We just got off the phone with Richard Sullivan, President and CEO of Global Digital Solutions, Inc., the firm that has made an unsolicited offer to buy the Freedom Group from Cerberus Capital. Based on some of their press releases, Nick didn’t see much good coming from the transaction, if it’s eventually consummated. But in his conversation with RF, Sullivan sought to calm gun owners’ nerves over his company’s intentions . . .

While it’s true that they plan to use their digital know-how to produce “smart guns,” it’s not something they want to force down anyone’s throat. He said GDSI intends to offer their tech’d up guns alongside traditional firearms or as an add-on to existing guns. The Viet Nam vet (who doesn’t carry a gun, by the way) is reaching out to the NRA and gun owners to “seek their guidance” and find out what they want to see in their firearms.

As for the current Freedom Group structure, Sullivan had this to say about that. He doesn’t see any management changes in the offing and isn’t planning to spin off any of FG’s brands. However, he also mentioned that GDSI is Florida-based and noted how “proactive” Florida governor Rick Scott has been in trying to to get businesses to relocate to the Sunshine State. So take that for what it’s worth. And as always, continue to watch this space.

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50 COMMENTS

  2. “… it’s not something they want to force down anyone’s throat.”

    Pardon my cynicism, but every industry loves an opportunity to corner its respective market. Just look at what the health insurance industry did with O-sh!t-care: you are now compelled by force of law to buy their overpriced, substandard product, whether you want it or not.

    Don’t be shocked when legislation is approved to compel all firearm manufactures to offer this “enhanced capability”.

  4. “The Viet Nam vet (who doesn’t carry a gun, by the way) is reaching out to the NRA and gun owners to “seek their guidance” and find out what they want to see in their firearms.”

    It’s easy. We don’t want firearm OEM’s to require anything that needs a battery or a separate battery-powered device. We’re doing just fine adding our own gizmos and doodads, thank you very much.

    • Or solar powered, or via bio-heat etc. etc. etc. We don’t want anything on a firearm that when it fails, it makes the firearm inoperable. If it fails, it should be a benign failure where the firearm is operable.

      We don’t want anything which can be activated/operated/interfered with by anyone else.

      We don’t want anything on a firearm that delays it’s availability to fire a round. Not even a 1 second delay.

      We don’t want anything on a firearm which could prevent its operation to be integral to the firearm, I.E. it must be completely removable by the owner and leave the weapon in an operable condition.

      We want any system promoted for use by the civilian population to be engineered in such a way that it is suitable for LEO use and in fact put in use by Fed/State LEO organizations first as a pilot/demo that it is compatible with actual self-defense use.

      Finally, we don’t want any RFID/Tracking system/safety system/locking system made mandatory by the government. Will his company lobby for and refuse to manufacture and sell the systems if they become mandatory?

    • THIS!

      I expect my various guns to be functioning long after this GSDI business is tits up in the annals of history.

  5. Its called a scam, by a two man company with a stock value of like 80 cents. This can only be for publicity, not a serious offer.

  6. Tentatively hopeful that this turns out well. I won’t be buying smart guns, but seeing advancement and competition in that field can’t be all bad.

        • So what. Please give us something good that can come out of “smart gun” tech.

          Works on both hands without “the ring”? Great, so when you are shot dead and your kid picks up your gun to defend themselves they can cut the ring off your finger?

          Oh, I know, it senses DNA. Oh wait what about the wife?

          Oh you can implant programmable RFID chips in the hands of your family members and link them to each weapon!

          And don’t worry, I am sure that no govt agency would ever be spying on / can take over the programming…

  8. “and gun owners to “seek their guidance” and find out what they want to see in their firearms”
    No electronics between the trigger and bullet primer. No RFID. No integrated bluetooth, wifi, wireless.
    Bolt-ons are fine if useful wanted. The market will decide both. Affordable infrared / night vision -useful for home/property defense /surveillance and not just on guns.

  9. “…reaching out to the NRA and gun owners to “seek their guidance” and find out what they want to see in their firearms.”
    What do I want to see? I’d like a 10″ barrel with a suppressor, and a toggle switch that lets the weapon choose between semiautomatic and fully automatic, and I don’t want to register it or pay for a tax stamp, and I want it to be legit. Of course, you’d need to throw your money at representatives, not manufacturers. Literally throw it. Dump $1 billion in pennies on any libtard senator or congressman of your choice, and we’ll vote in a replacement.

  10. doesn’t scare me, AR-15s are practically open source now, Beretta and Glock aren’t going to fold, Taurus is still out there.

  11. If the sale goes through, GDSI won’t have to force anything down anyone’s throat. The legislation in places like California and New Jersey will do it for them. Look at their homepage and the advertisement for their “Gatekeeper” technology.

  13. If this goes through, it occurs to me that this might be the beginning of the end for Remington’s presence in upstate NY given the emphasis on Florida. Considering its size I have to wonder if such a movement would be enough of a kick in the pants to get Albany to repeal the SAFE act. That area doesn’t have nearly enough jobs to begin with, let alone the prospect of eventually losing 1,000+ jobs through siphoning to Alabama or relocation to Florida.

    • Stop looking at the trees and keep your eye on that Grizzly coming out of the forest to maul you.

  14. “While it’s true that they plan to use their digital know-how to produce “smart guns,” it’s not something they want to force down anyone’s throat.”

    Instead, they will let the government do their forcing..

  15. It would have been interesting to ask where he is getting the backing to do this deal. As others have said GDSI does not appear to have the funds to pull off this purchase. It would be interesting to get Freedom Groups take on the “unsolicited offer” but I doubt if they would respond to anything.

    • Except, in a DGU situation where the weapon fails, some innocent victims may have been killed, raped, maimed, beaten severely- not just the gunowner, but all of those he was trying to protect. Don’t know about you, but suing these jokers won’t bring one of my kids back and no amount of money from a lawsuit, is going to be suitable compensation.

      • But gun-grabbers don’t care about your losses. They do care about their pocket books. And the threat to their pocket books will quickly close down this enterprise.

  17. What we want to see in our firearms? A complete and total lack of integrated electronic devices. No RFID, no “smart” BS, no disconnect, no remote kill, no GPS, no biometric scanners. The only purpose for a firearm is to put a bullet on target. Nothing outside this purpose has any reason to be in a firearm.

  18. find out what they want to see in their firearms.

    A little quality control would be nice. Just sayin’.

  19. Want our guidance? How about this: companies like Marlin: you guys need to have products made by craftsmen instead of from the temp service. A quality 1894C with proper fit, finish, and reliability would be a good starting point.

  20. Just like the previous owners wouldn’t meddle in their subsidiary companies affairs, right?

    I imagine well start seeing the “Brain Drain” at FG as folks unwilling to engineer a real world Skynet hit the road for better opportunities.

  21. If Ronnie Barrett was properly funded I would like to see him take over FG. If this jackwagon has his way, I personally swear to God I will NEVER BUY ONE FREAKING DOLLARS WORTH OF PRODUCT FROM THEM. PERIOD. NOT ONE DOLLAR. I will also strive to drive them out of business.

  22. “thefirearmblog.com” has a good article on this today as well. It really doesn’t sound all that great to me. It seems very sad to me that most of the great American firearm makers have been killed or crippled not by the inability to make a great product, but rather the modern way of American business. I believe that wall street and investment banking have destroyed the american manufacturing industry, not unions or foreign companies.

  23. What I want to see “in” my guns are you the hell “out” of the firearm business richey boy.

  25. What do I want in my firearms? I want a distinct lack of anything that can be exploited to remotely disable it.

  26. Hmmm…John Kerry is a Vietnam vet,Oliver Stone too. So we should trust your intentions because you served? LOL

  27. Look up their stock. They trade at $0.90 (and that’s up $.10 – apparently on this announcement) with a projected EPS of -$0.09. Their market cap is $84.25M. I doubt they can come up with the financing if their offer is accepted, and if they do they are going to be heavily leveraged. This looks like it’s just a stunt to get their name out there and maybe pump the stock up so some folks can dump it (idle speculation, not financial advice).

    I wouldn’t get excited about this. If by some feat of accounting shenanigans it goes through, the only way they will be able to sell “smart guns” is if there are laws mandating their sale. Even then, no one says you have to buy one. I suspect the market will sort this out shortly.

  28. I don’t even want to see this technology developed, not only because its existence inspires anti-gun legislators with a lame rationale for mandatory adoption but because there is no real advantage to it only disadvantages. The last thing I want to do is carry around a RF chip or have to remember another password just to fire my weapon. I have a code on my safe, and that’s enough.

  30. The Freedom Group should hit GDSI with a cease and desist to remove their logos from the GDSI web site. They’re trademarked and they can’t use them without permission. Then sue their @sses.

  31. Still not sure how I feel about this…but I will say this is why I like TTAG because they not only stay on top of breaking firearm related news, they got out and do some actual journalism/reporting on breaking firearm related news as opposed to reciting talking points.

    Keep fighting the good fight TTAG and I’ll keep watching this space 🙂

  32. the most their stock has EVER sold for was 1.39 a share. The company’s valuation is lower than the price they are looking to spend on the acquisition. Smells like a publicity stunt to get some of Bloomies money.

  33. Anti-gun RINO Scott Brown is on their advisory board.

    ‘Nuff said.

    When a company barely worth $65mil in market cap is attempting to ‘buy’ a conglomeration of companies ‘worth’ over a BILLION dollars, they’re just a transactional front/shell company for someone else.

    Fuck ’em: LET EVERY company stupid enough to have gone under the Roman Hydra-eponymous Cerebus’ “Freedom” Group, tank, go bankrupt. They deserve no love nor presence in the gun world, after the likes of Remington dildo sucking the most anti-gun admin in history, gleefully accepting corporatist govt contracts, while letting their citizen market die on the vine with BS, overhyped ‘innovations’ like 1950’s faux-raygun looking R51 travesty.

  34. Now is it time for all firearm owners to forget about those manufactured in New York and Connecticut and to specifically add the following to your own prohibited purchase list: Remington®, Bushmaster® Firearms, DPMS/Panther Arms™, Marlin®, H&R®, The Parker Gun™, Mountain Khakis®, Advanced Armament Corp. ®, Dakota Arms®, Para™ USA and Barnes® Bullets. If you remember S&W’s actions during the Clinton years you’ll remember our economic actions effected change in the corporate mindset. Did I say boycott?

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