Bloomberg v. Lauer Custom Weaponry

At a press conference (pdf) in June of 2006, Mayor Bloomberg had this to day about Lauer Custom Weaponry and DuraCoat paints:

As part of a larger gun control package, Bloomberg proposed banning Lauer's DuraCoat product and other gun coloration kits from the city. The mayor also lashed our at Lauer Custom Weaponry and other companies.

"Just think about how sick it is," Bloomberg said. "What possible reason can you give to want to paint a gun so it looks like a child's toy gun, other than to put a police officers in one of those impossible positions?"

"People will do a lot of twisted things to make a buck, "he said of the companies that are selling the products. "This probably sets a new low and we are going to stop it"

The article goes on to quote Steve Lauer and highlights a bit of his sense of humor.

That was '06. Since then Bloomberg has gotten his way and outlawed the sale of DuraCoat products in NYC (As far as I know, Krylon is still available). The ban is not much of an issue for Lauer as there was not much DuraCoating going on in NYC. By 2006 there were only two shipments to NYC, and one of those was probably to the mayors office so he could have his little demonstration.

Steve Lauer, being the astute businessman that he is, has taken advantage of the Mayor's senseless bit of legislation to call attention to his product.

From the NY Daily News:

By Kirsten Danis (Kirsten is decidedly an anti, so you will have to deal with her bias)

Gun paint company taunts Mayor Bloomberg with paints named after him

A Wisconsin company that disguises deadly firearms with bright paints and camouflage has a new target: Mayor Bloomberg.

Lauer Custom Weaponry, whose products were banned in the city in 2006 because they make dangerous guns look like innocent toys, is taunting the anti-gun mayor with a line of paints named "The Bloomberg Collection."

The company - which named its purple hue after Barney, the dinosaur beloved by toddlers - is peddling a rainbow of candy-colored paints for each of the five boroughs.

There's red for Manhattan, rose for the Bronx, blue for Brooklyn, green for Queens and orange for Staten Island.

And as an extra slap - a stencil of the mayor's face for the barrel of the gun.

Gun owners also can plunk down $129 for a "Bloomberg Collection EZ Camo Kit" to pimp out their semiautomatics and rifles with a brick wall and graffiti decoration.

That is too funny. An anti gun mayor passes an idiotic law that does absolutely nothing to reduce violence in his city, and he ends up creating the best possible publicity for DuraCoat. I love it.

Bloomberg on the other hand...

An outraged Bloomberg called gun-coloration kits "a tragedy in the making."

"Making a quick buck by coloring a handgun to look like a toy is craven and beneath any honest businessman," Bloomberg told the Daily News. "By coloring these guns, a real one looks like a toy, and a police officer won't be able to tell the difference."

It is pretty amazing that old school cops could tell when kids were playing "Cops and Robbers", "Cowboys and Indians" or even having a squirt gun war.

That is just pure, grade A, unadulterated American genius. How better to point out the stupidity of these laws?

I'll tell you what. If someone were to donate an old rifle, an old beat up SKS would be just about perfect, I'll purchase the CamoPak and paint it up. We can auction it off and give the money to a youth shooting group.

What do you say? Anyone have something in the ol' gun safe that is just gathering rust and taking up room? Something that could be put to a good purpose?

I know I owe a couple of H/T's to folks who first posted on this. I will ad them when I find them again.

H/T to Say Uncle with Take that, Bloomberg, Fits with Lauer Custom Weaponry Introduces "The Bloomberg Collection"