The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Gunmaking drops off in Connecticut
Industry presence grew from 2012 to 2016
WASHINGTON — Gun manufacturing companies came to Connecticut expecting a surge in gun sales after the Sandy Hook killings, but they might not stay for long under a gun-friendly Republican president.
Gun manufacturing companies rose in Connecticut from 15 in 2012 to at least 22 in 2016 — a roughly 46 percent increase — according to data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. But the number of Connecticut’s manufactured rifles, handguns, shotguns and revolvers actually dipped within the same time frame, with handguns taking the largest fall.
In anticipation of higher gun sales after heightened safety concerns followed the Sandy Hook killings in 2012, more gun manufacturers came to the state, according to ATF data. But gun manufacturing in Connecticut has since dropped off after fears among gun owners and customers of more gun regulation subsided and President Donald Trump took office, gun experts said.
“In 2008, 2009, the manufacturing bubble was probably 80 percent of what it is now,” said Anthony Battaglia, the owner of Black Tides Group, a gun manufacturing company in Bridgeport. “After all the big issues we had with gun violence, the industry grew almost double overnight.”
Component makers
Many of the companies situated in Connecticut aren’t necessarily fabricating and selling guns themselves. Gun manufacturers said some companies sell parts to larger businesses such as the West Hartford-based Colt’s Manufacturing Co.
Just a handful of companies handle the bulk of Connecticut’s manufactured guns. For instance, eight of 15 gun companies that manufactured rifles in 2016 produced less than five rifles each, while Colt manufactured the largest share — about 117,000 — the same year.
For handguns, revolvers and
shotguns, three main companies in Connecticut manufactured the finished product in 2016 — New Britain-based Connecticut Shotgun Manufacturing Co. and Standard Manufacturing Co., and Fairfield-based Sturm, Ruger and Co.
Colt declined to comment for this story. The gun manufacturing company has longrunning roots in Connecticut, tracing back to as early as the Civil War era. Now a booming gun company, Colt remains headquartered in Hartford.
But following the Sandy Hook shootings, gun-rights organizations argued that Connecticut’s historical ties to the gun industry would dwindle under tighter gun laws.
“If gun-control legislation in Connecticut passes, the gun industry in Connecticut could become just that — history,” said Lawrence Keane, the senior vice president and general counsel for the Newtown-based National Shooting Sports Foundation. Keane was referring to Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s legislation to turn a former Colt factory into a national park in Hartford.
Since Sandy Hook, Connecticut lawmakers have enacted 19 additional gun regulations, such as a semiautomatic rifle ban and most recently, a bump stock ban in October.
Today, Battaglia, the gun manufacturer from Black Tides Group, said Connecticut is more of a “handgun market,” where people are more likely to purchase handguns for self-protection than recreation. Handgun sales contributed to a post-Sandy Hook uptick in gun purchases and greater incentive for small and large manufacturing companies to keep up with handgun production.
Packing up
When Trump took office, the number of manufactured guns in Connecticut fell alongside the number of gun purchases. Handgun sales decreased from about 122,000 in 2014 to 72,000 — the lowest since 2011 — in 2017, one year into the presidency. Rifle, or long-gun sales, also fell in the state, from about 57,000 to 26,000 in 2017.
Mark Rydzy, the owner of Wallingford-based Pauway Corp., a gun manufacturing company, said that under the Trump administration, gun manufacturers now have more incentive to leave Connecticut and seek business in states such as South Carolina, which has relatively friendly gun laws.
Despite a minor hike in gun manufacturers prior to Trump’s presidency, Connecticut is overall a “lousy” state to start up a gun business, with tight gun laws, he said.
“It’s directly related to regulations,” Rydzy said. “Every time a new series of gun laws goes into effect, it ends up changing everything.”
One gun manufacturing company — Classic Carbines and Firearms Inc., which was once based in Torrington — relocated to South Carolina in 2016. Gil Evans, a salesman for the company, said the move was driven by Connecticut’s “high taxes and strict gun laws.”
Despite a drop in manufactured handguns, sales outpace rifle purchases in Connecticut, where 71,853 handguns and 25,866 long guns were sold in 2017, according to data from the FBI.