For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Colorado has recently passed, and Governor Polis has signed, a passel of stupid, meaningless gun-control laws. Now, in the reaction, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte is courting Colorado gun manufacturers to come to Montana.
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte is pitching gun manufacturers based in Colorado to relocate to his state.
Gianforte, whose office posted a video to social media on Wednesday, cited Colorado's new gun law, Senate Bill 25-003, and other laws not friendly to the industry.
SB 25-003, which Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed into law earlier this month, bans the manufacture and sale of semi-automatic rifles and shotguns that take detachable magazines, but allows for purchases if an individual gets a “firearms safety course eligibility card” from their sheriff's department and completes a qualifying firearm education course.
Gianforte called the law “one of the most restrictive gun bans ever adopted in the United States.”
Restrictive, stupid, and almost certainly unconstitutional. If Colorado's gun manufacturers aren't heading for the exits, then they are making the biggest business miscalculation since all of the world's lamp-oil dealers collectively agreed, "Oh, Edison's light bulb is just a crank, in five years nobody will have ever heard of them."
According to Gianforte, Colorado is a top-10 state for the gun industry.
“To all gun manufacturers in Colorado, my question for you is simple: Do you want to move back to America? Montana is open for business and home to more than 150 firearms and ammunition manufacturers, the highest per capita in the entire country,” he said.
“We are a constitutional carry state that has enacted laws outlawing discrimination against gun and ammunition manufacturers,” he added. “In Montana we embrace freedom and the free-enterprise system.”
The line "...do you want to move back to America?" That's priceless.
See Also: Mexican Nationals Busted in Colorado Carrying 180,000 Rounds of Rifle Ammo
Colorado has fallen a long way down a deep, dark hole since I moved there in 1989. I can't attribute it all to California emigres, although they certainly kicked things off starting about... then. Colorado was also the first state to legalize recreational marijuana, which, regardless of what one thinks of that idea, there can be no denying that Colorado's being the first state to do this provided a powerful draw to an undesirable element - and none of them were nearly as funny as Cheech Marin or Tommy Chong.
Now we see the results: Rampant homelessness, street crime, and now idiotic gun control laws. The first two really only affect the Denver-Boulder Axis; I don't know as I'd want to attempt a street robbery in, say, Craig. The likelihood of suddenly gaining a .44-caliber orifice, even today, even in Colorado, is too high in these areas. But the gun control laws affect every law-abiding citizen in this ever-increasingly loony state.
It remains to be seen if we'll see an exodus of gun manufacturers and accessory companies from Colorado to Montana - or Wyoming, which would be a long step closer, and Wyoming is pretty gun-friendly as well. But it would certainly be the smart thing to do - and I doubt they'll be relocating to Alaska, as much fun as that would be.
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