If you're into archery, you know the Archery Trade Associations annual show is underway in Nashville, Tennessee. If you're not already a subscriber of The Archery Wire (www.thearcherywire.com), you might not know that our editor J.R. Absher has a special ATA edition out this morning. You can go to the web address and see what he's prepared for the first major event of 2013, and while you're there, you should also signup for you own weekly edition. Since we began the service, it has grown steadily and has become another industry staple.
If you're into shooting sports, you're preparing (possibly frantically) for the 2014 edition of SHOT Show. That's the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trades even that kicks off next week in Las Vegas, Nevada. Editors Rich Grassi and Paul Erhardt will be joining me there for a week-long series of special editions from the world's largest shooting sports event.
This year, we'll also be adding another special edition to our SHOT coverage. This one will help you get acquainted with the 100 or so companies that will be making their first-ever SHOT Show appearance. That edition will be coming out later this week, so be looking in your mailbox for our 2014 SHOT Show New Exhibitor Special Edition.
And we need to touch-quickly- on industry news that happened in the past few days. Sturm, Ruger & Company (NYSE:RGR) named Chris Killoy president last week. Effective January 1, Killoy will take the president's slot formerly held by company CEO Mike Fifer. With that promotion, Fifer acknowledges what many in the industry have said for some time: Killoy is one of those industry guys who definitely "gets it".
And just before Christmas Orvis announced it was selling Ross Reels to the Mayfly Group. Seems the big acquisition last summer that saw Orvis purchase Scientific Anglers from 3M didn't stack so positively for Ross.
As Orvis officials said in their release: "Since acquiring the company, while Orvis has developed a clear growth strategy for its Scientific Anglers brand, it has struggled to integrate the Ross brand into its own reel business, while also sustaining Ross's diversified manufacturing operations in market segments where Orvis has limited expertise and name recognition. It therefore became clear that Ross would not be a strong fit for Orvis's long term strategy." So, the Orvis execs decided to sell Ross rather than simply rolling over a competitor.
Industry observers are calling that Orvis move "classy". Many companies would kill a competitor rather than keeping it viable. because the company chose to keep a competitor alive rather than killing it. Orvis' Jim Lepage explained the move pretty simply: "We would prefer that the brand to remain in the market, even if it remains a competitor to Orvis. We are happy to have found a strategic buyer that can give Ross Reels the attention it deserves and look forward to seeing it prosper and grow in the years to come."
If you're a Ross fan, you'll be pleased to note that Mayfly president David Dragoo says they'll be re-introducing some classic Ross reels from the past, including Cimmarron and Gunnison.
And speaking of acquisitions, it's likely we're going to be hearing plenty from some names we've not seen in the headlines for some time.
On Monday, December 14, 2009, DPMS/Panther Arms said goodbye to its President and Founder, Randy Luth. Luth sold his company to Freedom Group and his employment contract had expired. Industry insiders were sorry to see the straight-talking Luth go, but all agreed that entrepreneurs and corporations seldom peacefully coexist after their initial purchase agreements.
It says Luth, so it's safe to believe Randy Luth is back in the AR business. Luth AR, LLC web photo. |
In reading about the company, it would seem he's not been sitting quietly since leaving DPMS. According to the "About" section, "Luth looks forward to introducing more innovated and exciting products to the AR Industry." The site invites everyone to "stay tuned."
And it's a wait-and-see for Advanced Armament Company founder Kevin Brittingham. Brittingham won a lawsuit against his former employer (and AAC owner) Freedom Group regarding his less-than-friendly termination. Although we're not certain what he's up to, we're hearing that following his winning a lawsuit against Freedom Group, he's getting ready to re-enter the suppressor business. Nothing official, but it's another of those names you might be hearing in 2014.
The President of the United States seems intent on raising his profile when it comes to guns. Taking time from a holiday vacation in Hawaii (where he blasted Republicans for "going home for the holidays") Mr. Obama pushed out a pair of executive orders that many in the gun fear is another end-run around the Second Amendment. Don't bet against the anti-gun groups going on a serious offensive in '14. They're humiliated after having had their national initiatives rebuffed in Congress and the so-called wins that cost Democrats their seats in Colorado.
The list of names we'll be hearing and seeing again for the foreseeable future will include Senator Charles Grassley, Representative Darrell Issa and Attorney General Eric Holder. That's because CNN has reported that yet another of the 2,000-2,500 guns allowed to "walk" into the hands of Mexican drug cartels during the ATF's Operation Fast & Furious has turned up at the scene of a bloody Mexican gun battle.
The bloody shootout in Puerto Penasco on December 18 is only the latest piece of a story that's not going away, despite the administration's best efforts to squelch it. Already, we've seen the first-ever contempt of Congress citation issued against an Attorney General. Now there's a motion before a federal court from the House of Representatives seeking to compel the Justice Department to release documents House investigators say will show the "extent of efforts to stonewall" the House investigation into F&F.
The ATF's response to the latest gun recovery was a statement saying the agency "has accepted responsibility for the mistakes made in the Fast and Furious investigation, and at the Attorney General's direction, we have taken appropriate and decisive action to ensure that these errors will not be repeated."
"And," it continued, "we acknowledge that, regrettably, firearms related to the Fast and Furious investigation will likely continue to be recovered at future crime scenes."
Personally, I find it far more "regrettable" that ATF or associated Justice Department officials involved in either Operations Fast and Furious or Wide Receiver are still employed rather than facing vigorous criminal prosecution for what they did it became obvious that their "investigations" were off the rails.
--Jim Shepherd