What’s Happening:
This week, the FBI raided the home of an alleged January 6 attendee in Arkansas. In the lead-up to the raid, which saw his girlfriend in handcuffs, the FBI contacted Liberty Safe–the nation’s largest gun safe manufacturer. The company provided the FBI with access codes to Nathan Hughes’s gun safes, allowing federal authorities to confiscate his firearms.
Customers began to complain about the company’s decision. Liberty Safe issued a statement on X, saying their policy was to provide authorities with access codes “if a warrant grants them access to a property.”
This did not go over well. Numerous users online called for a boycott of the company, comparing them to tarnished beer brand Bud Light. One day later, the company released a new statement, with a policy change that might appease customers. The Post Millennial:
Following backlash over its decision to provide the Federal Bureau of Investigation with the code for alleged January 6 riot attendee Nathan Hughes’ gun locker, Liberty Safe has issued a statement reversing course.
Under its new policies, customers will have the ability to remove their combination from the database if they so choose, and the company will only comply with law enforcement when subpoenaed.
It appears Liberty Safe is quickly complying with complaints from its customer base. The company issued a new statement on X, providing changes to its policies. Every safe comes installed with factory-set combinations. Customers can now access a webpage to request these codes to be removed from Liberty Safe’s records.
This would, presumably, prevent law enforcement from acquiring these codes, in the event they try to confiscate a person’s firearms.
The company also announced that it will no longer comply with requests from law enforcement, without a court-issued subpoena. This means the FBI (or any other police force) will not be able to retrieve these codes, simply because of a warrant.
Liberty Safe appears to have worked fast to accommodate customer complaints. The arrest of Nathan Hughes sparked outrage among many Americans, who believe the federal government is encroaching on their rights.
It might take more work for customers to trust Liberty Safe again. But this response from the company is in stark contrast to how other brands responded to consumer backlash. Many companies have ignored complaints or did little to appease angry customers. In other cases, companies went out of their way to appeal to activist groups, rather than regular Americans.
Key Takeaways:
- Liberty Safe reversed its policy after massive backlash online.
- The company will now only provide access codes to police if issued with a subpoena.
- This comes after customers vowed a boycott when Liberty Safe helped the FBI confiscate a J6 defendant’s gun safe.
Source: The Post Millennial
