Free Republic

(Reuters) - Private equity mogul Stephen Feinberg is exploring a bid for Freedom Group, the Bushmaster rifle manufacturer that his firm, Cerberus Capital Management LP, put up for sale after one of its guns was used in a Connecticut school shooting late last year, three people familiar with the situation said on Tuesday. Feinberg, along with other senior Cerberus partners, is putting together a consortium to make a "stalking horse" offer, or the floor bid, for Freedom Group, the sources said. Feinberg has approached other wealthy individuals to join his group, the people said, who declined to be named because...

Eight days before Adam Lanza used a Bushmaster AR-15 semiautomatic rifle to kill 26 children and women on Dec. 14 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, state officials offered the manufacturer of the gun a development deal to move its corporate headquarters to Connecticut. On Dec. 6, a top state economic development official sent the Freedom Group an offer for a $1 million loan at the low annual interest rate of 2 percent for 10 years — plus other incentives for the company to move its headquarters, with 25 top executives, from Madison, N.C., to Stamford. The department withdrew...

Gun shop owner to auction off Bushmaster rifle for charity A local gun shop owner is auctioning off one of his guns to help out one of his employees in need. "Buy a gun, annoy a liberal." That's a T-shirt you can buy at Central Texas Gun Works in Austin. The owner, Michael Cargill is pro-gun but what he is not...is a conservative. "Hey, I'm a Democrat and I support the second amendment. If someone wants to come in here and buy a gun, annoy a liberal, that's fine. They can do that!" Cargill said. That's what makes the following...

Walmart, the world's largest retailer, announced it will not be pulling the type of weapon used in the Newtown school massacre off its shelves, while another major retailer announced it would. Walmart confirmed Tuesday that it does sell the Bushmaster Sporting Rifle at its stores and plans to continue to do so. "We have made no changes to the assortment of guns we sell in our stores," Walmart spokesperson Kory Lundberg said in a written statement.

Today, ABC News finally reported the blindingly obvious fact that Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s beloved assault weapons ban – a piece of legislation now favored by President Obama – would not have prevented the Sandy Hook shootings. Here’s what they said: Could a Ban Have Prevented the Connecticut Shootings? It's impossible to say for sure, but it seems unlikely that if the law were still in place, as it was written, it could have done much to prevent Friday's tragedy. Lanza's primary weapon, the Bushmaster .223 rifle, is a type of AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, certain models of which were prohibited from...

Following pressure from a major investor, U.S. private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management is selling gunmaker Freedom Group, whose Bushmaster AR-15 rifle was used in the Connecticut school massacre last week. The California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) said on Monday it was reviewing its investment with Cerberus in the wake of Friday's shooting, in which a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School and then took his own life. Before going to the school, the gunman, Adam Lanza, 20, shot dead his mother in the home they shared, according to law enforcement officials. In...

An investment made by the California teachers pension fund is coming under scrutiny because of its link to the manufacturer of the assault rifle used in the Connecticut elementary school massacre. The fund pledged to invest $500 million in the private equity firm Cerberus, owner of the gun-making conglomerate known as the Freedom Group. One of the group's manufacturers is Bushmaster, which produced the rifle officials say was used to kill 20 schoolchildren and six adults in a Newtown, Conn., school Friday.