Smith & Wesson NRA and NSSF over the issue of smart guns, thousands of retailers and tens of thousands of firearms consumers boycotted Smith & Wesson. CEO Ed Shultz, who negotiated the deal, was forced out in September of that year. By December 2000, the company's stock price was 19 cents per share. Smith & Wesson dropped its smart gun plans after nearly being driven out of business. On May 11, 2001, Saf-T-Hammer Corporation acquired Smith & Wesson Corp. from Tomkins plc for US$15 million, a fraction of the US$112 million originally paid by Tomkins. Saf-T-Hammer assumed US$30 million in debt, bringing the
Smith & Wesson Model 39 Smith & Wesson Model 39 The Smith & Wesson Model 39 was a semi-automatic pistol developed for the US Army service pistol trials of 1954. After the Army abandoned its search for a new pistol, the Model 39 went on the civilian market in 1955 and was the first of Smith & Wesson's first generation semi-automatic pistols. The Smith & Wesson Model 39 was the first U.S. designed double action (DA) semi-automatic pistol marketed in the United States. The German Walther P38 DA pistol impressed American ordnance personnel during World War II. The Army Ordnance Corps issued a proposal for