“I thought of that boy, how far from me he was and still American.
The wind was cool and thick up the legs of my shorts. We were talking, as we did those days after work when we were too exhausted to head home just yet. We talked about his guns, of school, how he might drop out, how the Colt factory in Windsor might be hiring again now that the latest shooting spree was three months done and already old news…” (Vuong, 67)
Introduction
The sight of a blue onion dome with gold specks in a city doesn’t usually signal that it’s the location of a gun armory, but in Hartford, Connecticut, that is exactly what it is. Samuel Colt, born in Hartford in 1814, would become an instrumental figure during the Industrial Revolution. Samuel Colt established the Colt Armory in 1847, and built it in 1855 along the Connecticut River. He created a community around the armory in order to attract workers, providing them with housing, schools, libraries, and more. The armory built many types of firearms, including muskets and pistols, but it is best known as the place that created the Colt Revolver. Having a multiple shot firearm changed the American economy and military tactics (Coltgateway.com).
Connecticut is home to both gun manufacturing and the violence it manufacturers in nearby communities. Following the high-profile cases of the Sandy Hook shooting and the Newton school, Connecticut passed gun-control legislation while also, ironically enough, allocating a budget for the Colt Factory in Hartford to relieve the company’s financial turmoil. While trends show a decreasing trend of gun-related deaths in Connecticut, the numbers are nothing to shrug at. In 2019, Connecticut had 181 firearm deaths (CAGOV.org). In the last ten years, the state has seen over 2,000 deaths attributed to gun violence. Approximately half of those deaths would be deemed a suicide (CAGOV.org).
Guns are touted as a national symbol in the United States. Hollywood’s patriotic protagonist is always posing next to a weapon of destruction. Firearms, and the liberties to behold and wield them, are littered throughout this country’s founding documents. Despite the destruction these technologies of war bring, both domestically and abroad, the United States relies on the economy of war and continues to punitively invest in its empire.
In June of 2015, Colt Defense announced it would be filing for bankruptcy due to low sales and military contracts. Established in 1836, Colt Gun Manufacturing has played an instrumental role in developing the first revolver and producing the M16 military rifle. Often credited with producing the “gun that won the West”, their position as manufacturers of colonial tools posits them as invaluable before the United States government. However, with their design patents expiring, Colt struggled to maintain itself against the competitive market. Despite the help from Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s allocating of State funds to the group, the Colt group could not manage its debt. In 2021, the Colt company would be bought by the Czech firearms company (Ceska Zbrojovka Group) for $220 million in cash and stock. It is worth noting that the U.S. Government benefits from the political and economic nature of this agreement given their bilateral investment treaty.
Colt M16 & The Vietnam War
The M16 rifle was developed by Armalite and manufactured by Colt. It was used during the Vietnam War, replacing the M14 rifle because it was smaller and lighter. Once the M16 received enough praise for being easy to use and good at causing harm as intended, by the year 1963, the U.S. Army and Air Force ordered about 104,000 more of those rifles. After even more people got over their skepticism for the gun due to being made out of plastic rather than steel and wood like the M14, about another 419,000 rifles were ordered in 1966. However, one of the biggest issues they had with the guns was that after a certain period of time, their condition began to deteriorate since no one knew how or that they even should be cleaning and maintaining them. The climate in Vietnam, specifically the humidity, also affected the way the rifles were falling apart. Because there were so many maintenance issues, it is believed that people were blaming the rifles for the deaths of many soldiers because their guns were continuing to fail them (source).
