James Malarkey is the CEO of X-Products, a company which manufactures drum magazines for AR-style firearms. His company is exactly the type of business that the anti-gun crowd goes after when they want to ban the sale of high capacity magazines.
Obviously, his ownership of a successful company in the firearms industry gives him a soapbox. When he talks, people are going to listen. Especially, someone like CNN. In a 2016 interview he made an interesting comment:
(CNN) – X-Products of Nashville, Tenn., makes 50-round drums that sell for up to $360 and fit onto AR-15s and other military-style rifles like the FN FAL. Some of the drums are “skeletonized” with a cage-style casing instead of solid metal, so the shooter can see how many bullets remain.
X-Products co-owner James Malarkey said he sells 10,000 magazines per year. But why would anybody want to own one?
“For the shooter, it’s fun,” he said. “You can go out, you can shoot multiple rounds, you don’t have to do a magazine change, and it’s bragging rights to your friends.”
Malarkey realizes that not everyone associates the gun drums with good times. He admits that the general public might rest easier if government agencies develop a licensing system to make sure the owners are law abiding people.
“Instead of outright banning it, allow people to have some kind of licensing,” he said. “I think it would weed out a lot of crime.”
In response, X-Products issued this statement:
First and Foremost our company does not believe in licensing or restricting the sale of High Cap.
Mr Malarkey was interviewed about several items in a long discussion during Shot Show and CNN has taken two very out of context answers to multiple questions. Then they broke them up and spliced it into something that cleverly seems to favor some kind of support for their premise.
Mr Malarkey regrets having ever discussed/interviewed with CNN at all, and will not do so in the future. This is clearly not a position X Products believes is rational or viable.
We support the 2nd amendment rights of all citizens and are already saddled with bans of our products in multiple states now, we would not support any further limitations.
Dewey Akers
VP of Sales & Operations
Sounds like something that could happen, right?
The problem is that just this week, James Malarkey doubled and tripled down on his “licensing system” scheme by laying out his proposal for a complex system of controls on the ownership of firearms on Facebook. Ironically, it would include the very magazines his company manufactures.
As you’ll see, it’s so in-depth that he had to have given this a great deal of thought. The CNN article hardly misquotes him. If anything, they brushed over his true feelings.
Malarkey refers to firearms ownership as a privilege. It’s not. Firearms ownership is a right, endowed by the Creator and secured in the Bill of Rights.
He sets out a set of hoops for citizens to jump through in order to own firearms. They are akin to the poll taxes and tests instituted by local and state governments to prevent certain segments of the population from exercising their constitutional right to vote.
I’m an ardent supporter of civil rights, including the right to bear arms. I’m not sharing Mr Malarkey’s commentary, or his wife’s to organize any form of boycott or outrage against him. My intent is solely to inform the public of his stance on your rights. Form your own opinion.
Update: The plot thickens. This is his wife’s post to Facebook in December of 2017.
SIG SAUER, Inc. is pleased to announce the hiring of Joel Harris as Director, Media Relations & Communication. Harris will be an integral part of the key initiative leadership team responsible for managing all aspects of media relations. He will also be responsible for the management of SIG SAUER’s shooting sports initiatives and Team SIG, which include world class professional shooters Max Michel and Lena Miculek. Harris will report to the Vice President of Marketing Allen McCormick.
