Three members of Connecticut’s gun industry descended on the Capitol Press Room this afternoon, including Jonathan Scalise, owner of Ammunition Storage Components of New Britain (manufacturer of rifle and pistol magazines, including mags for the AR platform), Jake McGuigan, director of governmental affairs for the Newtown-based National Shooting Sports Foundation and Mark Malkowski, owner of Stag Arms (200 employees making rifles) in New Britain.
Scalise: “…The broader issue of mental health care or lack thereof in the state is not being dealt with. The reduction in the amount of hospitals with available services in the state of CT over the last 25 years is not being addressed…That’s a common denominator with these types of tragedies. That’s an issue we can all identify and I believe it to be the root cause.” His company’s 150 employees, makes 40, 30 and 20-round magazines. Tomorrow: “I haven’t had the opportunity to full review the bill and assess what exactly I can do and cannot do…how we’re going to go about sales in the state of Connecticut…All of that needs to be done, arguably, at some point today…We’re scrambling at this point… I will run my business properly and that means running it in a manner that’s healthy profitable and growing and I will do whatever is necessary to make sure that continues, where ever that may be.”
Malkowski: “The information we got from Sandy Hook at the end of the day shows a person so committed to causing pain, death, we don’t believe the firearm is the problem. We have to stop it prior to when it happens… If it comes to the point where we can’t be profitable in this state, there are many other state’s that would welcome us with open arms…”