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Benchmade exposure. What is your take?

Just wondering what the knife community here thinks about the recent Benchmade flap over destroying firearms and supporting democrat sponsored bills and providing monetary contributions exclusively to democrats. I read about it on a few sites, but was unconvinced until I heard this from the Marketing Director of the company:

https://guntalk.com/gun-talk-radio/tom-talks-benchmade-gun-destruct...

What is your take?

Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Steve Scheuerman (Manx) on April 15, 2019 at 14:13

As far as I am concerned, they had the tools and manpower to assist the police in something that was going to be done anyway. They performed a community service when asked, and legally destroyed items that the police asked them to do. Great company supporting their local law enforcement, and a whole bunch of gun nuts getting bent out of shape for absolutely no reason. For those folks now boycotting Benchmade, message me, and I will give you my address so that you can dispose of this despicable company's products in a safe way!

Way to go Benchmade! Any company that supports their local law enforcement like this deserves kudos!

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FeaturedPermalink Reply by dead_left_knife_guy on April 15, 2019 at 19:30

Part of me is much more amused by this than I'd ever expected to be, part of me is disappointed by the money in politics aspect of it.

It's interesting that there is such a huge overlap in the "Don't Tread On Me (DTOM)" group (who are pretty thoroughly 2A supporters) and those supporting law enforcement & military. It's noteworthy because the actual "treading" in most individual instances won't be done by politicians, but by members of law enforcement & military. These internally contradictory positions are the definition of cognitive dissonance. The tensions created by this cognitive dissonance are the whole reason this has been making a splash, because really in so many ways, it's just business as usual.

This cognitive dissonance has existed for a long time, & the Benchmade stories just brought that to the fore. The stories will be effectively forgotten, the weird tensions will continue largely uninterrupted, & Benchmade will continue exerting political influence in the form of financial contributions, probably mostly to Democrats, just like so many other companies located in & near Portland, OR -- but only because it's a thoroughly Blue area. I don't know this for a fact, but I'm guessing they would be supporting Republicans if they were in a Red area, if that makes anyone feel any better -- though in my opinion, it shouldn't.

I really don't mean to offend anyone, but it seems really hard not to when discussing something inherently political. And really, the whole reason this has been a story is the politics involved -- it's inherent to the story. Still, I'm glad someone else brought it up. :)