Gun makers respond to Iran’s sanctions

The U.S. gun makers sanctioned by the Islamic Republic of Iran have been mostly quiet about the sanctioning, even though there’s no indication the punishment will have any effect since they’re already prohibited from operating in the Middle Eastern country.

The State Department bans the export and sale of arms to Iran from the U.S. because it has been designated as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued sanctions against 15 U.S. companies, including eight gun makers, this week as a reciprocal action to last month’s sanctions over Iran’s missile testing. Iran listed all of the companies because of their ties to Israel.

Three gun companies responded. Remington Outdoor Company — whose subsidiary Bushmaster Firearm was sanctioned — pointed to U.S. diplomatic relations with Iran.

“The United States Department of State designated Iran as a terrorist country in 1984. As such, U.S. export regulations generally prohibit all imports of goods from Iran and all exports of goods to Iran,” said Jessica Kallam, a Remington spokeswoman, in a statement to Guns.com.

“Remington Outdoor Company, Inc. complies with all U.S. government laws and regulations concerning terrorist countries, including Iran.  Because of the foregoing, Remington does not anticipate the Iranian regime’s purported sanctions will have any impact on Remington’s business,” she said.

The second, the Pennsylvania-based Kahr Arms, which declined to provide a comment to Guns.com, boasted about the punishment and described it as a badge of honor to the Associated Press.

“We don’t know how that came about, but we are very honored by Iran,” Kahr founder Justin Moon said. ”The Iranians are a bunch of terrorists. We are patriotic Americans. I don’t know why they put us with all these big companies.”

Lewis Machine and Tool Company also praised the sanction and clarified how the sanctions would effect its business.

“LMT Defense has never sold firearms, parts or accessories to the Iranian government and has no plans to do so. The net effect of these sanctions will be zero to LMT Defense,” the company said in a statement emailed to Guns.com.

“The majority of LMT Defense’s dealing overseas are purposely not disclosed due to contract restrictions with the purchasing government and to avoid any potential ITAR compliance violations,” LMT added.

The other five gun companies either declined to comment or did not respond to Guns.com’s requests.

Article updated at 8:34 pm EST on March 31, 2017

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