My buddies keep telling me Bill has been long-dead and they're making some great guns, but I just can't bring myself to own one.
Bill's little sidestep was an all-time $hitty move. He did it to selfishly protect his own business and sell the entire industry and every arms-owning American down the river. Ruger was an American icon- the man and the company. And it was the crack they needed to show centrists that there were ways to "compromise". It gave politicians a way out. They could sell it as "If it's OK with Ruger, it must be OK".
This is why we can't even discuss any sort of compromises on arms laws. There are certainly a few ways to make the general public safer. And there are plenty of irresponsible and unqualified firearms owners out there. But there's no such thing as compromise. There are two positions. The right to keep and bear arms and the position that all civilian owned firearms should be banned. One movement towards them is ground gained. And they won't stop until they've won.
Unfortunate, but that's the way it is.