A gun manufacturer in Colorado gave away high-capacity magazines to gun enthusiasts just one day before their sale and distribution became banned in the state.
Colorado-based gun accessory manufacturer Magpul Industries gave away a free high-capacity magazine to the first 1,500 attendees of the “Farewell to Arms Freedom Festival” at Infinity Park in Glendale, Colo., on Saturday. The company announced it would relocate if ammunition restrictions were put into effect in Colorado. While the company has not announced its new location, it still plans to leave the state.
The farewell event was hosted by Free Colorado, a nonprofit aimed at reversing Colorado’s recent gun law restrictions on firearms and defending the rights of gun owners.
The state’s new legislation was signed in March by Gov. John Hickenlooper after a series of mass shootings last year, including the Aurora theater shooting that killed 12 and injured almost 60. Colorado passed tighter gun laws in March that would ban the sale of ammunition magazines that hold more than 15 rounds, and requires universal background checks on all gun sales and transfers. Coloradans owning high-capacity magazines before July 1 are grandfathered into the law, and therefore are not subject to charges for their purchase.
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People reportedly formed a line over a half-mile long outside the park hours before the event. The spectacle didn’t just stop at the prospect of military-grade freebies: about 5,000 gun enthusiasts also watched as keynote speaker, conservative pundit Dana Loesch, arrived via helicopter complete with rock music and an obligatory “This is freedom!” cheer.
“I didn’t realize that you all were rolling in cash money over here in Colorado that the state legislature could just run off perfectly good business,” Loesch said. “[Legislators] are not the elite, they are the elect, and they can be unelected and recalled.”
Magpul sold the remainder of its 20,000 high-capacity magazines at a discounted price of $10, and festival attendees were allowed to purchase up to five magazines at the event.