PTR Industries Inc., based in Bristol, Conn., will relocate following the passage of gun-control legislation it says tramples on the rights of citizens and does not show enough consideration for the industry.
The gun manufacturer, with 50 employees, hasn’t decided upon a specific relocation site. “Over the coming weeks the company will be actively considering offers from states that are friendly to the industry,” the company said in an announcement. “We hope to have a site identified within the next six weeks, and hope to have our move completed by the end of this year.”
PTR’s CEO Josh Fiorini said he’s heard from several states, including South Carolina, Ohio, and Alabama, which are interested in the company moving.
A majority of the company’s employees have agreed to move.
The recently passed gun control legislation was passed with little public oversight, according to the Hartford Courant—there was no public hearing and the language of the bill was only made public a day before it pased.
PTR, which stands for precision target rifles, was started in 2002, making a line of rifles produced mostly from surplus parts from around the world. The company began expanding in 2006 and considers itself a full-fledged manufacturing firm, according to its website.
“Rather than just assembly personnel and work-benches in the early years, PTR now employs gunsmiths, engineers, toolmakers, and machinists who work with state of the art technology to bring our customers a truly modern firearm,” it says. “PTR is also no longer dependent on foreign surplus markets – it has the capability to produce every part for PTR rifles right here in the United States.”
But the legislation, which makes it more difficult to purchase and sell guns, is too much for the company, despite its officials wanting to stay in the state. PTR says the legislation effectively outlaws the manufacturing of modern sporting rifles.
“What emerged was a bill fraught with ambiguous definitions, insufficient considerations for the trade, conflicting mandates, and disastrous consequences for the fundamental rights of the people of CT,” the company said in its statement. “The process with which this legislation proceeded, along with the language that resulted gives us no confidence that this will be the last violation of our rights in our beloved home state, and we only hope that this does not set a precedent at a national level.”
“Furthermore, we feel that our industry as a whole will continue to be threatened so long as it remains in a state where its elected leaders have no regard for the rights of those who produce and manufacture its wealth,” the company added. “We are making a call to all involved in our industry to leave this state, close your doors and show our politicians the true consequences of their hasty and uninformed actions. We encourage those in our industry to abandon this state as its leaders have abandoned the proud heritage that forged our freedom.”
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