A boycott is a form of consumer activism involving the act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons.

Here is the petition,

To: Colt Manufacturing

This petition is a call to boycott the purchase of any new Colt products, firearms, or accessories until Colt Manufacturing produces non-restricted firearms, with all pre-ban features, for civilian purchase.

In September of 1994, then President Bill Clinton signed a 10-year ban on what has been labeled “assault weapons”. The definition of these weapons would include 3 or more of the following features: a flash suppressor on the muzzle, a threaded barrel, a bayonet / accessory lug, a detachable magazine, a pistol grip, and an adjustable stock.

In September of 2004, the “assault weapon ban” expired, making it perfectly legal to own a firearm with any or all of the above-mentioned features. To date, every major manufacturer of AR15 design rifles has produced rifles with these features for civilian purchase, except Colt. Although Colt does manufacture rifles with all of these features, their company policy is to continue to restrict the purchase of these rifles to law enforcement officers with a letter of permission from their department or government agencies.

It is the intent of this petition to represent the undersigned as law-abiding citizens. All of who would otherwise be able to purchase a Colt rifle with all of the legal features listed above if it were not for the policy of Colt Manufacturing to restrict the sales of these products. It is also the intent of this petition to notify Colt Manufacturing that none of the undersigned will be purchasing any Colt products until the self-imposed restrictions are lifted. The undersigned agree to purchase AR15 style rifles from Armalite, Bushmaster, DPMS, Olympic Arms and Rock River Arms as well as 1911 style handguns from Kimber, Para-Ordnance, Springfield Armory, Dan Wesson, Smith and Wesson or any of the fine custom manufactures, until Colt lifts these restrictions.

The right to keep and bear arms is a precious thing. The expiration of the AWB was a major victory for those who support the rights of gun owners. It is our belief that additional restrictions, placed on citizens by Colt, is a burden that Americans cannot afford to bear.

Sincerely,

About the Colt:

Colt's Manufacturing Company (CMC--formerly Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company) is a United States firearms manufacturer founded in 1847. It is best known for the engineering, production, and marketing of dozens of different firearms over the later half of the 19th and the 20th century. It has made many civilian and military designs used in the United States, as well was many other countries.

Among the most famous products from Colt are the Walker Colt used by the United States Mounted Rifles in the Mexican-American War and the "Colt .45" revolver, the proper name of which was the Single Action Army or Peacemaker. Later well-known CMC revolvers include the Colt Python and Colt Anaconda. John Browning also worked for Colt for a time, and came up with now ubiquitous parallel slide type of design for a pistol, which debuted on the Colt M1900 pistol, leading to numerous pistol designs including the famous Colt M1911 pistol. Though they did not develop it, Colt was responsible for M16 production for a long time, as well as many derivative firearms related to it. The most successful and famous of these are numerous M16 carbines, including the Colt Commando family, and the M4 carbine.

Colt also developed many important less known firearms that were often ahead of their time. Among the most recent was the CAR-15 family - an innovative weapon system family of the 1960s, as well as a number of 5.56 mm machine guns such as the Colt CMG-1, CMG-2 in the 60s in the 70s. They also invented the Colt SCAMP PDW, a little known firearm of the late 1970s that was among the first of its type. Colt's produced also the first 15 000 Thompson Submachineguns Mod 1921. Another important design was the lesser-known Colt-Browning Model 1895 (Potato Digger) - one of the first gas-actuated machine guns. Going back even farther reveals other important products of the 19th century. The Colt Revolver Rifle, one of the first repeating rifles, and used during the American Civil War. In addition to this were a large number of famous revolvers, such as the 1847 Colt Walker, the smaller Dragoon Mod. 1848 of the same caliber .44, the Navy Mod. 1851 cal .36, the Pocket Mod. 1849 cal .31 and numerous other famous revolvers of the 'Wild West'. His designs played a major role in the popularization of the revolver and the shift away from earlier single pistols and pepperbox type weapons. While Colt did not invent the revolver concept, his designs resulted in the first very successful ones with patents on many of the features that lead to them being so popular.

In 2002, Colt Defense was split off from Colt's Manufacturing Company. Colt Manufacturing Company now serves the civilian market, while Colt Defense serves the law enforcement, military, and private security markets worldwide. Prior to the split Colt was also well known for their production (now taken over by Colt Defense) of the M1911 automatic pistols, M4 carbines, M16 assault rifles, and M203 grenade launchers, although none of these were Colt designs, excepting the M1911 . Diemaco of Canada was also purchased, and renamed Colt Canada, though most of its products remain the same. Diemaco and Colt had earlier worked together on designs and shared many similar products.




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