Benchmade is in trouble

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If it's true that they give most of their political donations to anti-gun candidates then that's really what bothers me. I like BM but that is a deal breaker. Anyone have links to prove this?

It's true Here you go:

https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/su...XmAT_Q1-Jd213ZAvVVEupc654o4Vpthu47Fut1wOJ3OX8

Around $36k in the past 8 years, to two Oregon Democrats. The bulk of it during the 2016 cycle. There is also a very small donation to Republicans back in 2010 and 2012. That's in addition to $1.12 million in lobbying, but there is no record (at least on this website) as to what might have been the object of that lobbying.
 
I was never interested in their knives, always felt there were knives that were good quality that would get done what I needed doing for less money and still be proud to own.

I'll be sure to spread the word, but up here in my neck of the USSA, all gun owners over 40 are the elitist Fudd type.
 
Let's stay focused on the knife aspects and let the other thread handle the 2A issues.

Does a knife manufacturer's participation in destruction of PD property room firearms that are required by local ordinance to be destroyed impact the quality of the knives made by that company?
Of course not. The quality of the product isn't dictated by anything more than the commitment of the company to produce a product of a specific level of quality.

Ahhh, but is it a smart move to for any consumer product company to get involved in any politically related issue?
Generally not since it alienates some customers.

Is it smart for a knife company that produces a product that is often an accessory in gun stores to get involved in any activity that can be seen as somehow, even peripherally, Anti 2A?
Of course not since it is assured to alienate a significant customer group and create controversy and possibly have an impact on sales.

Did BM think this through carefully?
Apparently not to the point they considered the backlash if the information was made public.

Do we know if the Oregon City Police approached BM at the local facility manager level or the Corporate level?
Not yet and we probably won't.

Do we know if the firearms that were destroyed were all used in crimes and offered back to any innocent owner? (Yes, that strays from the "let's keep this knife related" but it is relevant if we're trying to see if BM actually committed a "sin" or if this is just jumping to conclusions).
Not yet. So we don't know what BM is actually "guilty" of besides being blind to the implications of assisting the local PD in this and we don't know if they knew anything other than they were asked to help destroy firearms used in crimes locally that the PD no longer wanted to keep in Property.

What we know is that BM was asked to help do something that the PD was required to do by local law. That's been established.

Has BM's response provided much detailed information?
We apologize for the confusion and concern that this post created. These were firearms that the Oregon City Police Department had to destroy in alignment with their policies. Oregon City Police requested the use of specialty equipment within the Benchmade facility to follow these requirements, and as a supporting partner of our local police force, we obliged the request.
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Benchmade is a proud and unwavering supporter of both law enforcement and Second Amendment rights. These are commitments that we do not take lightly and will continue to support well into the future.
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When asked for clarity from Oregon City Police Department, Chief Jim Band made the following statement: “When property is to be destroyed, it is the policy of the Oregon City Police Department to destroy property, including firearms, in accordance to our procedures and ORS. The Oregon City Police Department does not sell firearms.”


-Benchmade
Not much more than Oregon City PD destroys instead of sells property room firearms like many LE organizations and they asked BM for help to do so. There probably isn't any more to it than that.

Keep in mind that knife companies often donate knives to their local LEOs and that it is generally understood that there is a very close relationship between local LE and knife manufacturers because of it. Such a relationship makes requests from LEO more probable than with the local garage or metal fab shops.

Was it a carefully thought out action on the part of BM? That's apparent that they were blind to this implication.

Will it have long term impact? Not on the quality of the product, but it might on sales. People have short memories, but nothing is "forgotten" on the internet.

Only time will tell.

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The three departments I have been involved in did not destroy weapons but rather disassembled them and took the parts off shore 20 mile and scattered them here and there. Only works if you on the coast.
 
That's in addition to $1.12 million in lobbying, but there is no record (at least on this website) as to what might have been the object of that lobbying.


I actually know what the lobbying funding was for. Knife legislation to promote your and my rights to own and carry knives. They helped start AKTI and are one of the manufacturers with an annual plan for funding the effort. I recognize the amount they've committed. You'll find similar numbers for several of the large US knife manufacturers that are key members of AKTI.


If you dig deeper into the open secrets site you can track to the two OR politicians that BM made donations to. A little digging will show, to anyone that actually wants to know the facts, that the principal recipients of direct donations are far from Anti.

Rep Kurt Schrader about 3/4 of the time votes NRA (not all D are Anti when the serve districts with rural character). https://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-rep-kurt-schrader-vote-concealed-carry-gun-bill/
Oregon Congressman Kurt Schrader was one of just six Democrats in the House who voted Wednesday for a bill that would allow concealed handgun licensees to carry their weapons in all 50 states.
Republican Greg Walden also backed the bill, which passed on a 231-198 vote. It was opposed by Democrats Earl Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonamici and Peter DeFazio.
Schrader often votes with the National Rifle Association, which gave him a 71 percent positive rating in 2016.

Senator Martin Heinrich was an NRA "A" rated politician as a House member and B for the Senate.
Gun law
The National Rifle Association (NRA) endorsed Heinrich during the 2010 congressional election. At that time, he received a grade of A from the NRA for his stance on Second Amendment rights.[34] He is a former member of the NRA.[35]

Heinrich opposed legislation that would have reinstated the Federal Assault Weapons Ban.[36] He also supported bills to create a national standard for the concealed carrying of firearms across state lines, and co-sponsored legislation that would ease the restrictions on the sales of firearms across state lines.[37]

Remember that manufacturers make contributions as a sort of "gate fee" for improved access to elected officials in hopes of influencing them to not hurt their industry. In OR Senators are not Republicans. BM donated less than $8,000 in 2018. That will get someone to pick up the phone when you call, but might not get you into their office. 2 years before they donated more, but the 2 years before that they put less in. That's the cynical nature of business and politics. So some of that goes to an Anti and some to a solid pro.

We need to be very careful in blindly making assumptions and splashing with too broad a brush about issues close to us. It is important to get all the facts when we're focusing down to individuals. Neither of these politicians are Antis so BM donating to them doesn't make them Anti nor does a small contribution to the other that is clearly not on our side.
 
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I actually know what the lobbying funding was for. Knife legislation to promote your and my rights to own and carry knives. They helped start AKTI and are one of the manufacturers with an annual plan for funding the effort. I recognize the amount they've committed. You'll find similar numbers for several of the large US knife manufacturers that are key members of AKTI.


If you dig deeper into the open secrets site you can track to the two OR politicians that BM made donations to. A little digging will show, to anyone that actually wants to know the facts, that the principal recipients of direct donations are far from Anti.

Rep Kurt Schrader about 3/4 of the time votes NRA (not all D are Anti when the serve districts with rural character). https://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-rep-kurt-schrader-vote-concealed-carry-gun-bill/


Senator Martin Heinrich was an NRA "A" rated politician as a House member and B for the Senate.


We need to be very careful in blindly making assumptions and splashing with too broad a brush about issues close to us. It is important to get all the facts when we're focusing down to individuals. Neither of these politicians are Antis so BM donating to them doesn't make them Anti.

I have family in Southern Oregon and I grew up in Northern California. Oregon, even though a blue state, is very pro second amendment as a whole.

On top of that the Southern Oregon/Northern California area that was once attempting to become the State of Jefferson is essentially Libertarian with people just picking Democrat or Republican based on whatever gets closer to their own values (while not being very Democrat or Republican in those values).

In general it's an interesting place as far as politics.
 
Plasma torch was also used. The equipment isn't really relevant.

The impact to the company is.

Other knife manufacturers are beginning to take pokes at BM over this now with tongue in cheek references to this PR kerfuffle.
 
I don't own a Benchmade knife, but I have been contemplating adding one to my little collection. For me, this incident has no impact on that decision. Neither BM, or the police were the decision makers on the destruction of those firearms. I agree the optics are bad, and especially since most people do not read past the headlines. I think this can be forgiven.
 
The decision of Benchmade to assist LE with a court ordered project has zero relevance to anything 2A or my decision to purchase more knives from them.

In the BM explanation it mentions "specialty equipment".
In the photo I see a guy using what looks like a 4" angle grinder on a steel top work bench.
"Specialty equipment"...? o_O

It is if the police dept doesn't have access to that equipment, or the skills to safely use it.

I'm on a call list with our local Sheriff. I'm not in anyway trained in LE practices, but if someone in our county comes up missing or lost I get a call to assist,, along with about 1/2 dozen others. We have skills, equipment, training, and experience in searching for lost people that our deputies don't have. If I had skills and equipment to destroy guns that had either been surrendered by people who didn't want them or had been used in criminal activity and if I were asked to aid with that I'd do it. Has nothing to do with my stand on 2A. If those guns had been confiscated from people who legally owned them it would be a different story.
 
For me, it's not that they were tasked with destroying firearms that the local laws stated needed to be destroyed (that's a whole other argument) but the revelation of donations to anti-2A politicians is what disturbs me.
 
If I were the president of Benchmade, I'd look past law enforcement department policy.

The very act of destroying guns used in crimes is part of the concept that guns are related to crime. That has an anti-2A tinge to it. Rather than destroying guns, take advantage of a sell-able resource to help fund the fight against people who commit crime.

Their assistance not only hurts their image, but also hurts the many vendors holding Benchmade inventory.
 
One of the downsides of our modern world.... is how quickly "outrage" can be ginned up over some hot button topic... The result? I imagine that after a bit of head scratching that company will take the trouble to be a bit more private in the future (and for that police department... the attempted attaboy for the assistance Benchmade provided was probably mis-placed....).

Destroying firearms is something that is required in most jurisdictions. I know because I've destroyed garbage cans full of confiscated weapons - years ago when I was in charge of my agency's property room (100 man department, south Florida - early eighties...). We didn't require any assistance since we were able to use our own police boat and dumped the weapons in around 200 feet of water (while moving - one at a time...). near the Gulfstream... Every chief of police is all too aware that the slightest problem with confiscated weapons handling by his or her agency - directly threatens their jobs.... Agencies that sell confiscated weapons in any fashion are skating on very thin ice in my opinion....

As far as corporate money donations... to politicians.. that's a sad fact of life for every company that hopes to have the ear of anyone that might assist them in the future... Note our current president who was donating to both sides of the political outfits that could aid or hinder their operations -as a matter of routine... No, that's something I would never approve of - but that's the business world as it exists... not the one I'd like to see...

As far as their products go - every Benchmade blade I've handled was well made and well designed. I'm not a collector -just a guy who carries a quality blade that's actually used as part of my safety/utility gear. Since I work on the water in the backcountry of the Everglades I really do need a knife with me at all times... I also keep a brand new, unused Griptilian on board my skiff as a backup...
Not one bit of this current "outrage" will bother me in the slightest....
 
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Folks, this thread was shut down before and i opened it because we talk about knives and knife companies here. It will get pruned or it will get closed again when it wanders off the knife focused discussion. Wanna talk about the right or wrong of destroying property guns....go to another forum here at THR. This needs to stay in our lane at NFW.
 
BM is getting a beating in their own forum at Bladeforums. https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/see-official-statement-below.1644457/page-2

They've also issued a video statement from Les DeAsis the owner in attempt to address some of the questions about donations.


The last 48 hours have been busy fielding calls from our customers and speaking with media. We appreciate all those who have reached out to us seeking further information or in support of the Benchmade team. It was important for owner Les de Asis to address our community directly, and to deliver the Benchmade stance first hand. When asked specifically, Les stated, “Our recent political contributions have been in favor of state-level legislation supporting a strong manufacturing and business environment here in Oregon while protecting knife owners across the United States in the form of the Interstate Transport Act.” The Interstate Transport Act would have created a federal protection for knife owners, to learn more, see comments. Thank you to our loyal customers for your continued support. We hope this brings clarity to the situation, and we look forward to serving you. The Interstate Transport Act would have created a federal protection for knife owners, allowing legal interstate travel with knives, provided the knives are transported to and from states where the law allows possession of said knives, and they are transported in locked containers. This is an act we’ve been trying to see into law over the last five years. While it did not pass in 2018, we hope to see it through into law when it is reintroduced this year. https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-c...
 
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Folks, this thread was shut down before and i opened it because we talk about knives and knife companies here. It will get pruned or it will get closed again when it wanders off the knife focused discussion. Wanna talk about the right or wrong of destroying property guns....go to another forum here at THR. This needs to stay in our lane at NFW.
Speaking as the guy who created this thread, I think you should close this thread again. I never intended this to be a discussion about the knives themselves; I intended this to alert people to this issue. I obviously did that in the wrong forum. My mistake. At this point, I don't see where my thread serves any purpose. Thanks for your time.
 
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