Weer'd reports a distinct lack of traffic at the H-S Precision booth at the NRA convention.
Y'all may remember H-S Precision as the people who thought that FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi would be a swell celebrity spokesman for their products. This displays a level of tone-deafness that is simply jaw-dropping. (No word yet on their forthcoming line of John Lee Malvo signature edition AR furniture...)
Meanwhile, Lon is still walking around a free man, because using "I was trying to murder someone else and hit her by accident!" as your defense works a lot better for federal agents than it does for Ice Dog and Ray-Ray.
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34 comments:
Wow, this just goes to show how important it is to know your audience. You'd think that after the Zumbo incident, H-S wouldn't have been so clueless about the power of the internet. Too bad, because it saddens me to see any American company losing business, and after seeing the T-shirt, my first reaction was 'Ouch!'
wv: seent - Watching corporate idiots make the same mistake time and again, with the workers bearing the consequences.
Alan J: There are other American companies.
This particular "stock market" may, in fact, be zero-sum. So don't think of it as H-S losing business, think of it as McMillan gaining business.
Good point Alan J. The employees suffer because of management's stupidity.
What were they thinking? Well, they showed what they were thinking, and it was not conducive to sales to their customer base.
I've never seen a rational explanation for HS' blunder.
John Lee Malvo signature edition AR furniture
Heh
Robin, the only explanation that remotely makes sense is that most of their business is to Federal agencies. I have no idea whether this is the case (and if it is, why they had a booth at a pretty strongly end-consumer trade show).
But the world of marketing is filled with examples of Epic Fail. I'm Lon Horiuchi! Fly me!
Borepatch,
Apparently the owner is friends with Lon.
Bear in mind, that Lon does not think he did anything wrong. That he was justified in his actions and made a righteous shot to protect fellow agents overhead. That the bullet hitting Vicki was a tragic error, yes, but one for which he has been hounded and unjustly persecuted.
And the owner of H-S Precision has, no doubt, been hearing this straight from the horse's mouth for a decade.
Now does it make more sense?
Sure does.
The history of marketing is filled with examples of bone-headed decisions being made by the company owner.
You'd think they'd save themselves the cost of having a booth next year. Or at least give us more theatrics like last year. Remember the H. S. Precision booth guy who almost took a swing at the gunblogger who was asking about this subject? Can't remember who it was - Uncle maybe?
I mean, if you're going to have a controversy, embrace it!
Borepatch,
"Can't remember who it was - Uncle maybe?"
It was Stingray of the Nerds. (And IIRC, consensus is that Angry Dude was in fact the owner in question.)
Ma'am, I hate to disagree with you on your own front porch, but:
"And the owner of H-S Precision has, no doubt, been hearing this straight from the horse's mouth for a decade."
I think that he's been hearing it from the OTHER end of a horse.
P.S.: Anybody notice that the new Savage Arms catalog includes the "H-S Precision" packages, mixed in with their "Law Enforcement" series?
Lon was justified in shooting Mrs Weaver because she had killed her son as part of her racist religous belief system.
Oh wait, it was the US Marshals Service who shot the boy.
Never mind it must have been justified some how right?
Gerry
Yeah, Lon didn't mean to hit Mrs. Weaver. He was aiming at the infant in her arms.
Lon made many mistakes hat day, the first was to obey an ROE that was unlawful. I'm sure the other snipers had eyes on target as well, but elected to act like cops that day, not hit men. Weaver, whatever his politics showed incredible restraint, a week in a cabin with the body of his wife and his son dead out back. I probably would have started a war right there.
Borepatch: Cap'n Hissy Fit's story is here. The picture Byrne posted of Murder Inc.'s prez is no longer up, but in the interest of complete disclosure/fairness/etc, the main resemblance between Houghton and my dude was the white hair. I wouldn't rule out the possibility that they were the same guy, but I'm not so confident I'd put money on it.
Either way, it takes a pretty powerful jolt to send something instantly through my dense skull and into long term storage, but the rep's explanation that Vickie needed to be shot because "She was there. She knew!" managed the trick remarkably well.
I wonder if the person who set up that ad even knew who Lon Horiuchi was.
Missed ya at the convention, Tam. Wish you had come. You and Rx are two of the Big Bloggers I'd still really like to hand with. Plus Denise and Sam of Ten Ring.
"Wish you had come."
Wish I had too.
I'd planned on it, but things fell apart in the last couple months. :(
Even if Horuchi was one's friend, and even if you believed Horuchi's version of reality, you'd still have to be a freaking moron to use him as an endorsement.
I think it says a lot that not even Chris Whitcomb would stand behind Horiuchi in Cold Zero.
I mean, Whitcomb was boots-on-the-ground with the HRT at both Ruby Ridge and Waco. His side of the story is virtually the antithesis of the standard wookie version. And even he seems to think that Lon was way outta line...
I find it strange that that report first states 300yds, then later switches to 200yds. IIRC, the actual distance was considerably under 200. Maybe 127yds? Way too close to track a running man with a 10-24 power scope, according to the pros that looked at the scenario. And he couldn't even get a proper hit on a standing man at the shed? They all called bullshit on the entire shoot.
Their best guess was the shot at the shed was by Lon's spotter, with his AR/m16?, designed to get Vicky to come into sight for Lon to kill. This was predicated on the fact that the agent's brief stated that Vicky was the real power driving the situation, not Randy.
The alternative was that Lon was the most incompetent sniper in govt service, which his classmates in sniper school stated was incorrect.
A few things from memory;
The whole gun running incident was Weaver being set up to sell a single shot shotgun to an informant. The crime - it had a barrel a half inch too short.
The shooting started when agents shot the kids dog and the kid returned fire, as any of us would.
The kid was shot in the back reportedly while calling out for his mother.
Why the inaccuracy of shooting distance? The FBI would have taped it to the inch.
Lastly, I suppose the fact the Horiuchi is still alive points out there's no anti-government organization operating in the US.
Perhaps Lon is currently advising the current Phantom Guns for Drugs Ops? The attempted investigations into it's origins and operations appears to be floundering the same sort of miasma as that which surrounded the immediate event of Weaver debacle.
Deja Vu-doo, regarding the Who-do?.
*SHAKE hands with
"The alternative was that Lon was the most incompetent sniper in govt service, which his classmates in sniper school stated was incorrect.
Well, that blows one of my theories away. I've long thought that he was either incompetent and shot the wrong target, or knew exactly what he was doing and hit the target he was going for. And I wasn't leaning toward incompetent.
Plus, now we know who the most junior employees at HS Precision are. They were the ones at the booth this week.
None of the reports from the government on Ruby Ridge are trustworthy in any sense. Don't forget that they got caught fabricating evidence, and called on it by the judge.
I wonder if they genuinely thought that gun owners would like to see an endorsement by Lon Horiuchi, or if they were picturing easily fooled rubes who would not know who that is and just see the "Veteran FBI Sniper" part as the endorsement.
Famous But Incompetent
loren,
The problem with the shotgun in question wasn't bbl length but OAL.
"Agents" didn't shoot the dog. Marshals did.
Like Waco, this incident is surrounded with much lore and BS in the American gun community.
There's no need to embellish the real crimes that occurred by putting little green men in them.
Tam,
Agent / Marshall - who cares. Both agents of the US government.
Barrel length / OAL well ok but doubt either constitute BS or "little green men"
Think you're still bent out of shape over the adjust a cat with a .22 comment I made awhile back. Better change the litter box more often. The ammonia's getting to you.
Heh.
I'm just generally bent out of shape over whatever. ;)
loren: There was some question about whether or not the stock was shortened a tad by the CI after Weaver had cut the barrel.
Lesson learned for gunsmiths: Never shorten a barrel that is still attached to a longarm. The customer can commit any such felony without your participation.
"Lon is still walking around a free man......"
..... because his location and schedule are not public knowledge. (:i)
I purchased Mr. Weavers book and had him sign it at a gun show some years back. Later at the same show I ran into a retired FBI agent that I know and the guy had a fit that I would buy anything from Weaver. I told him I try to see all sides and if Lon was selling his story I'd buy one off him as well. After what I've learned since I'll not be buying Lon's story.
Whatever Lon is sellin' ..... I ain't buyin'. (:i)
wv-"haves" ..... the haves, and the have nots: badges/GOOJF Cards....
Yeah, I walked on by several times. I NEVER saw anyone in their rather large booth area until sometime Saturday. If that is a mark of their market share they must be barely making it. But, I think that many are simply not willing to contact them in public. Somehow, they are still in business.
PS - it was the same last year.
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