I expect few, if any, gunbloggers own a Cooper, lusted after a Cooper, or even knew what a Cooper was until the recent flap over CEO Dan Cooper’s public support for Obama. (Note: Coopers are ultra-accurate, semi-custom rifles costing several thousand dollars each.) Well, I wanted one. I wanted more than one. And now I’m gonna take my business elsewhere.
Here’s a slightly edited version of an email I just sent to Dan Cooper:
RE: Canceling my Cooper Dreams
Hello,
I’m a corporate attorney in California who only became involved in rifle-shooting over the last four years. I’ve become a long-range shooting aficionado, attending Boomershoot and various long-range rifle and pistol events every year. I quickly became aware of Cooper’s reputation for accuracy and workmanship, and have been lusting over the various Coopers highlighted in the back issues of the Varmint Hunter and Small Caliber News magazines. As a southpaw, I was especially pleased to see that Cooper would build rifles with left-hand actions, and so I had planned to begin 2009 purchasing what would have been the first of several Cooper rifles in each of my favorite calibers, as well as working with your shop to craft one or more custom long-range specialty pistols for my use in annual competitions. After learning of your CEO’s public statement in favor of Senator Obama, I have canceled those plans with regret.
As a Californian, an NRA Life Member and an honorary board member of [redacted,] a California gun-rights group supporting the Nordyke 2nd-amendment case that will likely result in application of the Heller Supreme Court decision to the various States, I am perhaps more aware than most of the risk posed by Senator Obama to our fundamental civil rights. I am appalled that your CEO would make the public pronouncement he did at this critical time for gun owners. Cooper Firearms has lost my business for good. I intend to use what influence I have in the affluent California shooting community to help others make that decision as well.
David [Redacted]
General Counsel for [Redacted]
Have you seen the Zumbo-esque response, the qualifying statement about how the gift was intended to defeat Hillary Clinton, and to protest plant closures?
What does Obama have to do with plant closures?
F this guy. You do not aid the enemy.
I second the “F this guy” motion. Selling the rest of us down the river like that is unacceptable.
Let me know if you get a reaction – I am still waiting to see if he has the nerve to respond to my email (doubtful).
s/me/us
How Dan Cooper sold out America. He is worried about small business, what about his workers that will have to find other work. As an Endowment Member of the NRA I make a living from buying and selling firearms. No longer will I buy or encourage others to buy a Cooper firearm. The public should send every rifle that they bought back to Cooper and demand a refund. Why should we support those that will undermine the Constitution of the United States. ( Nobama will not even prove that he is a U.S. citizen and there fore should not be allowed to run for president.)
That was fast. (Admittedly, I only learned of this brouhaha today.) See Cooper Firearms, Inc.’s response above this post. Good on them!
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