For Your Reading Enjoyment

I ran across an article in Slate Magazine on Smith & Wesson that reminded me of an article in the New York Times about Smith & Wesson’s comeback (I blogged about it here). For being published in more or less liberal news outlets, both articles have a lack of snarkiness about guns.

Slate’s article descends slightly into snark when it says that Smith & Wesson’s .500 Magnum appeals to well-to-do urban collectors who buy it to increase their macho creds. Still, not bad in the snark department. There’s also a mistake when it claims, … “Ruger sold boatloads of its .22-caliber revolvers to protective homeowners and security guards.” I know of no security guard who’d feel armed with a .22 revolver or many homeowners for that matter.

I guess I better give a very brief summary. Slate looks at Smith & Wesson’s takeover of the big bore handgun market starting with the .500 Magnum. It mentions Smith & Wesson’s troubles with the gunnie community, its new marketing strategies, and its new leadership in the big bore handgun market. There is one mention of a police chief who doesn’t like the gun, but the article quickly gives the other side—what criminal would want to try to conceal one of these things. Try is the operative word.

So, all in all a favorable article that you might want to give a read. It did give me fodder for another post because it linked firearm production figures. I crunched a few numbers and got a few answers to the state of gun sales in my next post.