NEW BRITAIN The National Rifle Association wrapped up its four day convention in Houston yesterday. Hundreds of thousands were in attendance, including the owner of New Britain gun maker Stag Arms, who got the hard sell to relocate his company to Texas.
Since April when Connecticut passed and implemented some of the toughest gun laws in the nation, there has been talk that Stag Arms would relocate it’s business to a different state.
Now after the owner of Stag Arms, Mark Malkowski, spent the past four days in Texas, the company could be considering leaving New Britain and heading south.
A photograph posted on the Stag Arms Facebook page from the NRA convention shows Stag Arms President Mark Malkowski with Texas Governor Rick Perry. The two men talked gun manufacturing over the weekend and according to Malkowski, it was an intense conversation.
Malkowski owns and operates Stag Arms, a manufacturer of AR-15 rifles, which is now illegal in the state of Connecticut.
Malkowski said the NRA convention was “Refreshing… being in a place that’s industry and business friendly. It could be a promising place to move.”
Executives from other Connecticut gun and ammunition manufacturers were also at the conference.
PTR Industries of Bristol recently made an announcement that it would be moving out of Connecticut.
Stag Arms has attended the NRA convention for the past seven years, however, this year Malkowski said he was in the spotlight.
Connecticut gun control laws were sparked by the December 14, 2012 Newtown tragedy, which prompted a national push for stricter gun regulations.
A victory in Washington D.C. over gun control proponents, however, provided fuel for the NRA to unify attendees at the convention.
Stag Arms employs about 200 people in the state of Connecticut and Malkowski still says he has not made the decision to leave Connecticut. The company has an eight month back log of orders.