Gun Makers Run Ads Threatening To Leave CT

Happy to seek a friendlier environment

As the General Assembly's leaders negotiate gun-control legislation, the firearms industry is running commercials featuring three Connecticut makers of the AR-15 rifle, underscoring their importance to the economy with an implicit threat they could leave for friendlier political climes.

"Connecticut's our home. We grew up here," Dennis Veilleux, the president of Colt's Manufacturing, says in one commercial, which focuses on the company's deep roots, its employees and its military arms. "Our first choice would be to stay here in Connecticut."

"I don't want to have to think about leaving here," Mark Malkowski, the president of Stag Arms, says in his spot. "This is our home."