Buying Pro-Gun Media to Shut It Down?

It looks like an Obama supporter who owns Intermedia Partners is (and has been) purchasing pro-gun magazines and television stations under their subsidiary, Intermedia Outdoors, Inc. Leo Hindrey, Jr. was once considered for Secretary of Commerce by the current administration. Now as a owner of Intermedia Partners, he controls such publications as Guns & Ammo, Handguns, and Shooting Times. On top of that, they also own The Sportsman Channel. If approved by the SEC and the FCC, they will soon be acquiring The Outdoor Channel too. This would give them 16 hunting, fishing and shooting magazines and two of the largest outdoor sports cable channels. However, after Intermedia Outdoors' downsizing of employees and facilities, some of the remaining employees are growing concerned. According to The Daily Caller...

InterMedia employees believe that Hindery... is in the process of consolidating all of America’s leading gun-culture media outlets and stripping them down to virtual destruction.

“There’s nothing there but one intern slash production assistant and one administrative type. All the production people are gone. It’s a shell,” according to the employee.

“Now that Hindery has the Outdoor Channel, he’s in a position to consolidate all of the major pro-Second Amendment media titles in this country, strip them down, and destroy them, like venture capitalists do sometimes,” the employee said.

I hope that this is just a case of some venture capitalists restructuring failing media outlets. However, given Mr. Hindrey's political connections and the administration's current gun policy positions, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a political motivation with these acquisitions. Then again, they haven't shuttered any of their current holdings...yet. I'll stay optimistic for now and assume they are just capitalists trying to make money with these properties.

Lawmaker Invites Magpul to WV

I somehow missed the news a few weeks ago that relates to my last post about WV lawmakers urging Beretta to move to West Virginia. Apparently Delegate Joshua Nelson from Boone County wrote a letter to the management at Magpul Industries in Colorado when they threatened to leave that state if a law restricting magazine capacity was enacted. While I would hate to see the good folks currently working at Magpul potentially loose their jobs, I understand the company's stance. If they don't take stands against these laws, there could end up being no states left that they could sell their products in.

WV Rolls Out the Welcome Mat for Beretta USA

On Thursday, Richard Thompson, West Virginia's Speaker of the House of Delegates, announced that he had contacted Beretta USA's Executive VP, Franco Beretta, about moving their manufacturing operations to the Mountain State.

“With available space and an available educated workforce in all areas of our state, you would have a wealth of opportunity to expand and grow your business here, where the people understand and care about your industry,” Speaker Thompson wrote in a letter...
“If you are seriously considering moving your headquarters to another location, it would be in your best interest to take a look at West Virginia.”
"...the state’s long support of the Second Amendment and our close proximity to your current headquarters, makes us an excellent choice for Beretta USA in your relocation efforts.”

The Speaker also told Mr. Beretta West Virginia would not support a law such as the one the Maryland General Assembly is about to pass. 

The Speaker's letter was sent after the Maryland Senate passed a very restrictive gun control bill this week. I feel for our friends in Maryland, but if Beretta follows through with their threat to leave that state if they enact this assault weapons ban, I hope they pick West Virginia. The first firearm that I ever bought was a Beretta 92FS Inox. I would love to buy another one in the future that's stamped West Virginia instead of Accokeek, MD.