"The Freedom Group"... Anybody know if this is true?

jspeligene · Jan 2, 2012

For the last several years a company called The Freedom Group has been buying up gun and ammunition manufacturers. Some of the companies are Bushmaster, Marlin, Remington, DPMS, Dakota Arms and H&R. Some people worry that this Freedom Group is going to control most of the firearms companies in the United States . If you control the manufacturers you can decide to stop selling to civilians. What a perfect way to control guns.

Now if you do some digging you will see that The Freedom Group is owned by a company called Cerberus Capital Management.

Guess who controls Cerberus??? GEORGE SOROS!!!!!!!!! One of the most evil men on this planet who wantsto restrict or ban all civilian guns.

drmitchgibson · Jan 2, 2012

It is false. Just generic, low-level propaganda.

copertop80 · Jan 24, 2012

Snoops.com is calling barbra strisand (BS) however, feel free to panic and buy up mass amounts of firearms and ammo, (economic stimulus, for the gun world, in action right here baby)

The Antichrome · Jan 30, 2012

BTW, The Freedom Group just bought Para USA.

dennishoddy · Jan 30, 2012

I know its just the paranoid part of me, and know the Freedom Group is an investment company, but it still bothers me that all of these gun manufactureres are under the same umbrella. Each are a business unit on their own, but still.

poopgiggle · Jan 31, 2012

Even if it's the Evil George Soros, the kind of people who own large holding companies aren't the kind of people to lose money on purpose. Buying companies like Marlin, Remington, and H&R and then not selling their stuff to civilians would be throwing money away. DPMS and Bushmaster would probably get on fine with just LE sales but you should be buying a Stag or RRA instead anyways.

Scott Hearn · Jan 31, 2012

dennishoddy said:
I know its just the paranoid part of me, and know the Freedom Group is an investment company, but it still bothers me that all of these gun manufactureres are under the same umbrella. Each are a business unit on their own, but still.

poopgiggle said:
Even if it's the Evil George Soros, the kind of people who own large holding companies aren't the kind of people to lose money on purpose. Buying companies like Marlin, Remington, and H&R and then not selling their stuff to civilians would be throwing money away. DPMS and Bushmaster would probably get on fine with just LE sales but you should be buying a Stag or RRA instead anyways.

What most people don't realize is that our gun manufacturers themselves aren't really that big. At least not in revenue. Compared to Apple, MS, Whirlpool, GE, etc. they are real small beans. So it is kind of disturbing to think that a large holding company could end up selling them off, or just liquidating at the drop of a hat.

Now one related company that is pretty freaking large is ATK which is a fortune 500 company. They own Federal Ammunition, Lake City, etc. And if it burns or blows up, they make it. From lowly .22LR ammo to the booster rockets on the space shuttle and literally everything in between. When I was in Kommiefornia we made the engine nozzles for the ICBM that's now part of the interceptor missle that makes up the "missle shield". ATK is the maker of those engines too (what was once Thiokol).

poopgiggle · Feb 1, 2012

Scott Hearn said:
What most people don't realize is that our gun manufacturers themselves aren't really that big. At least not in revenue. Compared to Apple, MS, Whirlpool, GE, etc. they are real small beans. So it is kind of disturbing to think that a large holding company could end up selling them off, or just liquidating at the drop of a hat.

I was going to go into a whole thing about how capitalism is awesome and how any assets that were liquidated/sold off would just go back to making guns if there was a market for them, but I did some research and found out that George Soros doesn't actually have any connection to Cerberus Capital Management so I think the point is moot.

Scott Hearn · Feb 2, 2012

poopgiggle said:
I was going to go into a whole thing about how capitalism is awesome and how any assets that were liquidated/sold off would just go back to making guns if there was a market for them, but I did some research and found out that George Soros doesn't actually have any connection to Cerberus Capital Management so I think the point is moot.

I wasn't inferring that Soros was on any kind of "mission" by quoting that post, just that I've worked in the "large coporate" world for years and know how they operate and how things can go down. It's all about the bottom line and Remington, Marlin, Colt, S&W, etc. aren't squat when compared to any of the Fortune 500 companies. Now Bloomberg hates guns so much I can almost see him doing it. But venture capitalists are out to make money, pure and simple. It's the only objective they have. My point was that having all these gun companies come into one parent company is cause for a little concern. Can be good AND can be bad.

shootingbuff · Feb 2, 2012

I totally agree on the reasonable person level. That stated if one looks at the FBI press releases every day there are folks who are out milking the people. Look at the housing market and those institutions that support it, look at some of the unions. Look at our elected officials. Look at those that have an ideology agenda. I could see where this could happen. Even those that want to defile those making or with money are trying to make money and have money, so that stated., I just freaking hope this doesn't come to pass as the OP laid it out.

arty0036:

poopgiggle · Feb 3, 2012

Scott Hearn said:
I wasn't inferring that Soros was on any kind of "mission" by quoting that post, just that I've worked in the "large coporate" world for years and know how they operate and how things can go down. It's all about the bottom line and Remington, Marlin, Colt, S&W, etc. aren't squat when compared to any of the Fortune 500 companies. Now Bloomberg hates guns so much I can almost see him doing it. But venture capitalists are out to make money, pure and simple. It's the only objective they have. My point was that having all these gun companies come into one parent company is cause for a little concern. Can be good AND can be bad.

Right. My point was that if any large holding company DOES liquidate or sell off a gun company, it's probably just to make a quick buck rather than to further an Insidious Commie Plot to Steal Our Precious Bodily Fluids and Guns. Moreover, even if some horrible leveraged buyout wizardry happens, it's not like all the tooling and skilled laborers will disappear. If there's still a good market for guns, that capital will probably be absorbed into other firearms manufacturers to help them make more guns.

nwlr82 · Mar 19, 2012

Go to NRAnews.com and there is a 10 min video about this. They promise they have no connections to the Evil SOB you mentioned however I do find it strange they are buying up all these companies.

300BLKAAC · May 15, 2012

Sales to individuals dwarfs sales to government agencies. I doubt seriously that you will see a company stop selling to the US consumer market unless they are restricted to not do so. Ask Colt how well that worked out for them when they decided to stop selling to individuals. HK is even softening their position considering the tougher time everyone is having staying in business.