Armalite will not refuse LE/Govt sales....says vote people out of office

[7998]

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.

On the surface I'm satisfied with that response unless I'm being snowed. I do want to point out something he said that I see many of us do and that is the "Many of them have been rude" comment. In sales I was taught that the moment you become confrontational you lose, at that moment people put up walls and turn off what you're trying to communicate.
When you're trying to get somewhere saying "Excuse me" works much better than "Move asshole".

[ungawa]

What a crock of shit. Fuck them.

I think it's unlikely I would have ever bought anything from them anyway. But I'll do everything I can to steer people away from them and hurt their business. Again, I would have done that a year ago, so no big deal.

[Waldershrek]

A: Waldershrek

Nope, I'm good

And here we go--order has been restored.

Senior management has addressed the issue (whether or not you agree with them) in a measured manner, and Pat will NEVER EVER respond to any email he gets like that again.

I think Westrom pissed more people off with his statement than the original post did. He has now come out and publicly said they will not support the government, but they will accept the agents of the government. Can't have it both ways. He is trying to appease and he has been called on it. He's still taking a beating on ARFCOM now from many members who didn't believe the thread was real to begin with.

I also feel like I should clarify my earlier statement when I said I couldn't be more proud. What I was referring to was the fact that my efforts on our local NY board had blown up into such a national effort all within hours. I'd like to say I feel bad that Armalites reputation has suffered now but I don't. I'm afraid it was at their own hands.

[FMJT]

so if the rifles are banned, and the cops can buy on a personal level, how is that different than a citizen purchase? The mistake kills by the LAPD pursuing chris dorner prove that cops arent perfect either, so if its bad for the goose its bad for the gander. to hell with armalite junk anyways, if they were worth a hoot as an arms company they wouldnt have had to sell the design to colt.

[jmiro]

I wont be buying anything from armalite. They are also taking a pounding on facebook.

[FlcnDawg]

Nope, I'm good

Sorry tagged the wrong user I meant Justin and his attacks on other users calling it Liberal BS tactics

[Waldershrek]

I wont be buying anything from armalite. They are also taking a pounding on facebook.

They were until they wiped their page and disabled comments

Sorry tagged the wrong user I meant Justin and his attacks on other users calling it Liberal BS tactics

All good

[Emptymag]

So if PA banned AR15 rifles and we, the citizens, were not allowed to buy them, Armalite would refuse to sell to government agencies - sort of.

Summed up:
OK, you guys in the Pittsburgh PD can't buy them, but we WILL sell them to individual officers (but not civilians) if they can assure us that they oppose the restrictions now in place.

Am I reading that correctly?

[streaker69]

So if PA banned AR15 rifles and we, the citizens, were not allowed to buy them, Armalite would refuse to sell to government agencies - sort of.

Summed up:
OK, you guys in the Pittsburgh PD can't buy them, but we WILL sell them to individual officers (but not civilians) if they can assure us that they oppose the restrictions now in place.

Am I reading that correctly?

That's the way I read it too. They stand with us, but they don't.

[Waldershrek]

So if PA banned AR15 rifles and we, the citizens, were not allowed to buy them, Armalite would refuse to sell to government agencies - sort of.

Summed up:
OK, you guys in the Pittsburgh PD can't buy them, but we WILL sell them to individual officers (but not civilians) if they can assure us that they oppose the restrictions now in place.

Am I reading that correctly?

Yep....right from the horses mouth