Smith Enterprise Pulls the Plug on Conn. Law Enforcement to Support Colt

Smith Enterprise has been taking a hard line against states pushing for new gun control laws by stopping the sales of Smith’s products to state and local law enforcement agencies in those states. It began with law enforcement agencies based in New York State due to the so-called "SAFE Act". This same policy was placed against state and local agencies in Colorado and California for similar reasons. Today the hammer is dropping on the State of Connecticut whose proposed laws not only threaten the liberty of their citizens, but the livelihoods of over 700 workers from Colt's Manufacturing Company, LLC located in the ironically named "Constitution State".

 

Effective immediately, Smith Enterprise is stopping the sales of its products to state and local law enforcement agencies within the State of Connecticut.

 

President of Smith Enterprise, Ron Smith said today, “Samuel Colt must be rolling over in his grave. While the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Connecticut was tragic, the problem was not law-abiding gun owners, but a deranged individual. Like California, New York and Colorado, Connecticut seeks to punish only the law-abiding citizen. These laws are symbolism over substance and will do nothing to prevent another mass-shooting, let alone halt street crime.

 

"Smith's products will not be made available to any law enforcement agency at the state or local level in any state that seeks to trump the US Constitution. Colt's Manufacturing has been one of our most loyal customers for many years. As we said with regard to Magpul leaving Colorado for similar reasons, we do not leave our fallen comrades on the battlefield. We have Colt’s back and hope they find a more welcoming home for their new operation. I hope more people support them by buying their products and making Connecticut’s anti-gun politicians pay for this at the ballot box.”

In the history of American firearms development, there is perhaps no name more iconic than that of Samuel Colt. Colt's genius in both inventing and marketing his firearms propelled his home state of Connecticut into a major center for manufacturing throughout much of the 19th and 20th centuries.

 

Colt's firearms made in Hartford, Connecticut, have played a prominent role throughout the world from the US Civil War to the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nearly every museum in the State of Connecticut has a display dedicated to either the company which made Hartford its base of operations for 175 years or its founder: Samuel Colt. 

 

Unfortunately, Connecticut no longer seems to have room for its most famous native-son or his company which is directly responsible for $1.7 billion to the state's annual economy. Proposed laws being debated by the Legislature and pushed by Governor Dannel Malloy include a new gun owner registry, restrictions on commonly used rifle ammunition, a magazine ban, an expanded assault weapons ban and restrictions on the amount of ammunition that may be purchased at one time.

 

Current President and CEO of Colt's, Dennis Veilleux has stated that the company may be looking to relocate if these laws come to fruition. Veilleux recently wrote in an Op-Ed piece for the Hartford Courant: “At some point, if you can’t sell your products … then you can’t run your business. You need customers to buy your products to stay in business. The fact is bans don't work. We tried to ban alcohol nearly 100 years ago, which just drove a regulated activity underground. I know one thing that the governor's proposed ban will do: It will irreparably damage — if not destroy — the brand of any Connecticut firearms manufacturer."

 

The measures that recently passed Connecticut’s Public Safety and Security Committee in the State Senate are as follows:

• SB 506 – Criminalizes the private transfer of any firearm.  

• SB 710 – Gives the local authority the ability to decide whether or not to grant a permit for a gun show and establishes a permitting process. 

• SB 897 – Requires the purchaser of a firearm to provide their birth date and place of birth at the time of delivery and eliminates the temporary eligibility certificate for a pistol or a revolver.

When asked if any of the proposed legislation would have stopped the Sandy Hook shooting, Smith said, “None of these laws would have prevented the Newtown shooter from murdering his mother and stealing her lawfully registered firearms. The simple fact that continues to elude the anti-gunners is that criminals do not obey laws. That is why they are criminals.”

The Connecticut legislature needs to know that this infringement upon the rights of its law-abiding citizens needs to end.

Concerned citizens can write their representatives here urging them to OPPOSE the anti-gun bills listed above. 

Until Connecticut's governor gets the hint that restricting the rights of the law-abiding is a direct assault on 2nd Amendment Freedom, Smith Enterprise will be forced to apply the laws he passes to all government agencies in Connecticut.

Smith Enterprise is committed to standing up for Colt's Manufacturing Company, LLC and the people of Connecticut.

Smith Enterprise Stands with Magpul, Stops Sales to Colorado Law Enforcement and State Agencies

 

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper just signed 3 bills into law that place restrictions on the sales of firearms, magazines and ammunition. When Smith Enterprise received word of this, it was enough to make Ron Smith's blood boil.

 

Ron Smith, the President of Smith Enterprise is taking a stand against this legislation by suspending sales of his product to all state and local law enforcement agencies in the Centennial State, effective immediately. Ron Smith is also halting sales to Colorado law enforcement and state agencies in order to ensure the Colorado government practices what they preach.

 

Smith said today, “These politicians need to be held accountable for their actions and that rolls down to the people enforcing these laws. Our products will not be used against the law-abiding citizens of Colorado in the enforcement of these unjust laws which fly in the face of the US Constitution. Now let's hope that the good people of Colorado will punish Hickenlooper and other big government politicians who voted in favor of these measures at the ballot box and restore some sanity in their state.”

 

Hickenlooper’s office received some 3300 calls opposing these measures on Monday and Tuesday. The governor’s switchboard averaged one call every 18 seconds, but the voices of the law-abiding citizens of Colorado and pleas from numerous county sheriffs fell on deaf ears. Colorado, long known for its traditions of gun ownership and self-reliance, joined the ranks of New York, New Jersey, California, Massachusetts, Maryland and Illinois with their draconian laws.

 

One voice was a little louder than most, the voice of MagPul Industries, based in Erie, Colorado. The Veteran-owned business is known for producing top quality gear that works; from magazines to butt stocks to full-blown weapon systems. The laws, which take effect on July 1, would make MagPul’s P-Mags illegal to manufacture, let alone possess, in Colorado. Lawmakers offered a deal to include an exception for the company, but CEO Richard Fitzpatrick drew a line in the sand and turned it down. It was clearly an all or nothing gambit.

 

Fitzpatrick is planning on pulling up stakes and moving to greener pastures with his company, costing the State of Colorado 200 jobs and $10s of millions in tax revenue.

 

MagPul posted on the company’s Facebook page on Monday: “We will likely become a multi-state operation as a result of this move, and not all locations have been selected. We have made some initial contacts and evaluated a list of new potential locations for additional manufacturing and the new company headquarters, and we will begin talks with various state representatives in earnest. Although we are agile for a company of our size, it is still a significant footprint, and we will perform this move in a manner that is best for the company and our employees.”

 

Hinting at special interest groups from outside Colorado as being responsible for the legislation, MagPul wrote: “It is disappointing to us that money and a social agenda from outside the state have apparently penetrated the American West to control our legislature and Governor, but we feel confident that Colorado residents can still take the state back through recalls, ballot initiatives, and the 2014 election to undo these wrongs against responsible Citizens.”

 

MagPul’s first manufacturing effort outside of Colorado is planned to commence within a month with the company’s staple product: the P-Mag and they will be gone from Erie by year's end. In another bold move, MagPul has halted all sales to law enforcement agencies in states with prohibitive firearms laws. In a statement on the company's website Fitzpatrick wrote:

 

"With the fight in Colorado right now we do not have time to implement a new program, so I have suspended all LE sales to ban states until we can implement a system wherein any Law Enforcement Officer buying for duty use will have to promise to uphold their oath to the US Constitution - specifically the second and fourteenth amendments - as it applies to all citizens."

 

Last month Smith Enterprise halted sales of our products to law enforcement agencies based in New York State due to Governor Cuomo’s newest round of anti-gun legislation in the so-called "SAFE Act". Today we are taking that same stance alongside MagPul Industries and are, effective immediately, suspending sales of our products to all state and local law enforcement agencies in the state of Colorado.

 

When asked about Magpul, Ron Smith gave a call to action: “Magpul is on our team. It is us versus them (the gun grabbers). And Smith Enterprise doesn’t leave fallen comrades on the battlefield. We always pick up our wounded. We have Magpul’s back and hope Magpul finds a suitable place for their new operation. I hope more people support them by buying their products and making the politicians pay at the ballot box.”

 

It is in times like these when every manufacturer in the Industry has to take a stand for what is right in defiance of tyranny.

 

Smith Enterprise stands with MagPul and with the people of Colorado.