Why CPSC is Going After BB Guns
The First Steps to Putting Our Collective Foot Down

by Angel Shamaya
Founder/Executive Director
KeepAndBearArms.com

October 31, 2001

Reprint in any format far and wide is freely granted.
Please include our website address so people can find us.

KeepAndBearArms.com -- The Consumer Product Safety Commission is suing Daisy Manufacturing Company "to compel Daisy to notify consumers that the model 880 and model 856 Powerline Airguns are defective, and present a substantial risk of death or injury to anyone using the airgun." 

Daisy openly admits the fact that their guns -- if misused, against safety warnings -- can cause harm:

"Airguns are real guns, not toys. You or others can be killed or seriously injured if these rules are not followed."  [emphasis theirs]

But according to CPSC Commissioner Mary Sheila Gall, the Commission staff was "unable to replicate phenomenon despite repeated attempts to do so."

If there is a defect, you must be able to buy that product and reproduce the result of said defect -- CPSC's job, which they failed to do but are suing anyway.

So why is CPSC really going after Daisy -- the largest manufacturer of BB guns -- if it's not due to a true defect in the product?

An important question, with a painfully obvious answer:

BB GUNS LEAD TO FIREARMS OWNERSHIP.

BB GUNS LEAD TO HUNTING AND SPORTS SHOOTING.

BB GUNS EVEN LEAD TO CONSTITUTIONAL PATRIOTISM.

Think about it.  Did YOU own a BB gun, even a Daisy BB gun?  I did.  Many gun owners I know did, too. I probably shot 100 POUNDS of BB's as a kid, all by myself.  I also turned several kids on to the Daisy, and definitely to the sport and all that goes with it.  My Daisy 880 -- one of the models under attack -- was my best friend for at least a year or two.  (I wore it out!)  Then I went up to a Sheriden .20 caliber pellet gun.  Then a .22, shotguns, higher caliber rifles etc. etc.  And now I pack heat everywhere I go, can pretty much pick off anything within a hundred yards with open sights on the fly and much farther with my scoped rifles or if I take time to place my shot -- and I am a staunch gun rights activist who stands up for the Second Amendment and the rest of the Bill of Rights and would rather die than surrender one single flintlock to any government agent, ever.

Get it?

The baseless and fraudulent attack on Daisy is an attack on the American firearms heritage.

The baseless and fraudulent attack on Daisy is an attack on the entryway into hunting, riflery, shotgunning, pistolry and everything else that comprises the exercising of the Second Amendment.

This federal agency and its minions are trying to remove the first most natural step into the gun culture.

Our response needs to be a very loud, sustained and collective NO!

TAKE ACTION

Step One:  Get Disgusted

Make a toll-free call and listen to a recorded message being "reported" on radio stations at your expense.  The federal government is using your tax dollars to promote a massive deception about an "accident" that "happened" with a Daisy BB gun.  In short, a kid ambushed another kid with a BB gun and shot him in the head at close range.  Just listen to the story and know that CPSC is promoting it as if it was an "accident."  Here is the toll-free number, as found on the CPSC "press release":  1-888-531-9070.

After you listen to it, take a quick peek at Daisy's "Safety Tips" page, which is mirrored in the owners' manuals that come with their airguns: http://www.daisy.com/safetytips.html. 

If that doesn't make you mad enough, or if you really want to get the full scope of this obnoxious abuse of federal power, read the entire "press release" from CPSC, and pay close attention to the section below their pictures of the Daisy BB guns.  One of their Commissioners, Mary Sheila Gall, rightly points out everything wrong about the CPSC's lawsuit.  It's a wonderfully clear and articulate analysis and worth every minute it takes to read.  (See http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml02/02029.html.)

Highlights from CPSC Commissioner Gall's Stance Against the CPSC Lawsuit Against Daisy Include:

"I. PROCEDURAL IRREGULARITIES

"A. The confidential draft Complaint was furnished to reporters yesterday, before vote took place today.

"B. Complaint filed immediately after vote today instead of giving Daisy the customary short time to settle prior to filing the Complaint. Timetable driven by today's 2:00 PM press conference.

"C. No expert reports or detailed financial information about the company were provided to Commission.

"II. MANY ALLEGED DEFECTS ARE GENERIC TO AIR GUNS

"A. Gravity feed mechanisms

"B. Automatically resetting safeties.

"C. Warnings provided to purchasers in labels and operating manuals.

"These issues should be addressed through voluntary standards, or regulation, not compliance action directed at one company.

"III. LODGING PROBLEM MAY BE UNIQUE TO DAISY BUT IS NOT A SUBSTANTIAL PRODUCT HAZARD.

"A. Commission's compliance staff conducted six separate investigations of Daisy BB guns between l981 and l999. Commission considered petitions five times between 1975 and 1989 and a special staff project and report on air gun safety was completed in 1997.

"B. Experience in use reveals 3 deaths and 47 serious injuries over 30 years and nearly 7.5 million examples. (Contrast 250 deaths per year associated with the use of bicycles by children.)

"C. Commission staff unable to replicate phenomenon despite repeated attempts to do so. Commission has repeatedly looked at airguns in general and Daisy BB guns in particular and has not found a defect."

Read Commissioner Gall's Full, Enlightening Report

Step Two:  Write to CPSC

Write to CPSC via email and tell them what you think about their assault with no valid reason on a company whose product hasn't been proven to be defective.  When you write to CPSC, be sure to copy Daisy in on the message so they've got some ammo to print and use in their defense, and so they know you are standing with them.  [email protected] 

Main address for information:  [email protected] (to speak your mind)

Regional Divisions:  (to speak your mind about the insanity coming out of the Bethesda, Maryland headquarters)

Eastern:  [email protected]
Central:  [email protected]
Western:  [email protected]

Compliance Issues:  [email protected]  (to demand to know their standards for judging a product's defects and if those standards have been met here -- not for opinion, but for proof)

Freedom of Information Act Requests:  [email protected]  (to demand the evidence they've got that proves the Daisy models 880 and 856 to be defective)

National Injury Information Clearinghouse:  [email protected]  (to request all available data on each accident that clearly and unequivocally resulted due to a defined and proven product defect)

Source: CPSC Contact Page

 

Step Three:  Call CPSC and Complain

Be as nice or as less than nice as you please.  I have nothing kind to say to these lying, conniving fools; the message I left on their after-hours voice mail was harsh bordering on caustic.  Their main line to "report a dangerous product or a product-related injury" is (800) 638-2772.  [When the automated answering system kicks in, press 1, and then press 300.]  That's a good, toll-free place to start throwing a monkey wrench in their little anti-American machine.  Other numbers include:

CPSC CONTACT: Scott Wolfson
(the guy named on their "press release")
(301) 504-0580 Ext. 1189
Let's bury Scott in so many phone calls he hates life and chew up every last minute he has.  I left an irate, two-minute message explicitly detailing the source of my ire and expecting a phone call as soon as he gets my message.

Headquarters

Mailing address:
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Washington, D.C. 20207-0001

Street address
4330 East-West Highway
Bethesda, Maryland 20814-4408
Tel. (301) 504-0990
Fax (301) 504-0124 and (301) 504-0025
E-mail: [email protected]
Directions: driving, subway/Metro
Map: CPSC's location in Bethesda, Maryland

Regional Offices

Eastern

201 Varick Street, Room 903
New York, NY 1014-4811
Tel. (212) 620-4120
Fax (212) 620-5338
E-mail: [email protected]

Central

230 South Dearborn Street, Room 2944
Chicago, IL 60604-8260
Tel. (312) 353-8260
Fax (312) 353-5013
E-mail: [email protected]

Western

1301 Clay Street, Suite 610-N
Oakland, CA 94612
Tel. (510) 637-4050
Fax (510) 637-4060
E-mail: [email protected]

Step Four:  Inspire Others to Act

Get some of your lazy gun owner buddies to get up off of their couches on this one. It's time they started pulling their weight anyway. Ask them if they owned a Daisy BB gun, or if their kids own one now or did when they were younger.  Ask them what those guns meant to their upbringing.  Impress upon them that the full weight of the federal government is being brought against the company who provided whatever enjoyment they or their loved ones have gained as a result of Daisy's fine products.  Be creative, and be aggressive.

I received not only a year or two of profound enjoyment -- daily, from the time I got it -- from my Daisy BB gun, but I also found my way into the gun culture even though my father didn't care about guns one bit.  That being the case, I think I can spare a few minutes of my precious time in Daisy's defense.  And you?

If you didn't own a BB gun and don't care about BB guns, ponder this: millions of kids do, and millions more will -- before they find their way into shooting sports and hopefully into defending the Second Amendment.  Are you going to let these gun prohibitionist rats chop our future liberty advocates off at the doorway?

How do you feel about having federally-funded liars and deceivers attacking BB guns under false and misleading pretenses?  Do you trust their motives?  What are you going to do about it?