I'm sure most of you know how interesting it is to find standard capacity magazines or ammo nowadays. And don't even think of buying a new AR on lay-a-way. But there is some relief to folks behind the lines - or to folks who may be behind the lines soon.
One Source Tactical is offering a Colorado Special:
"These will only be sold to residents of Colorado at the reduced rates, and only shipped to civilian Colorado addresses. We will not sell them to any official agency in the state, nor to any gun stores or dealers. "
Also there are 70 companies refusing to do business with New York because of their recent foray into constitutionally contradictory lawmaking. A few manufacturers of firearms related goods are threatening to leave anti-gun owner states. There's also a list of companies, along with contact info, that a lot of folks would like to see join in the snubbing of .gov's that impose upon Rights. In fact David Codrea makes a comparison betwixt the gun manufacturers and the Scottish nobility in Braveheart.
MagPul sets a good example: if their products are banned for consumers here in Colorado, they'll leave. Many of us have lamented for years that some very prominent firearm manufacturers have shops in anti-gun owner states such as Illinois and NY. Remington has 2 manufacturing plants for firearms: one in Illion, NY and the other in Mayfield, Kentucky. They Also have an ammunition plant in Lonoke, Arkansas. But their corporate HQ is in Madison, NC. I realize they'd be loathe to move operations from their Illion facility, as that's where Remington started almost 200 years ago, but I'm certain the financial incentives NY gives them could be offset by a lower regulatory burden in a more gun owner friendly non-unionized state such as NC or Wyoming or Montana.
Some of the larger makers, such as Sig, Glock and S&W (who are the only approved handgun manufacturers for the NYPD, for example) would make a big impact if they joined the snubbing of NY government agencies. But in this climate I doubt gun owners could mount effective pressure (via a boycott or something similar) to influence them - we're too busy scrounging for any and everything we think we might need post ban. Other manufacturers however may be able to accomplish what we can't.
I don't believe any of the bigger firearms manufacturers makes their own magazines in house. And there are likely many other components that are outsourced by the parent company. So if MagPul, Mec-Gar & ProMag, for example, refused to sell their wares to any gun maker who sold to NY, that may cause some minds to change at the next BoD meeting. Then again it may not - this sort of internecine battle could get messy and end in very unpredictable ways. Still, it's something to ponder...
I would like to see the list expanded though - not only of companies that refused to do business with NY state agencies, but with any governments anywhere that imposed upon an individuals Right to own or carry. Course by my standards that'd mean refusing to do business with any government agency, state or federal, in the u.S. but I'd be happy if the most egregious violators (the Denver PD, all of NY, NJ, Illinois, Cali, Washington, D.C., and the feds) had to scrounge for weapons and ammo just like the folks they claim to serve.
Keep in mind though that some of the manufacturers whose products we all like have been supportive of stricter gun control laws. Ruger supported a 15 round magazine limit and a few gun manufacturers supported the GCA of '68 (it was at its heart a trade protection measure after all - see these footnotes for a little more detail). So I won't hold my breath for Remington or S&W or Glock to get religion.
A lot of governments in addition to NY want the gun culture suppressed if not eliminated. It would be nice if the manufacturing aspect of our culture declined to sell them the rope they'd use to hang us all with.
Posted by Publicola at February 25, 2013 02:48 AM | TrackBack