Glass Co. Offering All Employees Guns as Corporate Christmas Presents
In the wake of recent mass shootings at a synagogue in Pittsburgh and at a bar in Thousand Oaks, California, the debate over gun control has heated up again.
While the anti-gun left has resumed its demands for stricter laws to clamp down on gun ownership, pro-gun people have been flocking to gun stores to stock up on new firearms and more ammunition, just in case Democrats manage to push new gun-control laws through Congress.
Meanwhile, one small business in Wisconsin has saved its employees the trouble of going to a gun store and spending their own hard-earned cash to purchase a firearm by offering each employee a free handgun as a sort of Christmas bonus.
The Appleton Post-Crescent reported that Ben Wolfgram — co-owner of the Hortonville-based BenShot glassware company — has offered the special gift to his employees as a way to help ensure their personal safety while also serving as a team-building experience.
The company — which produces novelty glassware that features bullets inside a glass that appear to have been fired — has 16 full-time employees, several of whom are veterans and a few others who had never fired a gun before in their lives.
The company started as a small business inside a garage workshop with just Wolfgram and his father in 2015, but has since expanded.
All 16 employees have been offered a free revolver of their choice, and pretty much all of the employees are now excited to receive the special Christmas gift — even two employees who were initially skeptical and declined the offer.
Those two employees reconsidered after they took a gun safety course and actually fired handguns, which was a requirement put in place by the company’s executives in order to be eligible for the gift.
Chelsea Priest, an employee with the company, told the Post-Crescent that she is excited to receive her chosen revolver. She believes the gun will help keep her safe and make her feel more empowered.
“I’ve never been a part of anything like this,” Priest said.
The Post-Crescent noted that in addition to the two mass shootings that received ample national news coverage, there was also a shooting in September at a workplace in Middleton, Wisconsin, in which a gunman wounded four co-workers at a software company before police arrived and shot and killed him.
Wolfgram seemed unconcerned about the potential for a similar episode of workplace violence at his business, citing the relatively small staff he managed that were all quite comfortable and familiar with each other.
“For us, now, we have an entire armed staff. I think that’s pretty good,” said Wolfgram, indicating he had no fear of a mass shooting among his soon-to-be-armed employees.
This co-owner and his business are certain to catch some flak from the anti-gun crowd who will insist — without evidence, as the left likes to say so much these days — that he has actually placed them all at greater danger by introducing firearms to the mix.
However, the pro-gun crowd — of which Wolfgram and the majority of his employees appear to be a part of — will counter that by pointing to the gun safety course they took and to the personal responsibility they, like millions of other gun owners, have shouldered will likely keep themselves safe from others who would misuse deadly firearms.
One thing that is certain: This is, by far, one of the coolest Christmas gifts we have ever heard of a business owner giving his employees, and we would strongly encourage other pro-gun business owners to consider doing the same if possible … within the framework of all applicable federal, state and local laws, of course.
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