Freedom Group – Internet Rumor
Illinois –-(Ammoland.com)- Recently (4Q 2011) several members have forwarded an e-mail to ISRA that they received regarding gun control financiers, specifically George Soros, attempting to gain control of the majority of the firearms and ammunition industry in the US with the ultimate result to shutting them all down.
The emails typically go something like this:
For the last several years a company called The Freedom Group has been
buying up gun and ammunition manufacturers. Some of the companies are
Bushmaster, Marlin, Remington, DPMS, Dakota Arms and H&R.Some people worry that this Freedom Group is going to control most of the firearms companies in the United States.
If you control the manufacturers you can decide to stop selling to civilians. What a perfect way to control guns.
Now if you do some digging you will see that The Freedom Group is owned by a company called Cerberus Capital Management. Guess who controls Cerberus??? GEORGE SOROS !!!!!!!!! One of the most evil men on this planet who wants to restrict or ban all civilian guns.
Please pass this on to all your freedom loving friends. This needs to come out.
Why have we not heard about this in the “mainstream” media? I would think this would be BIG news.
Here are the facts:
- Freedom Group owns a large number of firearm and ammo manufacturers. This is TRUE.
- Freedom Group is owned by Cerberus. This is also TRUE.
- Soros owns Cerberus. FALSE or at least highly improbable and unable to be confirmed.
This ‘warning’ started as e-mail forwards in late 2009/early 2010 when Freedom Group attempted to go public with stock and they bought up Barnes Bullets.
Cerberus was started and is owned by Stephen Feinberg. No reputable sources we have found (ie Wall Street Journal, Businessweek, etc. ) list Soros in any way connected to Cerberus. Most locations for this are online message boards or blogs that copy/paste the same or similar ‘warnings’ like the one above.
Occasionally ‘Soros & Feinberg’ wording is added to them to give the alert some semblance of credibility.
So while Soros IS a gun grabber through funding such organizations as IANSA and Media Matters, it’s not through Cerberus or Freedom Group.
The people who forward these and similar emails are alarmed, naturally, and well intentioned.
About:
The ISRA is the state’s leading advocate of safe, lawful and responsible firearms ownership. Since 1903, the ISRA has represented the interests of over 1.5 million law-abiding Illinois firearm owners Visit: www.isra.org