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Czech gunmaker CZG buys Colt in cash and stock deal

reuters.com

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Re: Czech gunmaker CZG buys Colt in cash and stock deal

#271

Post by dmix »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #248
pjkundert wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a large overlap between any serious engineering discipline and firearms enthusiasts. The engineering and physics involved in building/tuning guns and shooting accurately is very interesting. Furthermore, the "renegade" spirit required to reject the status-quo and push the envelope in science and engineering attracts quite a few of the same types of people. Finally, the idea of "banning" guns -- which every b…

Software engineer here. I am also a gunsmith with a wide variety of tooling. Not interested in hunting in the slightest and only use handguns. I am glad this article was posted. Thank you.

As a frequent HN user living in Canada, our country ranks in the top ten of (legal) gun ownership (34/100 people own a gun). Building/buying/customizing gun is a lively market, with strong crossover into the the geek community of all political stripes.

Plus it's a story about a finical acquisition of a famed American brand so its a trisect of "interesting to hackers" of the HN sort.

Not to mention the very fast growing 3d-printed gun parts and DIY smithing groups within these committees where it gets technical very fast.

Re: Czech gunmaker CZG buys Colt in cash and stock deal

#272

Post by aksss »

arkitaip wrote: post #103
lutoma wrote: post #102

Honest question: How is this relevant to Hacker News? As a non-American i was rather bewildered to find this here. Is there a serious overlap between gun enthusiasts and the IT community in the US?

HN is much more conservative and libertarian than you might think.

I think this is part of being very systems-oriented and technically-minded. Appreciating the liabilities and brittleness of systems but also the fallibility of men and their aspirations/intentions. The focus on garbage-in/garbage-out, the primacy of an “RTFM” ethos of learning and understanding obscure phenomenon that affect outcomes. Probably some degree of being perpetually frustrated with a “user community” that can’t be bothered to really appreciate how things work spills into policy discussions.

Re: Czech gunmaker CZG buys Colt in cash and stock deal

#273

Post by nickthemagicman »

dragonwriter wrote: post #237
nickthemagicman wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the millions of men who sacrificed their own lives to defend this principle of liberty psychopaths? Being principled and having higher ideals is not callous. It's the most noble thing a person can do. The fact that people view it this way is very bad sign for how selfish and callous Americans have become.

> Being principled and having higher ideals is not callous. It's the most noble thing a person can do. Having ideals is exactly noble, or ignoble, as the ideals. There is nothing noble about devotion to ideas independent of the ideas one is devoted to. “A world free of Jews” is an ideal people have been devoted to. People who were more devoted to that idea and willing to sacrifice more for it are not more noble than…

That's a straw man. At the macro level causes may be unjust sure.

But at the micro or individual level...sacrificing onesself for higher ideals/principles is the least psychopathic thing one can do ..one makes the ultimate sacrifice for what they believe is the betterment of OTHERS.

People may be misguided and some causes unjust, but they sacrificed themself for an ideal that they believe in.

It's the opposite of psychopathy.

Everything that you are and have is due to the sacrifices of many millions of people for principles they believed in. It's a shame modern society has become so ungrateful,materialistic, and distant from what so many people have sacrificed so much for.

Re: Czech gunmaker CZG buys Colt in cash and stock deal

#274

Post by nickthemagicman »

wing-_-nuts wrote: post #246
nickthemagicman wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people value principles higher than human life and that is noble not psychopathic. Millions of men died for their principles so you could sit here, and call having principles psychopathic. Are the millions of men who purposefully sacrificed their own lives for this idea we call liberty psychopaths? Modern Liberty is an anomaly in human history where the rule has been repression and subjugation for millenia. Peop…

Flag away, it's a free country. I don't think it's a personal attack to call a sentiment psychopathic that values one's unfettered freedoms to be more valuable than human life.

See calling a SENTIMENT psychopathic is more coherent than calling a person (a human being) psychopathic. The world is bigger than your views/ideas about it. And you may be wrong. Please focus on the ideas from here on out instead of people. Your ideas may be incorrect.

Re: Czech gunmaker CZG buys Colt in cash and stock deal

#275

Post by laverya »

anonlawyer wrote: post #140

I'd say $220 mil is a pretty good price for a company that hasn't introduced an innovative product in 50 years. Colt's main products are the AR-15 (introduced ~1963), the various 1911 models (introduced in—duh—1911), and the single action army revolvers (introduced in 1873). It must be a hell of a marketing effort to keep flogging 50–150 year old products.

> Colt's main products are the AR-15 (introduced ~1963)

Colt didn't introduce the AR-15, either. That was ArmaLite, who then sold the rights to the design to Colt.

Re: Czech gunmaker CZG buys Colt in cash and stock deal

#276

Post by nickthemagicman »

SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #172
nickthemagicman wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Western democracy wouldn't exist without citizens who were armed to the teeth. Do you think the monarchys would have happily and peacefully turned over their power because of the power of love? Because someone said please sir?

> Western democracy wouldn't exist without citizens who were armed to the teeth. Citation needed. I can't think of any good examples, except maybe for the Revolutionary French "Sans-culottes", who, as the name suggests, were _famously_ well-equipped.

Sorry you can't think of any.

How about the American revolutionaries?

They literally set the standard for modern democracy.

Every other country kisses America's ass.

America's defense budget is more than most countries GDP.

They should be grateful instead of hostile.

Hostility is allowed thanks to the FREEDOM OF SPEECH that America allows.

You're welcome.

Re: Czech gunmaker CZG buys Colt in cash and stock deal

#277

Post by glenneroo »

estaseuropano wrote: post #267
ashtonkem wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Finland also has a lot of guns, about 1.5mil out of a population of 5.5mil. Compare this to the 57,000 registered guns among New Jersey’s 8.8mil residents. It’s not just military service, even if that explains Switzerland specifically. Europe is a more diverse place ideologically and socially than most Americans tend to imagine it. The place is bigger and more complex than just Paris or Berlin, just like how America…

The reasons and culture vary. Finns go hunting, Americans going to a gun range is a sport. And most of those finnish guns are probably decades old and long out of use.

And going back to Switzerland, I was at a festival a few years back which was almost cancelled due to potent protesting by several neighboring towns since the main sport-shooting range was at the same location as the festival's HQ. Thankfully the organizer was able to talk the mayor out of it. We later heard that a neighboring town was able to accommodate the sudden influx.

I've heard from friends there is a similar passion in many towns in Germany and Austria. I would venture a guess that outside many European cities shooting for sport is much more commonplace.

Re: Czech gunmaker CZG buys Colt in cash and stock deal

#278

Post by nickthemagicman »

EdwardCoffin wrote: post #84
pwlb wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any country in history that prevented its downfall because its civilians are armed to the teeth?

I think this one is hard to answer because it is hard to know whether the armed-to-the-teeth aspect was essential. I'm more interested in the list of countries that prevented their downfall despite their civilians not being armed to the teeth.

No one cares what you think. Do the research yourself and let us know. We're not your interns.

Re: Czech gunmaker CZG buys Colt in cash and stock deal

#280

Post by aksss »

ashtonkem wrote: post #252
soneil wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe gun ownership in Switzerland is very closely tied to compulsory military service. It's very much an outlier as statistics go - issuing every adult male a rifle isn't so much a gun culture as a military strategy. (Czechia does has a strong civilian ownership, however)

Finland also has a lot of guns, about 1.5mil out of a population of 5.5mil. Compare this to the 57,000 registered guns among New Jersey’s 8.8mil residents. It’s not just military service, even if that explains Switzerland specifically. Europe is a more diverse place ideologically and socially than most Americans tend to imagine it. The place is bigger and more complex than just Paris or Berlin, just like how America…

Finland also has a very proud firearm history - particularly related to their independence, high quality firearm manufacturing history, and hunting.
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