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 Federal
government 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 their
Smart 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.
