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Small Minnesota town is home to riflemaker with international reputation
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Small Minnesota town is home to riflemaker with international reputation Associated Press Published Sep 10 2001BECKER, MINN. -- Becker, a town of about 900 in central Minnesota, is home to a rifle factory with an international reputation.The company Randy Luth started out of a garage eight years ago now ships semiautomatic rifles and accessories nationwide and overseas. Customers include law-enforcement units from Minnesota's Sherburne County to California's Orange County.Defense Procurement Manufacturing Services Inc., one of four gunmakers in Minnesota, ranked 20th in the United States for manufacturing of long guns last year.'We've always kept a low profile within the community just out of respect for the people who don't care for guns, as well as the security issue,' Luth said.He politely defends the semiautomatics, saying antigun groups wrongly portray them as assault weapons. People use the guns for competitive shooting, vermin control and, in Southeastern states, for deer hunting, he said. Minnesota deer hunters cannot use the rifle.'We're comfortable that the people we're selling them to are abiding by the law,' Luth said.The company had as many as 30 employees before a recent decline in sales brought the work force down to 20.Rifles account for 35 percent of total sales; parts, accessories and kits make up 65 percent.Police, deputies and State Patrol officers carry the company's products. The state prison in St. Cloud uses sniper rifles assembled in Becker. Veterans' groups also buy rifles that shoot only blanks to use in funeral salutes.The price of a rifle ranges from $700 to $1,700, Luth said.Annual sales total 'several million' dollars, he said, declining to name exact numbers for competitive reasons. About 5 percent of sales are exports.Luth said Defense Procurement rifles are not destined for widespread distribution.'We've chosen to stay smaller,' Luth said. 'We feel we can control our growth and our profits easier by not using big wholesalers.'But by early next year the company plans to make a .308-caliber model in addition to its .223-caliber version.The product line could change further if the 10-year U.S. ban on assault rifles is lifted after September 2004, Luth said. The ban allows semiautomatics to be sold if they are made without such features as a flash hider, bayonet carrier, grenade launcher and collapsible stocks.Luth said criminals and mental illness, not access to weapons, are to blame for violent crime. He advocates gun safety in his product catalog. 'It's not about whether or not we should own guns,' he said. 'It's about education.'