By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
When Connecticut Attorney General William Tong warned Sturm, Ruger & Company there might be litigation on the horizon relating to the RXM semi-auto pistol—which allegedly can be illegally altered to fire fully automatic—the company quickly responded.
As noted by the CT Insider, Ruger’s reply was straightforward.
“We have a long history of corporate responsibility and manufacturing safe, quality products for law-abiding citizens here in Connecticut and across the United States,” Ruger said. “We are disappointed that no one from Attorney General Tong’s office made an effort to talk with us in advance of the letter you reference and the related press release. That said, we offered to travel to Hartford to meet with Attorney General Tong.”
TGM reached out to Ruger, and a spokesman replied via email, noting, “We are proud of our reputation for developing and selling robust, reliable, safe and lawful products, including the RXM pistol, to our law-abiding customers. As our corporate motto states, we are Arms Makers for Responsible Citizens.”
In a subsequent message, TGM was advised of Ruger President Todd Seyfert’s reaction.
“As you know, actions like these target legal manufacturers and owners, and not the criminals that are illegally altering their firearms and then further using them in crimes,” Seyfert said.
Tong’s five-page letter to Sarah Colbert, Ruger vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary, advised that recently-enacted legislation in Connecticut—where Sturm, Ruger was founded in the city of Southport in 1949—required that “members of the firearms industry, including Ruger, must enact reasonable controls to prevent the sale or distribution of legal firearms that can easily be converted to illegal firearms.”
In a subsequent paragraph, Tong writes, “As you are aware, recent reports indicate that a similarly situated manufacturer, Glock, Inc., will be announcing the discontinuance of previous pistol models and updated modifications to new pistol models, which purport to make it more difficult to attach machine gun conversion devices (MCDs).”
This is a reference to the highly-publicized “Glock switch” devices which are used by third parties to illegally convert Glock pistols to function as full automatics.
Tong’s letter came several days after Everytown for Gun Safety, the Michael Bloomberg-backed gun prohibition lobbying group, sent a letter to Ruger, calling on the company to “remove the Ruger RXM from the market unless and until you change the pistol’s design.” The letter was signed by Eric Tirschwell, head of litigation for Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund.
The letter was followed by an Everytown news release.
Ruger, along with virtually every other firearms company, has condemned the criminal misuse of firearms.
Sturm, Ruger is one of the giants in the firearms industry, having introduced firearms which have become legendary among American shooters and hunters. Its line of handguns includes such icons as the single-action Blackhawk, Super Blackhawk, Bearcat and Single Six, and it has produced equally iconic rifles including the No. 1 single-shot and M77 bolt-action hunting rifle, along with the 10/22 semiautomatic rimfire rifle, which may be the most popular .22-caliber semi-auto in North America.
As noted by a Ruger spokesperson, the situation “is evolving rapidly.”
Twenty years ago, during the George W. Bush administration, Congress passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act in response to a string of lawsuits filed against American gun manufacturers over crimes committed by people misusing guns.
