. I am walking proof of how wrong you are. Open your mind a little bit, and try to realize that not everyone that doesn’t 100% agree with you is your enemy. I don’t hate you, at all. I don’t consider us enemies or adversaries… I think you’ve been kind of an ass to me (and I’ve likely been kind of an ass to you, too), but that’s no reason to completely disregard each other’s opinions. I think you’ve made some good points, and it would be nice to think that my coming here has at least challenged your views a little, even if it hasn’t changed them. But I’m not going to lose any sleep if it didn’t.
“The only reason you think the letters telling Cooper Arms were “full of hate†is that none of the boycotts your side has attempted were ever as effective. I have read a number of letters from a number of sources that went to Cooper Arms and not one of them had a damn bit of hate in it. they were factual and reasoned.”
“You have your “Hate-O-Meter†turned up to 11 and any disagreement with your stated positions is labelled ‘Hate’.”
Threats and insults (which HAVE happened – to both Cooper and Obama) are a little different from “disagreements with stated positions”. You are trying really, really hard to come off as stately and sophisticated, but once you peel away your bombastic rhetoric, the real meat of what you’re saying here is incredibly ignorant and close-minded.
“We gunnies had our intelligent discussion with Cooper Arms. They made a decision based on that discussion. We celebrated our victory.
There is no hate there except for your jealousy.”
I’m not sure what you think I’m “jealous” of, so I can’t speak to that… But, as I said before, there has been plenty of hate towards Cooper, and he’s a guy that’s been on our side (yours and mine) for a long, long time. He’s done more for guns and gun rights than your self-righteous arm-chair activism could ever hope to achieve.
I think we’ve all made our points. It seems like you’d prefer the comfort of not having to be challenged, so I’ll leave you to the peacefulness of never needing to consider new/different ideas and opinions. Enjoy your snow globe, I hope it’s comfy.
Shane, you refuse to read. I have laid out complete justification for what I have written, and you still prefer your fantasies to reality. So be it. You are going to have to live it for the next four years. And thanks to sheep like you, so will the rest of the country and world.
Through your what, over a half a dozen comments here, with nearly each one mentioning the victim status of Cooper, you have still not come up with a single threat to him. You can call me close minded all you want. I have facts, you have feelings. I refuse to open my mind up so far that my brain falls out, as you seem to have done.
In closing: When a friend spreads lies about you, as Cooper has figuratively done, you sever ties. There is no going back after betrayal.
If you knew of what you spoke of in your next-to-last paragraph, you’d see how little a man you are for saying something that stupid. Do you think I blog anonymously for fun?
And exactly what have you challenged? You attack a brick wall of facts with your puny fists of opinion and lies which, when they are shown to be such, you claim victim status and state that the wall is “unfair” and may have actually been the attacker.
You’re pathetic. So are Obama and Biden. And so is Cooper.
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