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Educating fellow Jews about the sporting and defensive use of firearms. Especially Jews in North America, too many of whom are instilled with the belief that guns aren't for nice Jewish boys and girls.

If you know of notable Jewish shooters that should be documented on the blog, even if it is only at the local club level, I am happy to report and profile them. And don't be shy if that person to be documented is you! Please drop me a line at jewishmarksman at gmail dot com. Also follow me on twitter @JMarksmanship.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Jews in the Firearms Industry

I recently heard that several major US firearms manufacturers have significant Jewish leadership. I have only been able to verify Colt. If the readers can verify Sig Sauer and Kimber, that would be great! Also please share any others you know of!

1. Colt's Manufacturing Company - according to an article on Maine Antique Digest:
In 1994 Colt's Manufacturing Company was purchased by Zilkha & Company of New York City for $12 million. Donald Zilkha, then 42, was and remains company president. Three years after buying Colt, he unsuccessfully tried to buy FN Herstal, as mentioned above, for $82 million. It would have given him control of Winchester, Browning, and Colt.
Where did this young guy get that kind of money? He was born right. He is the son of Azouri "Ezra" Zilkha, "a scion of a Babylonian Jewish banking family," according to a 2001 article in Traders Magazine. The New York Times in 1999 described the Zilkha family as "one of Iraq's richest banking dynasties." The family left Iraq after the Second World War and successfully reestablished itself in the U.S.
The family patriarch, Khedouri (or Khadouri) Zilkha (1884-1956), launched banks throughout the Middle East. His son Ezra, now 82, self-published his memoir in the 1999 book From Baghdad to Boardrooms: My Family's Odyssey. It's available in some used bookstores.
I found some other articles on Zilkha:

http://www.nysun.com/new-york/living-legend-with-an-eye-focused-on-history/30769/
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2000/04/16/unmaking-a-gunmaker.html
2. Sig Sauer - The President and CEO is named Ron Cohen, and my "sources" tell me he is Jewish, but I have not been able to verify this. If you can do so, please drop me a line.
3. Kimber - Again, my "sources" and various Internet web sites (some anti-Semitic) claim the owners/operators are Jewish, but again I have not been able to verify and need help from the readers.
Of these three, I can only comment on Sig Sauer, having owned one of their semi-auto pistols, a 9mm P228. I sold it to finance other guns, and sometimes regret it. It was a great semi-auto that was my first gun, and for many years my only gun, until I discovered revolvers. I only put a few hundred rounds through it, but it actually never malfunctioned. If I was forced to rely on a semi-auto, I would go with a Sig without reservation. Kimber has a decent reputation, Colt not so much, but that is all I know about them.

1 comment:

  1. This is quite a revelation I never thought that there are gun shops
    with Jewish owners. Great information.

    ReplyDelete