Archive for the 'Guns' Category

Science has spoken:

The Karner blue butterfly is a tiny thing, with colorful wings that extend just an inch across and a life that rarely wanders more than 600 feet from where it began. Its caterpillars can only eat wild lupines — a flower that’s become less abundant in the wild because of development and habitat fragmentation. As a result, the Karner was named an endangered species in 1992. But Karner blues are getting help from an unlikely source: gun sales.

The Nature Conservancy has a project in the works near Saratoga, New York, that will preserve an area that’s already home to these lupines and butterflies, and much of the program’s funding comes from the sales of guns and ammunition. For that, Karner conservationists can thank the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act.

Passed by Congress in 1937 and commonly referred to as the Pittman-Robertson Act, it sets an excise tax of 10 to 11 percent on the sale of guns and ammunition, paid by manufacturers at the wholesale level. Prior to the law’s passage, guns and ammunition were already subject to taxes, but the Act ensured that the money was set aside to protect game species and their habitats. The law has helped bring deer and elk back from the brink in areas in the East, but it’s also given refuge to many non-game species, like the Karner blue butterfly. At another project in New York, Pittman-Robertson money is helping to protect 5,000 acres of grouse, turkey and deer habitat, and all the snowy owls and other birds of prey that come with it. Troy Weldy, senior conservation manager at the Nature Conservancy’s New York chapter, said the project “could create a premier birding destination.”

Environmentalists who don’t hunt might not think they have much in common with the guy tromping off into the woods with a gun. Yet hunters and anglers have a long history of land stewardship, said John Gale, national sportsmen campaigns manager at the National Wildlife Federation. At the time the Pittman-Robertson Act was passed, widespread hunting had cleared deer and other big game from large areas along the Eastern Seaboard. Realizing that the sustainability of their pastime was at risk, hunters banded together to urge legislative action. “Hunters are the original conservationists — we’ve been carrying wildlife and fish on our back for a long time,” Gale said.

I’m not a proponent of government programs or big taxes, especially at the federal level.  And it’s more likely than not that modern game management practices (bag and possession limits, licensing of hunters, etc.) have led more than anything else to the resurgence of game populations, regardless of any money being spent.  There have never been more deer, fowl and fish than there are now, not since records have been kept.

But for environmentalists, just recognize that hunters and other sportsmen have your back.  You can contribute to the success of your passion.  Buy guns.

Prior: Save the Planet: Buy an AR

David Codrea:

What is clear is the promise of a reward and the guarantee that the person receiving it will not have to provide their name lends itself to the potential for abuse. Not only could gangland competitors be effectively removed, an opportunistic criminal could reap rewards for phoning such a calculated tip in, including the possibility of exploiting unsuspecting police to permanently eliminate reported rivals. Also unstated is what safeguards are in place to ensure rogue law enforcement officers don’t themselves create a tip to do an end run around Fourth Amendment protections, artificially establishing phony “probable cause” opportunities for stops, searches and seizures that would otherwise not present themselves.

It all sounds so Orwellian doesn’t it?  Their designs will have come to fruition when families are informing on family members to the god-government.

David Codrea:

Members of Oath Keepers, a national group that includes current and retired military and law enforcement personnel, have rejected orders from St. Louis County Police to abandon posts on top of private businesses that invited their protection, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Monday. The order to stand down was issued under presumed authority of a county ordinance prohibiting unlicensed security personnel.

Do you need any more evidence that the police aren’t interested in your protection or property?

Kurt Hofmann:

If the government’s hired muscle is shooting too many people, too indiscriminately, the answer is not to voluntarily surrender the means of defending against them. If they are unnecessarily shooting people out of fear, it’s well past time for them to stop shooting, out of a much greater fear of the consequences of such shootings. That greater fear can only be imposed by people equipped to make shooting citizens unnecessarily a terminally dangerous activity.

Kurt upbraids Matthew Yglesias, who is a little boy and whose readers are his boy-followers.

Dave Workman (via Mike Vanderboegh):

As Monson put it, “There is no way I would bring a family into downtown Seattle right now. The criminals have won. The gangs have won. The protesters are out of control” … Some might suggest that Seattle tilts so far to the left that it’s a wonder the city hasn’t slid into Elliott Bay. But the city also has a dichotomy. On the one hand, the liberal/socialist core population obviously leans toward the “only-cops-should-have-guns” philosophy, except when it comes to cops actually using their guns to stop criminals …

Yea, progressives can be paradoxical, no?  And as for losers, criminals, and ne’er-do-wells taking over the city, it’s not much different in Portland.  Expect it to head your way, Washington.  And yet the politicians are concerned about things like focusing on guns and making sure that grandfathers don’t give firearms as presents to grandsons.

Via Mike, police and dogs again.

The body language section of the “Police & Dog Encounters” videos is designed to teach officers how to quickly size up the potential threat presented by dogs. And dog behaviorists and police trainers say you can’t just eyeball a dog, decide that it looks like a pit bull or Rottweiler, and decide it’s dangerous.  In the body language section of the “Police & Dog Encounters” videos, dog trainer and author Brian Kilcommons works with four Chicago PD officers on how to approach dogs that are not very happy about having strangers in their territory. “Dogs don’t lie,” Kilcommons says on the video. “They tell you what they are thinking.” That may be true, but you have to know how to interpret what the dog is saying.

Good grief.  Just good grief.  As I’ve said, you bunch of little screaming girls, go spend some time at a farm or ranch and buy and raise a dog.  Good grief.  It’s shameful that cops have to be taught to do things that most little boys can already do.

Finally, Mike gets some nice props.

Delivered recently, a Voodoo 42″ tactical padded rifle case, which holds two rifles and other weapons (two handguns).  There is also room for magazines, tools, and other kit that you might want to take to the range or into the field.  If you’re like me, you probably cannot even name or catalog the equipment and other miscellaneous stuff you have in your dope bag (or range bag).  This clears it up.  When you head out the door, you put in what you need for the day, weekend or longer.

 Here is a picture of the case unopened, plenty of Molle and cinch straps.  And I like the OD green.

Here is a picture of the back, with padded shoulder straps and D-rings.

One aspect of the bag I like is the presence of zippers amenable to locking.  No, it won’t stop someone from picking up your entire bag.  But it will stop someone from going into your rifle bag and coming out with something that you don’t miss until much later.  Here is a picture closed.

And unclosed.

I wanted to see how it would handle longer rifles (since it is, after all, a 42″ case), so I put in my Tikka T3 Hunter, with scope, on one side of the dedicated two-rifle bag.

Nice fit.  Now on the other side, my RRA AR-15 with EOTech.

See how the top of the EOTech goes to the top of the bag?  The forend grip was given to me straight from a Marine in my son’s MC Battalion.  It saw combat action.  It holds sentimental value for me.  I figure there’s no reason I should have to remove my forend grip in order to get my rifle into a tactical bag.  More on that in a minute.  

One more item worthy of mention is that I didn’t notice any stress on the zippers when the bag was fully opened.  If the zippers were stressed when folded open, I would say so and dock points for that in my review.  This bag passes with flying colors.  Below are the storage compartments opened up.

Plenty of snaps, velcro and tension cords.  And more on the internal storage compartments.

Now back to the height of the bag.  Take a close look at the tape measure below.  It reads 11″ seam to seam.

Another bag I have reads 10.5″ seam to seam.

The difference is actually about 0.75″ when I get down close to the seams and tape (a picture cannot do it justice).  Does that 0.75″ matter?  Well, it does if you have an EOTech on your rifle plus a forend grip.

The Voodoo 42″ tactical padded rifle case is a worthy way to spend your money if you need a rifle case.  In fact, I highly recommend it if you have a rifle longer than the AR-15 carbine (16″ barrel) that needs to be protected during transport.  And by the way.  I decry the notion of abusing your weapons to the maximum just to ascertain the point at which they will stop working.  You don’t do that with your own body, do you?  Protect your weapons like your life.

The Blaze:

Everytown for Gun Safety, the organization funded by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, issued a set of five talking points for gun control advocates to follow when trying to persuade their pro-gun friends and relatives of their error in thinking on Thanksgiving.

“This Thanksgiving when talk around he table turns to politics and current events, you can help set the record straight on some of the most common myths about guns,” the talking points titled, “Talking Turkey About Guns,” says.

The “myths” and “facts” infographics included Thanksgiving imagery such as turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie.

That this was intended for Thanksgiving is irrelevant.  What’s more germane to the conversation is what Bloomberg’s group did and why they did it.  It’s not likely to happen exactly like Bloomberg presents it.  My position on mental health and gun ownership is well established.  As my reader menckenlite has said of psychiatry.

Control freaks love psychiatry, a means of social control with no Due Process protections. It is a system of personal opinion masquerading as science. See, e.g., Boston University Psychology Professor Margaret Hagan’s book, Whores of the Court,he to see how arbitrary psychiatric illnesses are. Peter Breggin, Fred Baughman and Thomas Szasz wrote extensively about abuses of psychiatry. Liberals blame guns for violence. Conservatives blame mental illness. Neither have any causal connection to violence.

There may be end of life issues in which collection of guns may take same path as collection of cars or anything else that can harm someone.  We are dealing with a 91-year old grandmother who has clinical dementia.  We won’t let her drive.  We took her guns.  Guns are no different than anything else, but we are caring for her.

The point is that in the absence of clinical medical issues like dementia, you are not entitled to the guns owned by loved ones.  But totalitarians have always been quick to intercept and interdict the communications, care, money, love and every other aspect of the life of the family.  The state taxes the most helpless among us, the widow and orphan, merely because a loved one perished.  God holds a special place in hell for men who make such laws.

The Nazis did it, the Soviets did it, the communists in Southeast Asia did it, the Chinese communists do it with their one child policy and other laws.  The family is subservient to the state, rather than being one of the sovereign institutions in God’s economy.  The family owes fealty to the state rather than itself and God, and the philosophical question of the one and the many has been settled long ago in favor of the one.

The state knows that the family members love each other, and they use that against the family.  If they can split the family or use one of the members against another to report on their activities or convince them of their duty to the state, the love of the family can engender pacifism within the family.  In order to ensure peace within the family, members can go along to get along.  Worse, they might actually fear another family member, which is exactly what the state wants.

You won’t find another more important venue or object of your lobby efforts or target of your teaching and instruction than family, even extended family.  If you cannot persuade your family of your world view, then it makes no sense to turn your attentions to others.  Go back to the beginning and work on your family again, and again, and again, and again.  Never let the state win.  It’s been said that socialized medicine is the holy grail of the collectivists.  That is wrong.  Their end game is the end of the family.

But after all is said and done, if you have extended family that simply cannot be convinced and will not acquiesce to your God-given rights, make it clear to them that if they align themselves with the collectivists, they have aligned with the enemy.  It’s just that serious.  Use those words.  They have become the enemy, or at least, workers for the enemy.  You cannot and will not ever relinquish your right to weapons, regardless of the close nature of those who would beseech you to do so.

When you read reports like the one from Bloomberg above, realize the deeper, more nefarious nature of their designs.  This isn’t about turkey, pie, Christmas presents, or any of the other trappings, and certainly not about the deeper religious meaning in the holidays.

David Codrea:

The thing is, transporting these children, sheltering them, feeding them, clothing them, bathing them and dealing with the waste they generate will all have an environmental impact, and while seemingly negligible compared to the totality of things, that’s added to the millions of heretofore illegal aliens already in the country now empowered to stay, and to those on their way, attracted by seeing “migrants” who came before them rewarded for lawbreaking. Their long-term impact as an aggregate on the environment and on the resources needed to provide energy, sustenance and disposal, can hardly be considered negligible. Nor can the immediate and continuing impact of environmental destruction left in their wake …

How much more of an impact will the president’s immigration directives have on the environment than the off-chance a person defending their life may (or may not) need to fire off rounds of ammunition that may (or may not) leave traces within national park boundaries? … Why not figure out the best jurisdiction to get an injunction halting Obama’s action until an environmental impact study can be completed.

Progressives are liars.  They pretend to care about the environement but don’t.  If they did, they would lobby for the startup of nuclear power plants.  Rather, progressives use their pretensions as a cudgel for their other causes.  As for the environmental impacts of immigration and lack of border security, we’ve discussed that here.  They don’t care.  Perhaps a judge can be found who would pay attention only to the law, but s/he wouldn’t care about the morality of the situation.

David Codrea:

 Obviously both of these individuals were not part of what the citizen disarmament cult disparages as “the gun culture,” as the lack of respect for even the most basic of safety rules indicated by the report points to people absolutely unfamiliar with basic rational gun-handling. The obvious ridiculous and senselessly dangerous way this woman evidently ended her own life unsurprisingly brought out ridicule-based comments, including predictable “Darwin Award” references.

“She deserved to die,” a gay Huffington Post reader from Yale weighed in. “Trailer lady deserved it.” Talk about tolerance and concern for “different” people of perceived lower economic status!

Progressives only pretend to care about the lower class.

From Uncle, here is a list of top handgun manufacturers.  I’m kind of surprised that Springfield Armory isn’t on the list.

Don Surber: Do not rebuild in Ferguson.  Yea, but when I said the same thing, I was somehow the devil.

Mountain Guerrilla:

Single-points have been popular for a long time, and I’ve been a fan. I ran one for a long time. I think the biggest selling point for single-point slings, for most people, is the cool-guy CDI (chicks dig it) factor. Guys see Chris Costa, or Travis Haley, or Kyle Defoor running them, and want one. The reality is, I HATE single-point slings. Every time I drop the gun, whether to transition to my sidearm (doesn’t happen nearly as often as a lot of training courses make it seem like does), or to go hands-on with someone, the f****** rifle nails me in the nuts.

Kyle Lamb, American Rifleman, December 2014:

A general-purpose AR just isn’t complete without a sling.  If you plan to carry a rifle or stabilize it while shooting, you must have a sling.  I use a quick-adjust, two-point type, the VTAC sling.  It allows the user to carry the carbine muzzle down as well as quickly cinch the rifle tight to his chest or loosen it for shooting or transitioning.  The sling can be slightly tightened while building a shooting position to greatly increase stability.  If you choose to use a single-point or three-point sling you will lose the ability to also have the built-in shooting aid.  The single-point lets the rifle dangle, merely there in case you have to transition to your side arm.  I find that less-secure configuration may also allow it to crack you in the family jewels or on the knees, depending on the adjustment.

My son Daniel and the rest of his company threw away or modified the mandated MC-issue three point slings to make them whatever the Marine wanted (even braiding 550 cord to make their own slings), in most cases a single point sling.  At the time they were preparing for Fallujah and a lot of CQB and room clearing, and needed the ability to raise the weapon and engage the sight picture via a “reflex sight” very quickly and efficiently.  Up and down and side to side and use of hands was very important.

David Codrea:

Time was, the turkey was considered a game bird. The Pilgrims at Plymouth feasted on them. Generations later, Ben Franklin considered it such a useful fowl that he nominated it for the national bird.

Of course, this was in the days when the right to bear arms was taken for granted, when free people hunted turkeys for sustenance, all the while honing marksmanship that would serve them well in time of need.

Fast-forward to present-day Boston, a place of sacred tradition, the literal forge for our heritage of individual liberty. Except Boston is now a place where traditions have been betrayed. Its current overlords have succeeded in disarming the whole people in a way that General Gage could never have conceived possible.

So successful have these rulers been that the city that gave us Sam Adams and Paul Revere is now a city under siege …

David Codrea:

At Wednesday afternoon’s White House ceremony for the traditional annual presidential pardon of turkeys from being served up for Thanksgiving dinner, Barack Obama likened the action to his executive order last week on illegal aliens. The president made the remarks before assembled press with daughters Malia and Sasha present before sparing the lives of turkeys Mac and Cheese, the beneficiaries of his latest order.

That’s because he’s an asshole.

Kurt Hofmann:

One cannot help but wonder about Ensley’s blustering “we’ll take them.” Does he propose to personally take part in the confiscations, or would his participation be limited to cheerleading from the sidelines. Personally, I strongly suspect the latter.

Yes, but I prefer the former.  At least that would make an honest man out of him.

Magpul finalizes departure from Colorado.

Uncle: Will the Army drink the Kool-Aid?  I don’t know.  But I’m not worried about what the Army does.  To S&W, I say again like I have to every gun manufacturer.  Don’t even start down the path of relying on government contracts to keep your company solvent.  It’s like shooting heroin once.  Just say no.  Just don’t do it.

Mike Vanderboegh:

It is possible to condemn rioting and lawlessness in the streets without embracing the militarized police state.

It is also possible to call into question the righteousness of Wilson’s use of deadly force without embracing arson and pillage.

These are not mutually exclusive propositions.

Yea, but when I said the same thing, I was somehow the devil.

Opposing Views:

An unidentified woman pulled the trigger on her rifle and witnessed the gun explode in her hands in video footage uploaded to LiveLeak over the weekend.

Although the woman appeared to be unharmed, her exact condition is not known. The location of the incident is also unknown.

ConcealedNation.org, a website focused on firearms, suggested a reason for the explosion, since the woman in the video seemed entirely surprised by the accident.

“It seems that she experienced a squib load on the 2nd to last shot. While she cleared the casing from the rifle, she did not check for barrel obstruction,” the website explained. “Once she pulled the trigger again, the newly-fired round ran right into the back of the previous round that didn’t have enough energy to make it out of the barrel.”

The website added that squib is usually attributed to an underpowered cartridge, a missing powder charge or a light powder charge. If an obstruction is created, then a fired round comes into contact with it and causes “dangerous situations”.

As if you needed any more reasons not to shoot crappy guns or ammunition, this should be enough.

Have you considered Scott Walker as a viable candidate for the GOP nomination for President?  Think again.

On the surface, Scott Walker seems like a gun owner’s dream candidate for president. The Wisconsin governor is backed by the National Rifle Association, which lauds his signing into law concealed carry and castle doctrine legislation. The “On the Issues” political leadership website notes Walker opposes restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms.

It’s unsurprising then, that NRA Director Grover Norquist has co-authored a piece for Reuters explaining “What makes Wisconsin’s Republican Governor Scott Walker a good choice for 2016.” But in this case, Norquist is wearing a different hat – that of president of Americans for Tax Reform, teaming with ATR’s director of state affairs, Patrick Gleason.

So what’s not to like? Don’t both issues track with greater freedom? Where’s the conflict?

Wearing that different hat, Norquist campaigned for and endorsed Bob Dold for Congress, in spite of the “Republican’s” support for restricting gun purchases and possession which was known at the time. The unsuitability of Dold’s Democrat opponent notwithstanding, NRA Director Norquist chose his priorities and endorsed a known gun-grabber who went on to accept an award from the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence.

There’s an issue besides taxes Norquist has yet another hat for: immigration. Just like Barack Obama, Norquist endorses rewarding alien nationals who have broken U.S. law by entering and remaining in this country illegally with a “pathway to citizenship.”

And Walker agrees with him.

He’s owned by the Chamber of Commerce.  He’s no different than George Bush, Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney and most other republicans.  David’s article is well researched and full of URLs for you to go and study the issue yourself.  I intentionally don’t supply the reference material so that you will visit Gun Rights Examiner.

The reasons for my rejection of Walker because of his stance on immigration are multifaceted.  First of all, the envelopment of America by immigrants changes everything, from language and culture, to generational demographics, racial demographics, and economic health of the country.

The immigrants to whom we have opened our borders are in the main low paid, low skill workers.  Big business loves them, because they can cut their bottom line.  They get away with this because we – middle class America – foot the bill for their medical care, SNAP, welfare and other necessities, thus providing corporate welfare for executives and members of the boards of directors.

The Democrats love them because they will vote democratic.  Recall what we’ve already discussed.

“For historical reasons to do with the nationalisation of the land under Lázaro Cárdenas and the predominant form of peasant land tenure, which was “village cooperative” rather than based on individual plots, the demand for “land to the tiller” in Mexico does not imply an individual plot for every peasant or rural worker or family. In Mexico, collectivism among the peasantry is a strong tradition … one consequence of these factors is that the radical political forces among the rural population are on the whole explicitly anti-capitalist and socialist in their ideology. Sometimes this outlook is expressed in support for guerilla organisations; but struggle movements of the rural population are widespread, and they spontaneously ally with the most militant city-based leftist organisations.”

One of the reasons for this reflexive alignment with leftism has to do with the the mid-twentieth century and what the Sovient Union and allied ideologies accomplished.  South and Central America was the recipient or receptacle for socialism draped in religious clothing, or in other words, liberation theology.  Its purveyors were Roman Catholic priests who had been trained in Marxism, and they were very successful in giving the leftists a moral platform upon which to build.  This ideology spread North from South and Central America into Mexico, and thus the common folk in Mexico are quite steeped in collectivist ideology from battles that were fought decades ago.

So Hispanics and Latinos think and vote as collectivists, but do their views on gun control reflect that heritage?

Latinos take a more conservative view on pot legalization and a more-pro view on gun control, according to a fresh report on politics from the Pew Research Center.

About 49 percent of Hispanics polled support legalization of marijuana versus 53 percent for the total U.S. population. Liberalization of pot use is gaining support around the nation. Come January, in Dallas County, there may be some loosening on pot prosecution with a pilot project that gives tickets rather than jail time for simple possession, as we reported here.

On gun control, 62 percent of Hispanics polled by Pew say they support controlling gun ownership, versus 45 percent for the nation.

David warned you, and again.  And listen to me yet again on this.  With every immigrant crossing the border, you will see the government acceptance and acknowledgment of your God given gun rights evaporate, further every day.

Hartford Business:

Connecticut gun makers and dealers say they want to leave the state but actually pulling the trigger on a move has been easier said than done.

Nearly two years after threatening to leave Connecticut entirely after lawmakers passed comprehensive gun control laws following the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, only one gun manufacturer has made a public show of leaving the state; the others — particularly the largest industry players — remain tied here by history and/or tough financials.

“If it weren’t for the large amount of capital they have in Connecticut, the gun companies would be gone,” said Brian Ruttenbur, a gun industry analyst for Stamford investment research firm CRT Capital. “But I don’t see any time in the near future that any of the big Connecticut gun makers are going to move. It is just too expensive.”

Gun makers like Colt Manufacturing of West Hartford, Sturm Ruger of the Southport section of Fairfield, O.F. Mossberg & Sons of North Haven, and Stag Arms of New Britain — some of which can trace their Connecticut roots to before the Civil War — face the same pros (highly trained workforce, established supply chain and proximity to New York and Boston) and cons (high energy costs and property taxes, a unionized workforce and a tough regulatory environment) as other manufacturers when considering an out-of-state move.

Here the writer has let the manufacturer’s propaganda inform him a little too much.  A highly trained work force is available anywhere a company wants to invest a little time and money.  Machinists, mechanics, engineers and designers are available all over America.  As for supply chain, this can be developed overnight.  Besides, Connecticut isn’t necessarily the most efficient hub anyway.  Watch, and let me show you what I mean.

Of the companies that had their feathers ruffled during the 2013 gun control debate, PTR Industries was the only gun manufacturer that moved entirely out of Connecticut.

In April 2013, following passage of the law that banned its only product, PTR left Bristol for a small town near Myrtle Beach, S.C. As part of the move, the company took 24 of its Connecticut employees and hired an additional 120 in South Carolina.

PTR — like Colt, Ruger, Mossberg, and Stag — declined to comment for this story.

While PTR outright left Connecticut, other gun makers instead have opted to curb their Connecticut footprint.

Ruger remains headquartered in Southport but does all it’s manufacturing in New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Arizona. Mossberg in July significantly ramped up its manufacturing at its Texas plant, installing a 116,000-square-foot addition, while lowering — but not eliminating — production at its North Haven facility.

There’s also the case of the Freedom Group, the North Carolina manufacturer of gun brands like Remington and Bushmaster. Eight days before the Sandy Hook shooting, the state Department of Economic and Community Development offered Freedom Group a $1 million low-interest loan to move its headquarters and 25 employees to Stamford.

So if it’s a legitimate point that the companies are so heavily invested in supply chain and highly trained workers that they cannot afford to relocate, then why has Ruger and Mossberg eased out of Connecticut, and how did they manage to do that without going bankrupt?

The answer is that they can make the change, they just haven’t chosen to because of emotional capital in their communities and people.  I don’t fault their loyalty to their people – that’s a trait that is hard to come by these days for many companies.  But in the end, high union wages and customer dissatisfaction with their state might be controlling factors.

“In the wake of these very restrictive gun control laws, they have to deal with the consumer reaction,” said Mike Bazinet, director of public affairs for the firearms industry trade association National Shooting Sport Foundation, which is headquartered in Newtown. “There is no question that some damage was done to the brand equity of these companies because their products have a ‘Made in Connecticut’ stamp on them.”

Or not.  But if not, they (Mossberg, Ruger, and other gun makers left in Connecticut [Colt is almost a lost cause at this point]) might just have no company left with which to be loyal to their workers.  Competition is good.  Freedom is good.  It can be painful at times, and relocation of loyal workers (I didn’t mention the need for worker loyalty yet) might be a big life change, but in the end change can be good.

See also Gun Valley Moves South