(The Center Square) – Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte is pitching gun manufacturers based in Colorado to relocate to his state.
Gianforte, whose office posted a video to social media on Wednesday, cited Colorado’s new gun law, Senate Bill 25-003, and other laws not friendly to the industry.
SB 25-003, which Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed into law earlier this month, bans the manufacture and sale of semi-automatic rifles and shotguns that take detachable magazines, but allows for purchases if an individual gets a “firearms safety course eligibility card” from their sheriff’s department and completes a qualifying firearm education course.
Gianforte called the law “one of the most restrictive gun bans ever adopted in the United States.”
“The law bans the manufacturing and selling of semi-automatic firearms,” he said. “This is on top of the liberal state’s existing ban on high capacity magazines. That’s just crazy.”
Colorado passed their ban on magazines that hold more than 15 rounds in 2013. The state also passed a law in 2023 lifting liability limitations on gun manufacturers, making it easier to sue companies. The state also has a three-day waiting period for firearm purchases and bars individuals under 21 years old from purchasing firearms. Colorado voters last year also passed Proposition KK, which put a 6.5% excise tax on the manufacture and sale of guns and ammunition.
According to Gianforte, Colorado is a top-10 state for the gun industry.
“To all gun manufacturers in Colorado, my question for you is simple: Do you want to move back to America? Montana is open for business and home to more than 150 firearms and ammunition manufacturers, the highest per capita in the entire country,” he said.
“We are a constitutional carry state that has enacted laws outlawing discrimination against gun and ammunition manufacturers,” he added. “In Montana we embrace freedom and the free-enterprise system.”
Some gun manufacturers based in Colorado include M+M Industries, Phoenix Weaponry and Checkmate Rifle Company.