>>64019021
You can blame the retards at saf-t hammer. They bought S&W in 2001 and did not give a fuck about the company except as a way for them to push their bullshit safety devices. But then the 2000 agreement blew up in S&W's face and they had to walk back from that, leaving them with no idea what the fuck to do with a gun company. This was compounded by S&W being owned by a British private equity firm since the 80s, who did the standard private equity move of gutting the company as much as possible to enrich themselves.

So it's definitely their own fault, but their ownership was absolutely not pushing everything in one direction for decades.