Magpul, the gun manufacturer that last year moved out of Colorado in protest at the state’s strict new gun-control rules, continues to take shots at its former home state. In 2013, after the Colorado legislature started discussing a law that would ban the sale of high-capacity magazines, Magpul set about selling and giving away as many of its giving twenty- and thirty-round magazines as it could before any such rule could pass – prioritizing the orders of Colorado residents over those out of state and vowing to donate whatever resources it could manage to help kick out of office any politician who voted for the provision.
Accompanying the operation was an advertising campaign, the “Boulder Airlift,” which appropriated imagery from the Berlin Airlift of the late 1940s. A press released, issued by the company at the time, explained the idea:
In the battle for Colorado Freedoms, support for Second Amendment rights is being delivered by Magpul Industries Corporation. Fielded in the millions by US and its allies since 2007, the PMAG is the magazine of choice for those defending freedom and democracy around the world Now, with the ability of Coloradans to purchase new standard capacity magazines in jeopardy, Magpul Industries is working to supply as many as possible to the good people of Colorado. Similar to the Berlin Airlift, the Boulder Airlift will bring much-needed gun supplies to freedom-loving residents trapped inside occupied territory.”
Here at the NRA convention, Magpul is selling t-shirts picking up on the theme. The shirts feature a girl receiving a high-capacity magazine from a cargo plane, and features the slogan, “PMAG . . . new weapon of Democracy!”
Magpul has since moved to Wyoming.
(Photograph: John Ekdahl)