Airgun Wire editor Tom McHale summed up my feelings about the weeklong spectacle that is supposed to be election day: “Why is it that American Idol has a more robust and reliable voting system that the United States of America?”
As we go into the weekend, there are far more questions than answers as far as the election. And since I believe a reporter’s job is to advance stories, not rehash them, we’re not going to beat the point to death.
But…I have a difficult time believing there’s not something badly wrong with this year’s “results” . The charges, counter charges, and misinformation flowing right will keep fleets of lawyers and gaggles of pundits busy for some time to come. For once, my money’s on the lawyers. The pundits have already had their balloons popped.
Who is going to be in the White House next year isn’t the only question on our radar, but it’s the biggest one. The search for an honest answer has, essentially, locked our country up. Without a winner, the would-be rioters are doing the same thing as the firearms industry: waiting.
Something’s gotta give on this one. It is pretty obvious to anyone who bothered to look there were plenty of irregularities. The underlying concern I have at this point is there isn’t much more confidence in the federal government to erode.
Another question came at me -twice-yesterday I’d never considered. When Remington went bankrupt, what happened to all the firearms owners had sent in for warranty or repair work?
Apparently, that’s a question no one in bankruptcy court can answer either. It all began with this note:
“I sent back my shotgun to Remington in September and supposedly it was repaired but didn’t make it out by the shut down. I’ve tried reaching out all over to see what the status was with Roundhill but they don’t have any contact information anywhere and Remington’s completely shut down all phones besides security. If you could let me know it’d be much appreciated sincerely (someone missing duck season because his gun is in Ilion).”
Less than two hours later, a note asking about a 1911 returned for warranty repairs. So, I reached out to the only place where phones seem to be answered when it comes to the company formerly known as Remington: the federal bankruptcy court in Huntsville, Alabama.
Seems more than 200 people have called with similar questions. The court’s answer? “Nothing we can do.” Why? Here’s the payoff: because even they couldn’t reach anyone with Remington.
With that on top of an already ridiculous week, it seems the unfortunate gun owners who trusted that their work would be done- or their guns returned- will need to reach out to their local law enforcement officials to file stolen gun reports. If they do that, they’ll have a paper trail to initiate an insurance claim - and protect themselves should their guns or those serial numbers ever turn up at the scene of a crime.
Running into a dead end for readers who are looking at the permanent loss of their firearms due to no fault of their own- and bad management by the manufacturer - was what I decided should be the end of another less-than-perfect week in 2020…the year that seems destined to answer the question: what else can happen?
It’s almost the weekend…get outside if you can, and know that we’re on the job and, as always, we’ll keep you posted.
—Jim Shepherd
