Editorial

Another big-name firearms manufacturer - Colt - is moving at least some of its operations out of an anti-gun-rights northeastern state to a gun-friendly Southern state. In 2011, Florida Gov. Rick Scott offered Hartford, Ct.-based Colt Manufacturing more than $1 million in incentives to open a new plant at a county-owned building in Kissimmee. Colt has not commented about its plans, but the company has confirmed with local officials that it wants to build military weapons at the Osceola County facility. The move has been delayed because of a merger between two companies operating under the Colt name. With the merger resolved, Colts Manufacturing Company LLC plans to move into its Florida building this year.

Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger have announced they will stop selling their pistols in California rather than manufacturing those firearms to comply with the state’s new microstamping law. Both companies announced these moves after the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for firearms manufacturers, filed suit against California for requiring that all new semi-automatic handguns that are not already on the state’s approved gun roster have the microstamping technology.

Magpul Industries used its website on Jan. 2 to announce that the company is relocating its operations to Wyoming and Texas. The company is relocating manufacturing, distribution and shipping operations to Cheyenne, Wyoming. Magpul is leasing a 58,000-square-foot manufacturing and distribution facility during the construction of a 100,000-square-foot build-to-suit facility in the Cheyenne Business Parkway. The Wyoming relocation is being completed with support from Governor Matt Mead, the Wyoming Business Council and Cheyenne LEADS.

I like the first month of the year. It means Ill soon be headed to the SHOT Show, where tons of new and interesting stuff gets introduced. But some companies are already busy getting new products in the pipeline, and here are a few interesting ones I think are worth noting:

Editor, seemingly believed that regulation isn't an infringement of the 2nd Amendment, and it got him in hot water with his readers. The columnist wrote in his December G&A "Backstop" column that "way too many gun owners still seem to believe that any regulation of the right to keep and bear arms is an infringement. The fact is, all constitutional rights are regulated, always have been, and need to be.

I recently set up a trust and bought my first suppressor — an $1100 decision spurred in part by President Obama's August 29 announcements of two new executive actions on firearms.

In the August 2013 issue, Ray Ordorica compared two full-size 9mm pistols, a surplus CZ 75 (about $350) and a new Tokarev M70A, made in Serbia by Zastava (about $330). The CZ, designed in 1975 and with more than a million having been built, is one of very few DA/SA pistols that can be carried cocked and locked. The CZ is big and stout enough that even the hottest 9mm ammo with the heaviest bullets would hardly kick enough to disturb the composure of the weakest-handed shooter.

It is said that in Hollywood, an initial movie pitch has to be made in 25 words or fewer. When I enjoy a movie as a guilty pleasure, I try to imagine what the original pitch sounded like — such as these action movies in which guns play a big role, either as tools or metaphors.

Are you a teacher? Know one? Live with one? If so, do you endorse what a vice president of the National Education Association said at this year's Netroots Nation conference? Speaking to 3,000 assembled "progressive activists" at the conference, NEA VP Lily Eskelsen Garca, a sixth-grade teacher from Utah, boldly declared a "prophecy" about the eternal destiny of NRA and Second Amendment supporters, and of politicians and lobbyists working to promote gun rights. She said, "I'm not an ordained minister; I'm not a theologian, but these guys are going to hell." The NEA has more than 3 million members.

President Obama recently blamed the defeat of Senate gun-control proposals on lies spread by the National Rifle Association, calling it "a pretty shameful day for Washington. The gun lobby and its allies willfully lied about the bill," Obama said in the White House Rose Garden about 90 minutes after the vote. In April, senators voted 54-46 to expand background checks of gun purchases, six votes shy of the 60 votes needed for passage of the amendment under the Senate's debate rules.

It would be funny, if it weren't so pathetic. The overlords who seek to disarm us just don't know anything about guns, which makes them both arrogant and dangerous. Three recent eyebrow-raising examples.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that there is no Second Amendment right to carry a concealed firearm in public. The broad wording of the decision in Peterson v. Martinez creates a far-reaching national precedent against carrying a loaded handgun outside the home. The case began on a challenge by a Washington State man against Colorado's law to issue CHL permits only to state residents. But the final ruling held, "In light of our nation's extensive practice of restricting citizens' freedom to carry firearms in a concealed manner, we hold that this activity does not fall within the scope of the Second Amendment's protections." The federal court also rejected arguments that Colorado's CHL law infringed on the Equal Protection Clause and the Privileges and Immunities Clause.