Colt Statement On Assault Weapons Ban
BY Herschel Smith
11 years, 7 months ago
Our customers are unusually brand-loyal. In many cases, they personally identify with the firearm brand they choose. Although our Connecticut heritage has historically enhanced our brand, that will change overnight if we ban the modern sporting rifle.
As a result Colt, as well as other Connecticut manufacturers such as Mossberg and Stag Arms will see immediate erosion in brand strength and market share as customers migrate to manufacturers in more supportive states. This will have consequences for dozens of Connecticut companies and thousands of workers. Connecticut will have put its firearms manufacturing industry in jeopardy: one that contributes $1.7 billion annually to the state’s economy.
Like every other precision manufacturer in Connecticut, Colt is constantly approached by other states to relocate, but our roots here are deep. Colt is and always has been an integral part of a state characterized by hard work, perseverance and ingenuity.
I know, however, that someday soon, I will again be asked why we fight to keep well-paying manufacturing jobs in Connecticut. I will be asked why we should continue to manufacture in a state where the governor would make ownership of our product a felony.
I will be asked these questions and, unlike in the past, there will be few good answers.
He’s right. Some of the customer base will be faithful, but this issue runs deep, and many will abandon them. We’ve also discussed how many will abandon Remington, too, for staying in New York and focusing almost exclusively on a new military contract. It won’t work out well for Remington.
But the CEO will likely have to decide whether this is bluster or serious-speak. The State of Connecticut won’t listen to him and will probably pass their ban. When they do that, Colt will have to decide whether it is a Remington or a Magpul. The choice is theirs, and no amount of posturing in local newspapers will delay or change things.
These are serious times for a lot of people.
|
|
On March 20, 2013 at 7:25 pm, Kim du Toit said:
Like on so many occasions in the company’s history, Colt’s CEO has his head up his ass.
1.) Colt’s “ties” to Connecticut are just lengthy because of tenure. They’re not “deep” because the state would ban Colt’s product and put them out of business tomorrow, if it could.
2.) Colt’s real legacy is in the West — can any other manufacturer EVER compete with the picture of a cowboy holding a Colt Dragoon, Navy or Peacemaker? If Colt were serious about their “heritage”, they’d long ago have moved out of the gun-hating East and moved West, to a state which would not only welcome them, but protect them.
3.) Colt probably thinks that the military will save them. I imagine that the manufacturers of Garands, M14s and M1 Carbines probably thought the same.
4.) Colt regards the civilian market with the same regard as a man does his laundry: tiresome, but something that must be looked after. (Run your eye down a list of wonderful, beautiful Colt models which have long since disappeared from their catalogue because of “lack of demand” and then look at the prices which second-hand Diamondbacks now command.)
5.) One of the reasons Colt’s civilian guns suffer is because they are expensive compared to the competition. One of the reasons ANY product is expensive is high overhead — reasons such as real estate, taxes and salaries. Anyone care to compare the salaries of Connecticut with, oh, Texas, Oklahoma or Arizona in comparable jobs?
Let Colt sleep in the bed they’ve made in Connecticut. Good luck to them.
On March 27, 2013 at 9:48 pm, Coltarmorer said:
When I was young, I used to go watch them shoot at the colt underground range with my dad who bought colts for g-fox. It was pro we the people, pro freedom, roots to the 1800’s. When I was a young man with a 5 digit M-16, I went to colt and listened to the armorer instructors rant about how good the unions were screwing colt, with roots to the first union roll call and no further. When I got my colt sub gun serial number in the 1400’s, I went to colt for an armorer refresher course, and enjoyed colt italian food, and listened to the non colt owners proclaim how they were dumping colts product line, piece by piece for the good of the company, with roots to the first corporate buy out. The roots started going away about 1960 with the criminal senators who took money from the mob, laundering it across the Ct. river, East of the hwy, and did their best to kill off colt. Colt has been nothing but a hollow shell for years and years. The ceo’s command should be a loud and clear- eject, eject, eject! And they should head to Az. Nev. or Texas, as fast as their horses can run if they are one word serious about rebuilding the company!