This is Armalite's original response (not to me--but reported from confirmed source):
Dear concerned gun owner,
First of all I would like to say thank you for filling my email with all this spam email.
Second, I am not sure where you got this blanket email from to send out as spam, but please stop it.
Third, The manufacture is not the one you need to convince.
You need to convince the law enforcement agencies and the common people about their mistake in electing these officials and have them removed. Again NOT the manufacture.
AR Stands for ArmaLite…
Respectfully,
Pat Raley
raleyp@armalite.com
Master Armorer / Sales Rep.
ArmaLite, Inc.
P.O. Box 299
Geneseo, IL. 61254
Well now. That's a big serving of "shut the hell up, you stupid serf!"
AR then released a statement from their president:
Thanks for posting this email. I just received a concerned telephone call about it, an email from the staffer who stimulated the mail.
I think a bit of clarification is in order.
The root of the matter is a HUGE series of inquiries by both email and telephone asking ArmaLite to cut off sales to New York and other states which deny its citizens the right to own our rifles, as several other firms have done. Some of the contacts have been duplicates of others and some were so redundant that they appeared to be spam. Many of them have been rude and I'm afraid one of my staffers thought that he was responding to a spammer and was more terse than he should have been. Once he realized what happened he came to me and apologized.
My purpose here is to pass on his apology from the corporate level and to answer the initial question: What is ArmaLite going to do?
ArmaLite is continuing a policy put into place when California first banned our rifles. That policy remains:
1. We will not sell to those states which deny it's honorable citizens the right to own ArmaLite's.
2. We do not halt sales to individual officers even in problematic states. I am a former Police Officer myself, and the staffer who stimulated the recent anger is a currently serving one. We are well familiar with the fact that most rifles serving Police Officers are purchased by the officers themselves, and that they shouldn't be punished for the actions of their political elite.
We consider sales to those sate subdivisions which are not engaged or potentially engaged with disarming its citizens. DNR and Forestry Departments, for instance, sometimes serve in remote areas that conceal drug farms and their officers deserve good hardware.
3. We will not sell to those lower political subdivisions that deny their honorable citizens the right to own ArmaLite's. Chicago, for instance, prohibits its citizens from owning ArmaLite's within the city limits so we make no effort to sell into that city. We have many friends on the Chicago Police Department and have continued to sell to them individually.
Our observation is that most County Sheriffs disagree with banning sales of our rifles and many publicly refuse to enforce such laws. We sell to those departments and to their Deputies, but will not sell to those County departments headed by Sheriffs who would deny their citizens the same rights.
In short, Americans need not worry that ArmaLite is selling to those who betray them.
As you can see by reading posts on the topic, some readers have been harsh with their criticism of ArmaLite. It was in response to this atmosphere that my staffer reacted harshly. He's come to me and apologized and I personally am passing my own apology along with his.
But don't be mistaken, ArmaLite is strongly involved with both personal, corporate, and political efforts at the State, National, and International level to protect our civil rights. And we'll continue to support your shooting needs as the situation moves forward.
Respectfully,
Mark Westrom
President,
ArmaLite Inc.
I strongly disagree with Armalite's policy.
When an otherwise law abiding citizen in upstate NY is safely shooting his undocumented AR-15 with undocumented standard capacity magazines on private property, he could be confronted by a DNR or Forestry Department officer with an ARMALITE rifle.
When a NY LEO kicks in a door to raid a house containing undocumented AR-15 rifles, that LEO could be carrying a personally procured ARMALITE rifle. He may use that ARMALITE rifle to shoot an innocent dog and terrorize a family.
When a NY LEO arrests a good man for possession of a box with a spring, he could have an ARMALITE in his trunk equipped with identical mags to the ones he is confiscating.
Armalite perpetuates the idea that our civilian law enforcement officers are for some reason better than the civilians who they ostensibly serve.
I oppose ALL individual officer sales to ban states. If seven rounds or a duck gun is good enough for a citizen, it is good enough for the CIVILIAN police force. The only exception I would approve of would be the idea of selling rifles to sheriffs who openly pledge to defy State laws at the county level. Otherwise, Armalite is simply arming agents of the state who will enforce draconian gun laws on Armalite's own (former) customers. That is like a gun smuggler in 1774 selling muskets to Tory loyalists while denying sales to Whig Sons of Liberty in occupied Boston; you can't have it both ways.
I bought an Armalite lower parts kit with national match trigger recently. I was planning on purchasing more parts but not anymore. I asked Armalite if I can return it, and explained why. If I cannot do the return, it will not hurt Armalite to sell it on the secondary market, but I will negatively review their product at all times and steer people to companies that actually respect their customers.
What should we call Armalite? Disarmalite? ArmaCop?
UPDATE:
- The source for the above information was AR-15.com, including posts by the manufacturer. As a sidebar, they initially tried a tactic of suppression by deleting threads in their industry forum and closing down their Facebook page.
- I have still not personally received a response from Armalite regarding my attempt to return my LPK. I will probably take it up with the distributor.
I ve added Armalite to the Naughty List on my New York Boycott list. Then I emailed a link to this blog post to every gun blogger I know, plus Instapundit.
ReplyDeleteNever insult a man who buys his pixels by the barrel.
He's a former cop, his staffer is a cop.
ReplyDeleteGang in blue.
I wonder if they could survive on LEO sales only? Very short sighted.
ReplyDeleteFU armalight. I hope you go down in flames. It appears as long as your making the money screw everyone else. I guess if times get tough they can pull the brotherhood (aka gang in other circles) pass and someone will save their ass.
ReplyDeleteLooks like armalight isn't burning any government bridges so when the total ban comes they might have business. But one day soon the gov will run out of fake money and then what will you do? They are already letting aircraft carriers sit at the pier because they don't want to spend the money to refuel them. They are preparing to cut defense so bad they can't even operate their sensors full time.
And people are pissed at Cheaper than Dirt. At least they gave the SAF 100k, supports the boycott but people still won't buy from them.
I would have thought the word had gotten out by now.
ReplyDeleteThe pro-rights community may be hit or miss when it comes to legislative action, although it has been more hits than misses for some time.
When properly organized, the pro-rights community has been very effective in the courts.
At the ballot box, the pro-rights community has not been doing too badly, considering the opposition is funded by billionaires.
The pro-rights community has a lead in public opinion, and if you can get past the hysterical emotionalism, our arguments are quite persuasive. Persuading the hysterically emotional, well, that's somewhat more difficult.
But where we absolutely excel is at our second favorite passtime of knifing traitors.
Now who is selling the 7000 M/4 to DHS?
ReplyDeleteThe gun industry needs to educate the media on what an assault weapon really is and what congress calls on. I've asked liberal friends and press members I know and none can define the so called "assault weapon". When told that it is a automatic rifle with a detachable magazine AND 2 of the following: 1, Grenade launcher, 2 bayonet, 3 collapsible stock, pistol grip, and lastly that horrible flash suppressor. When I ask "when is the last time you heard of someone getting killed with a grenade launcher other than in the Scarface movie (say hello to my little friend) or by a bayonet, they agree they never heard of it. I'm in law with access to NCIC and there have been zero murders with grenade launchers and bayonets. I then show them the collapsible stock which moves less than 3 inches they are puzzled, they thought the stock disappeared completely so as able to hide in your jacket. I then show them an Mini-14 with a wood stock and then another with a plastic stock with the infamous pistol grip. I ask if show how this former varmint gun has somehow become more dangerous with the plastic stock.
ReplyDeleteGun owners know all this but the public doesn't. As to high capacity magazines 20 works fine for me, I find the 30 round mags awkward. The police usually use 20 round mags because the larger ones are award to use. As to those 100 round mags, they are not reliable and I wouldn't want one.
Armalite is a savior to the extent that it deserves a right, like any other entity (forget about Citizens United) to adhere to its personal philosophy just like any other in these Unuted States. If you don't like it, shop elsewhere. Corporate extortion, terrorist extortion, or political extortion should not be tolerated by any free citizen. effum all if they don't like it.
ReplyDeleteArmalite is a stooge for the Communist/Socialist agenda to disarm Americans.I will avoid them and their products.
ReplyDelete