Here is a recent post from the "legal" area posted by Morgan. This is what the media will not tell you.
I figured it needed to be here so that all of the facts were addressed.
More info on Colt...
This was recently posted (without attribution) on the C+R newsgroup, you might find it interesting if you haven't read it already:
Colt Manufacturing, Inc., plagued by vendor-creditors and double-digit lawsuits, including those from several major US cities, is working busily behind the scenes to stiff vendors and the cities, along with their own union employees. Colt has long wanted to move out of their antiquated factory in West Hartford, which has been plagued with union problems since the early '90s. CMI (Colt Manufacturing, Inc.) is owned by New York banker, Donald Zilkha, who still maintains his Iraqi citizenship. Unfortunately, while Mr. Zilkha owns CMI, he *does not* own the name "Colt". That belongs to the State of Connecticut. The State gained ownership of the name when the companies previous owners went bankrupt in 1994 owing the State of Connecticut pension fund $11,000,000.
Zilkha's arrangement with the State required him to keep the ailing company in Connecticut for ten years, which included the manufacturing of any gun that had ever been produced in that factory....or pay the State $11,000,000 they lost in the previous bankruptcy. Apparently Zilkha has come up with an exit strategy that will allow him to
both move the company's manufacturing to friendlier, non-union, ground and leave the companies creditors sucking wind. Zilkha is now negotiating with the State to finally buy the name "Colt".
The plan calls for a breakup of the existing company into four separate legal entities. The majority of the Colt pistol line will be eliminated and the remaining models, including their popular single action revolvers, Pocket 9, Pony, Defender and the new Officer's carry will be moved to a new company, "Colt Classics", in Springfield, Mass. This will serve as their "custom shop", as well as handling consumer gun sales. No need to run out panic buying a
Colt product one of these products listed above is what you're interested in.
Colt's military weapons, the M4 carbine and the M16, will be moved to another Colt Holdings owned company, SACO Defense in Maine. They will undoubtedly continue the production of the AR15 as well, but it will most likely be sold through the "Custom Shop"...no doubt at a higher price.
CMI, the current corporation, with all it's outstanding debts to vendors, along with it's many lawsuits, and union contracts will file for protection under Federal Bankruptcy statutes and the factory in West Hartford will be closed, leaving the many creditors and the 780 employees out in the cold.
Colt headquarters and it's executives, under yet another corporate veil (iColt), will move to a location near Washington D.C. to focus on their lobbying efforts which include more sweetheart military contracts and government grants for developing their much touted but non-existent "Smart Gun".
Zilkha has been lobbying Democratic lawmakers to *give* the company $100,000,000 in development money for this white elephant. Unfortunately for Mr. Zilkha, another company has recently shown an NIJ panel, who previously gave Colt $500,000 for Smart Gun development, that they are at least two years ahead of Colt in the development of Smart Gun technology. Colt is unlikely to land their government windfall for Smart Gun development. Colt president, Steve Sliwa, speaking about the Smart Gun, has publicly stated that Colt has "bet the future of the company on it". Even Zilkha political crony, Sen. Chuck Schumer, won't be able to get this money out of Congress for Colt's non-existent pipe-dream.
Numerous firings over the last few months, which included several long-time Colt executives and department heads, indicate that this move is not far off. Colt will continue negotiating with the cities regarding a settlement of the numerous lawsuits, but once Zilkha has secured the rights to "Colt" name from the State of Connecticut, and they complete their plans to divide up the profitable areas of the company, safe from creditors, the cities will find that Mr. Zilkha has left them holding an empty bag. The other gun companies being sued will surely be the loser in this battle. The ultimate loser will be the American gun owner.
There is everything in this story for a good novel. A rich Iraqi oilman/banker, from the richest Jewish family in America (I only include this as a point of interest...I'm hardly an anti-Semite as Aaron Zellman will attest to), attempting to control 85% of the world's arms market! Yup...one of those stories that's just too wild to be believable, but that's what's happening. Zilkha has already purchased SACO Defence. He tried, unsuccessfully to buy Remington. He's tried twice, unsuccessfully, to buy Fabrique National (which also owns Browning and Winchester). He recently tried, unsuccessfully, to purchase Vektor Arms, the largest military arms producer on the African continent. He's still trying to purchase Heckler & Koch, but I believe he'll fail in that attempt (and if you're interested let me know and I'll tell you why). He's also trying to buy S&W, which is also up for sale. He told me, personally, that he planned to control 85% of the world's arms market (with the rest being controlled by the Easter Bloc and China). Fortunately, I have personal relationships with many of these companies and I know that he won't be successful. But let your mind run wild with the possibilities of one man controlling all those assets. And remember that he's the one negotiating with the cities and the FEDS right now. He also depends on his military contracts with the Federalgovernment for 90% of Colt's income. Would he be in a position to single-handedly negotiate away our rights in return for exclusive rights to military contracts? You bet. He's proven that he can do it with the M4 contract. Colt managed to get around the law and got an exclusive contract for the M4...with no competitive bidding! What's an M4?...an M16 with another name, of course. Why? Because Fabrique National *won* the M16 contract for the Army through the conventional competitive bidding procedure. This left Colt out in the cold. Again, the M16 has been 90% of Colt's business for years. So, almost like magic, a plan is developed to get around FN's legitimate contract. They simply call the gun by a different name, create a new "requirement" for this gun, and give Colt an exclusive no-bid contract for it...for more money than FN charges the Army for the M16! Now imagine if Zilkha is already this powerful, what would happen if he also owned FN? And H&K? And Vektor? And S&W? Did I mention that Zilkha's a financial supporter (and personal friend) of both Chuckie Schumer and Frank Lautenberg? Imagine which way Zilkha leans on civilian ownership of firearms.
As for iColt and the "Smart Gun", it looks like Steve Sliwa will ignore my advice, and my promise. Over a cold beer I warned this "rocket scientist" that a gun that operated on radio frequency was a bone-head idea. I asked him if he ever had trouble with reception with his cell phone (DUH!).
I told him that this was such a stupid concept that if he actually built an RF controlled handgun that I promised him that I'd develop an RF jammer the size of the average garage door opener that would be capable of jamming Smart Guns for a six square block area. Imagine a bank robbery going down, the cops show up, but none of theirSmart guns will fire
Well, it looks like Mr. Sliwa didn't take me seriously. Guess he didn't get to know me well enough. Very shortly I'll announce the formation of "noColt" to produce our RF jammer. This product will be marketed as a personal protection device. You never know when you'll find a criminal with a Smart Gun and you may need to disarm him, right?
The announcement of "noColt" and the "SmartJammer" should probably throw a stick in the spokes of Sliwa's venture capital raising efforts on behalf of iColt. We can only hope so. The Smart Gun is the silver bullet that the anti-gun movement and the ATF is begging for. Just for a moment imagine a radio controlled gun, or thousands
of them, that could be disabled by satellite generated signal with the push of a button in Washington DC. They won't have to come to your house to take you gun away...you can keep it. It just won't work anymore. To wild to happen? Just ask yourself...if they *could* do this, would they? The technology is certainly there.
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To own firearms is to affirm that freedom and liberty are not gifts from the state.
