A Message from Matt Hipwell

[Yuri_Wolverine]

I think we've probably reached maximum heated opinion saturation for this thread. I'm locking it down.

[Yuri_Wolverine]

A response to some of various arguments made on this thread and others:

#1) “The CSAAA is helping the Liberals take MY guns away!”
The CSAAA did not negotiate to help confiscate guns from of individuals, they negotiated on behalf of businesses so that if the buyback program did go ahead they would receive a proper market value, rather than whatever the liberals dream up.

#2) “Why don’t they just send them back to the USA?”
A majority of firearms once exported out of the USA cannot be returned to be resold. This is due to US export regulations.

#3) “They shouldn’t have brought so many guns in just to be stuck with them.”
I can assure you that we did not bring in more guns than there was demand for. In fact our backorder lists indicate quite the opposite, we couldn’t bring enough in fast enough to keep them on the shelf most of the time!

#4) “They are just greedy and don’t care about the rest of us!”
That is simply an untrue statement (and an ad hominem assumption of motive). Our goal is to get as many guns into as many law abiding Canadians hands as possible. To do this to the best of our ability the business must be profitable. Yes there is money being made as this is a business. That money is being used to buy more inventory (more guns for the Canadian public), keep people gainfully employed and able to support their families, keep the lights on, and lobby for firearms rights.

#5) “You should never surrender your guns or cooperate in any way”
With this statement I can empathize. Every man or woman must have a line in the sand that they draw and say “enough is enough”. A proverbial Alamo if you will. Everyone’s life is different, and they have different priorities and responsibilities pulling them in different directions. The line in the sand for a single man living on his own might be different than the man who has a wife and kids he needs to care for, even if they 100% share all the same values. Drawing a line in the sand over your own ability to use and keep your own personal individual pieces property, is something I do respect. However are you willing to extend that line in the sand to include a business? There are implications to what I’m saying here that I’m going to avoid stating plainly.

So the choices becomes simple, do you:
A) Do everything you can to continue the business cycle as outlined above and get as many guns into Canadian hands as possible, and recoup costs incurred from frozen inventory as best you can.
B) Sit on the dead inventory out of principle and do your best to continue doing business despite the losses (if your business is able get past the financial detriment, not all can).

In my opinion I wouldn’t think any less of a business owner for take either of these options. Only they have the complete picture and the answers to all the variables with which to make an informed decision. I don’t think our first reaction should be to grab pitch forks and torches.