The New York Times reported yesterday that the New York Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer is initiating an antitrust investigation of the gun industry as a result of what the Times characterized as “fierce financial pressure from other firearms manufacturers and dealers”.

Today’s Washington Post reports that the Conn. Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal, has issued subpoenas to “companies in the industry”. Representatives of Glock and Beretta, U.S.A. were reported as dismissing the investigation as unwarranted. “What they’re alleging is hogwash,” said Jeff Reh of Beretta, U.S.A. Corp. “The gun industry hasn’t done anything.”

The industry wouldn’t have to. People who buy guns at retail also read newspapers and watch TV news. They know what S&W did, and don’t want to buy any more S&W products. (If a Kosher meat packer endorsed a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capitol, it wouldn’t take a fortune teller to predict that its business would suffer.) These Attorney Generals must think gun owners are idiots; that we will continue to purchase products made by a company which surrenders to people whose ultimate agenda is the total disarmament of American citizens. Wholesalers and retailers know better, and will stock their businesses accordingly.