Ruger Mini-14 30-round magazine (courtesy taylorgunsmithing.com)

Reddit is quickly becoming a breeding ground for some fashion forward gun rights advocacy ideas in these troubled times. One idea that’s taken off is Operation Mountain Standard. The idea is to flood the state of Colorado with 30-round magazines before the (expected) magazine capacity limit takes effect. Gabe Suarez got this ball started by selling mag bundles only to Centennial Staters. But that was only one company and they quickly ran out of inventory. The Reddit ploy draws on a bigger resource and is pretty cool . . .

The plan is pretty simple: people from all across the country (but specifically those states where freedom isn’t about to be skewered) send their spare 30-round magazines to a specific address in Colorado. Then, locals flood the market with relatively cheap magazines, selling them for well below the pre-scare market price.

While that’s all well and good for Colorado residents (and a gigantic FOAD to the legislature since all these magazines would be grandfathered), the real power is that all proceeds will be donated to gun rights advocacy groups such as the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners to help fight the good fight.

From Reddit, here are the details:

Hey folks, thought I’d compile where the fundraiser is now and what needs to be done:

  • We officially have a venue: this will be taking place at Boulder Gunsport, Boulder Colorado. They’re just a block away from the Pearl Street Mall.
  • Date is set to March 16.
  • A PO Box has been set up; donations can be sent to:

Operation Mountain Standard

PO Box 2497

Longmont, CO 80502

  • We need a website. Something very simple and concise that outlines the event. Can someone spring for this?
  • Still deciding on what the minimum donation will be for the magazines; the idea now is $10 minimum for pistol mags, $20 for rifle mags.
  • Several Colorado redditors PMed me volunteering to help. Awesome! I have a pagoda tent we’ll be using, but simple items like tables, chairs, and a lock box are needed. Also, we’ll need volunteers to walk Pearl Street Mall with signs directing people to our event.
  • Lastly, to make one point abso-fuckin-lutely clear, NO volunteers, myself included, will be compensated in any way, including snagging magazines.

I’d like to hear thoughts, ideas, etc. on how we can make this better. I may be running it, but it’s YOUR magazines that are being donated. I want your input.

If Gawker thought selling a single rifle was scary, the mind boggles in anticipation of their reaction to this . . .

87 COMMENTS

  1. How many do we have to have before any more are “extra”? Got any extra MONEY?

    I’m as much for sharing as the next guy, but any Coloradoan who didn’t buy enough while they were still readily available shares part of the blame for not having enough.

    As an alternative, I will put up, for a month or two, any Coloradoan who wants to relocate to Virginia. Only ONE. And for a limited time; I an notorious for problems with roommates, and I have to conclude part of the fault for that is mine. But only a small part.

    • Wow. You sound like kind of a dick. First comment on an awesome act of fellowship, and your response is “screw them, they should have predicted the future”. Ever consider that not everybody is as politically aware or deeply involved in 2A issues?

      I have only 4 30rd PMAG “rebuild kits” to my name as I’m just now building my first two ARs. I’m thinking about donating one of my precious few PMAGs to this worthy cause.

      If I can sacrifice one of my four new-in-bag PMAGs, how about you folks with 10, 20, or more magazines for a single firearm platform?

      • +1

        I have 22 30-rd mags for my single AR. 11 Magpul, 11 Bravo. I’m considering donating a few, and I live in Colorado.

        • “Not a chance” to what? My magazine inventory? The brands? Where I live? Or that I’m considering donating a few?

        • Not a chance I’m sending a mag. I have the foresight to live in a desirable location, collect guns, ammo, mags, food, water and band aids and not vote for Democrats.

          I prefer to sit back and watch the Progessive states and cities burn. Elections have consequences. I will now watch the consequences. With no joy, I might add.

        • Plenty of non- Pmag 30 round AR and Ak mags on gunbroker under $20. What kind of handout feel-good pablum event is going on in Colorado?

        • While I am willing to forgive people on this forum who voted libtard in the last election, I want to destroy the morons who will STILL vote for them after all of this.
          I want to bite their ears…….only a nip.

  2. At the risk of sounding insensitive, these fools in Colorado elected their representatives. I can only assume that those who vote understand the position of those for whom they vote, but that’s probably a huge leap. Regardless, this sounds like the organizers want private citizens to donate their 30 round mags to be sold in Colorado. I have little interest in sending any 30 round mags to Colorado when they did this to themselves. Votes are important, and way too many voters pull the lever with one hand, while extending the other for their piece of the government pie. You just can’t have it both ways. Either you vote for freedom and limited government or you vote to be cared for by the government. Either way, you reap what you sow…

    Let the flaming begin…

    • No flaming here. Much more eloquently stated than I am capable of. Many kudos.

      I see myself lately as were Tyler Durden and his crew at the end of Fight Club. Sitting comfortably in their front row high rise seats watching the city burn below. In this case, CO, NJ, Ny, MA.

      • Don’t forget Cali…they’ve got their own anti-gunmaggedon in the works right now too that makes their current state of gun affairs actually seem free.

    • You write as if all politicians win elections by a landslide. Many of these officials get into office with under 50% of the vote. That means that thousands and thousands of people didn’t vote Senator XYZ into office. No need to penalize those people who didn’t vote for the gun grabbers to begin with.

    • Unfortunately it’s Denver reps telling the rest of the state what to do.

      Much like the US Reps from CA and NY trying to push through legislation that no one in the rest of the country wants.

      While we’ve all got out state battles to fight, MAIG and the Obama administration want to make a point of Colorado. If they can do it here, in a relatively pro-gun western state, they can do it anywhere. Nobody was surprised at the legislation in NY and CA, Colorado is a whole other story.

    • The predicament Colorado is in soon enough will come to your doorstep.Its a demographic certainty.

      The categories of US voters which are growing in numbers are minority and women voters,and both groups gain more materially voting Democrat.Add in the economic malaise forcing and encouraging liberals to migrate into conservative states with lower costs of living,and eventually every Red State will be dominated by Blue State cities filled with Democrats.

      Today its Colorado .Tomorrow, its Nevada.Inside of a decade even Hickock45 could be shootin’ 10 rounders.

      • Then we need to make the case for the 2A to liberals. The arguments exist (even if they aren’t exactly the same as those for conservatives/libertarians), but we have to make them in good faith and respectfully. Also, we can’t just write people off because they voted for the liberals who voted for this, people have to be free to learn from their mistakes.

        • He’s a witch! Burn him! Burn the witch!

          Oh, wait… no, the complete opposite. 100% agree, and I take pride in being an infamous corrupter of under-40 Bay Area liberals. Nothing like a trip to the range with some satisfying hits on target to get them on that slippery slope to 2A support.

    • Usually bureaucrats don’t vote the way they say they will. Sometimes they do. Regardless, lots of citizens didn’t vote for them, but are still cursed with the magazine restrictions. That’s the trouble with democracy. Also, I think it’s a good idea to voluntarily help folks out. On the other hand, Coloradoans can still buy them now (right?), so even if the price is high, they can probably buy a couple per person, which is a lot better than none. Most who want them already have them, I would guess.

      After the thing goes into effect, and throughout the following years, as gun newbies start popping up and wanting normal mags, it would be nice to help them out then. Unfortunately, then it will be too late to buy such mags (in accordance with regulations).

    • What’s with all these dumbass posts here lately blaming other gun owners (probably 95% of whom vote Republican or at least Liberterian) for Democrats getting elected? I’m sure most gun owners in CO were not voting for Fields and McCann. If we apply your logic nationwide, then we all voted for Barack Obama.

      • I think it is misinformed to believe that Democrats do not own guns. As a result, there are lots and lots of gun owners who voted these clowns into office, on both a Local and National level.

        ST is correct, going to happen everywhere because of the explosion of government handouts, and bigger government is necessary to maintain those handouts.

        • Those of you who whine about your state’s crappy laws can do a few things:

          1. Move.
          2. Vote out the bastards who put them in place and repeal the laws (good luck).
          3. Challenge the stuff in court and hope for the best (good luck).
          4. Break the law and don’t tell anyone.
          5. Break the law and sell contraband.
          6. Use your second amendment rights.

          Options 1 and 4 are the easiest. Option 5 puts you at a lot of risk. Option 6 is the doomsday provision.

        • Yeah look at Obama and Biden. They both own guns. They are good examples of Democrats with guns…. Sarcasm included.

          Now tell me who’s party is majority pro-gun and who’s party is majority anti-gun.

    • Nobody needs to stoop to flaming. But you’ve got to consider that majorities win votes, and that screws everybody else. Look at California during the election; most counties voted republican, but the hot spots where the votes mattered were all where the majority of people lived– in big cities. You can’t say “piss on ’em, they voted for their leaders.” I didn’t vote for Obama, but he’s still the president. Then you’ve got to account for what that candidate said pre-election, vs. what they’re doing right now. Di they paint a picture of upholding your rights, and then turn around and rescind on it? Just some things to consider before you condemn everybody in the state of Colorado for allowing aficionados to take away their rights.

      • Thank you Cort.
        I live in California, unfortunately, and I do not know anyone that actually voted for Feinstein and her gun laws. I’ve been trying to vote her OUT of office for years, but she has the big cities in her hooks and a liberal town like San Francisco isn’t going to vote any other way.
        I think we have a spare mag we can send. I’ll see what I can do.

    • Professor, I can’t flame you or blame you. If Colorado wants to straighten itself out, it will, and I’ll help. If not, then screw Colorado.

      • And we wanted to straighten ourselves out nationally, we would?

        Damn, I must not have wanted to last time.

    • This is the problem with democracy. The majority stamping out the rights of the minority. The reason CO has gone democratic is the influx of Californians who are fleeing their failed state. CO was purple, but the tide has turned. More states are going to go that way when Cali finally goes bankrupt and there is a mass exodus. Just look at the politics of Dallas. Welfarism is a virus spreading disease.

  3. Before I even read the rest of the post, I want to make a statement. Much like some have complained about the “OMG” posts, I feel that FOAD is heavily overused on this site. I count eleven uses of it in a headline since the first of the year, and a handful of uses in the body of the post when it’s not in the headline, but curiously, none prior to January 1. Did someone just discover this acronym around the beginning of the year?

    I’m not a profanity prude, as it often has its place, but its value as an emphatic rhetorical gesture is considerably lessened when it’s flogged to death. And when you get right down to it, there’s really only a couple instances where “Fvck off and die” is an appropriate description of someone’s attitude. One example would be the post about Ronnie Barrett’s letter, and amusingly enough, you didn’t use it in that case.

    /rant

    • Well, Matt, it may be that the reason you are seeing more use of that particular acronym is that more and more gunowners are beginning to feel that “FOAD” is an appropriate response to the “guns and gunowners are evil ban everything to save the children” frenzy by the left. Maybe there are a lot more of us who see that “reasonable compromise” equals “disarm citizens”, and we are not feeling particularly gracious in our responses to the political/media dirtbags attacking us.

    • I like FOAD. You can actually pronounce it “foe-add” and that sounds cool to me. It expresses a very particular emotion and action, that of publicly pronounced defiance, and when it is used it is often precisely the emotion being reported on. OMG is also a legit word with a unique meaning that it can convey. “OMG” suggests a short superficial burst of immature senseless outrage. I think it is very appropriate. Language is usually effective, and when it’s not it changes via natural selection.

    • To be suitably tactful and understanding about such things, the proper acronym is ‘FOA/OD’, or ‘Fvck Off and/or Die’. In this way, the Fvcking Off is the imperative, whereas the dying is optional, and the opponent has a choice. So long as the foolish and misguided opponent Fvcks Off, death is not normally required. It would be NICE if the opponent dies, but we cannot be bloodthirsty about such things.

      • I’m pretty sure that FOAOD is an “or” statement, meaning that it’s acceptable for the person to either f-off or die or both, but the “and” is included so that it’s not misconstrued as an “exclusive or”, where one must do either but doing both is not allowed. FOOD would imply to some that one can’t do both.
        I applaud your tactfulness.

    • I have to agree, I know that these acronym phrases are fun to use, but it does make the writing lazy and uninclusive to new readers when used to this degree.

  4. Something else that’s not apparent in this article, the intention isn’t to just hand out mags in Colorado.
    They’re setting up a “lemonade stand” type booth on a specific date and trying to get media coverage before the bills go to the state senate for debate. Much more of a public FU to the state house than a “help send us your mags” thing.

    • I believe it’s also intended to funnel cash to RMGO, which is why I, as a CO resident, may be donating a few of my mags to the event.

      • Exactly. The organizers are getting no compensation, not even a magazine, and all donations go to RMGO.

        These laws passed the Assembly mainly due to huge out of state influences, monetary and political.

        MAIG pretty much told all the Dems that if they voted against it they’d provide campaign support for someone to replace them.

        • I’d heard they were using the NRA play book to influence legislatures. I find your allegation that MAIG threatened to “primary out” any Dems who didn’t get on board to be completely believable and consistent with their adoption of NRA tactics.

          I want to know why the NRA wasn’t in CO making counter-threats to previously 2A-friendly legislators.

  5. I’m disappointed at how quickly people around here say “Well, they did it to themselves” with regards to states losing gun rights and then complain about the noose getting tighter. You know how you keep the noose off you neck? By helping those losing their rights fight back.

    This is a long term struggle and we need to help as many people as possible retain access to firearms, AND convince those who didn’t know any better or weren’t thinking about it that 2A rights need to be protected. The only way to do that facilitate and fund a positive and proactive message, not saying “you deserve it, glad its not me” and moving on. One day it will be you.

    I get not wanting to send out a 30-rd mag, because those could be restricted on the federal level, but we can still donate some money and help out, and not just turn our noses up.

    • How many of those donated mags will be resold by the end recipient for a profit? My cynical side (the large side) says a bunch.

      • Who knows. I’m not sending a mag, but I did donate some money to the RMGO because I’m not willing to concede Colorado as permanently lost.

  6. +1
    Immature language of any type will give the opposition fodder, shallow fodder, but fodder still. I don’t think any “anti-gun” organization would criticize this website for “not using offensive language”. I’m not trying to censor some of you, oppress your 1A rights or whatever, but since Matt brought it up (sorry for my blame shifting), I think that there are better ways of saying things, that will not push people away as much.

  7. Tell you what, if and when I can find a couple more ProMags (they’ve been shipping cheaper and faster than the PMags), I’ll gladly send em. Goes to help a neighbor state’s shooter, raises funds, and might make a good media push.
    I had no idea Reddit had this much pro-gun force going on in it, and that they’re this willing to get organized.

  8. The Nazgul is stuck in the People’s Democratic Republic of Colorado. Many of us knew not to vote for the progressives, but we were out numbered. The democrats sent a lot of money to Colorado to advance their agenda. They advertised themselves as moderates to the public and got elected. They wrote legislation that specifically went after Magpul, not caring about the loss of 600 jobs and $85 million taxable revenue for the state. The economy may become a casualty for their morality. We can thank the likes of Bloomberg that has more money than all of Magpul’s employees combined, and VP Biden who gave the Democrats their “pep talk” before they voted on the legislation. Neither of these elites are Colorado residents, nor am I convinced that they represent Colorado’s best interests.

  9. It sounds like a good cause. I am happy to help a needy brother in arms out anytime I can.

    I just have one question, something to think about, would we be sending our regular capacity magazines to someplace where, given the political outlook in that place, those magazines might end up confiscated?

  10. I’m going to send one or two myself. I’m also going to write on them a discrete “Always Vote” in permanent marker.

  11. This is awesome. To everyone who says “it’s their fault for electing these people”, fuck you. Politicians don’t win in landslide votes, they lie and pander during their campaigns, and flip flop on issues whenever it is beneficial to their immediate popularity to the most butthurt segment of their constituents, in the hope that it will help secure their reelection. I don’t think anyone from Colorado “saw this coming” when they elected these people.

  12. The way I see it, this effort isn’t about saving the idiot voters/legislators of Colorado from their own poor decisions. This is about doing what we can to help our brothers- and sisters-in-arms fight against the tyranny of the majority that’s about to come down on them.

    Who knows– if politics gets crazy enough, in a few years it could be them helping us out, so let’s keep some solidarity going here. Like Franklin said, “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

    • He said that at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, an extremely bold act that was essentially equal to signing one’s own death warrant. This is, what? Sending magazines as a show of solidarity? Meaningless gesture. What are they going to do with them?

      • Then step it up. Donate some money to RMGO. Do something meaningful to help your fellow gun owners, because once the antis truly win in one state it frees up resources to come after you.

    • Yeah, but too many of “our brothers and sisters in arms” aren’t my brothers and sisters, because they are Obama/Progressive voters. Your litmus test may be gun ownership, but mine is whether you voted for Obama and his brothers and sisters.

      • Enjoy your purity. Your disarmed purity. Instead of writing people off how about we try to convince them to our side?

        • Convince these people?

          Barrack Obama
          Joe Biden
          Rahan Emanuel
          Diane Feistein
          Andrew Cuomo
          Michael Bloomberg
          Chris Christie

          These are all dutifully elected officials. I could go on forever. No thanks. You convince them.

        • No, and whoever suggested that? How about the Republicans get serious about doing what it takes to get elected? Instead of just grumbling bitterly about how “low-information idiots just want free stuff”, figure out how to be more appealing than a stomach virus to women and minority voters. Republicans don’t even need to necessarily win those groups, just make it a fight.

          If they had figured that out last election, a Republican president would have recently given his State of the Union address, perhaps in front of a Republican controlled Congress.

  13. It may turn out that Gov Malloy (spit) will require me to “donate” all my mags anyway, if it looks that way I’ll send most of them and sell a few to a friend in PA for a nickel.

  14. The valuable thing for CO residents who buy these mags will be the bill of sale dated before the cutoff.

    What about those CO gun owners who have all the mags they need but no way to prove when they bought them?

    • IIRC, the CO bill requires the prosecution to prove that the mags were acquired after the effective date of the legislation.

      • I think the problem would be for people who are acquiring mags for firearms they do not yet own but plan to own in the future. Would a prosecutor/court consider the fact that you didn’t own the gun before the ban took effect as evidence that you didn’t own the mags then either?

        If not, the ban becomes almost unenforceable.

        • Agreed – it’s practically unenforceable.

          The bill doesn’t say anything about owning a firearm – it just bans the mags. If I had a bunch of AK mags but no AK, I could assert that I owned them before the bill’s effective date. The prosecutor would have to refute that assertion.

          17 (2) (a) A PERSON MAY POSSESS A LARGE-CAPACITY MAGAZINE IF
          18 HE OR SHE:
          19 (I) OWNS THE LARGE-CAPACITY MAGAZINE ON THE EFFECTIVE
          20 DATE OF THIS SECTION; AND
          21 (II) MAINTAINS CONTINUOUS POSSESSION OF THE LARGE-CAPACITY
          22 MAGAZINE.
          23 (b) IF A PERSON WHO IS ALLEGED TO HAVE VIOLATED SUBSECTION
          24 (1) OF THIS SECTION ASSERTS THAT HE OR SHE IS PERMITTED TO LEGALLY
          25 POSSESS A LARGE-CAPACITY MAGAZINE PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH (a) OF
          26 THIS SUBSECTION (2), THE PROSECUTION HAS THE BURDEN OF PROOF TO
          27 REFUTE THE ASSERTION.

        • The same thing happened in MA. when our ban was enacted in 1998, there were no pmags, or half the guns out there, so there were none in the state legally, ever. In Colorado, they can’t prove a gen 3 pmag was bought after the ban, but they can prove a gen 5 was.

  15. I just sent money to RMGO. I’m not from Colorado nor do I reside there. But, any org that fights for our rights, especially in a state that is newly circling the drain, is my friend.

  16. I feel sorry for folks in Colorado, but I feel that the poster above was correct regarding Red states turning Blue…it’s part of the plan. I’d hang onto my magazines if I were you.

  17. Volunteers to walk PEARL STREET?
    Are you OUT OF YOUR MIND?
    Do you REALLY think anyone on Pearl Street has any interest in guns.
    Jesus. This is intergalactic headquarters for liberal thought control granola eating PETA fanatics.
    Boulder?
    Really?

  18. It seems we have a few posters here who are happy to be divided and conquered.

    If my order from Brownells would get here I would happily help out, short of that I do not have any mags which cold be construed as ‘extra’.

    I do hope that this is a rousing success and receives not only good response with the mags but also good publicity.

  19. Can I suggest something for the proprietors of TTAG to organize?

    Get a vendor (Midway? Brownells? Magpul themselves?) to sell, online, mags for this cause, i.e. I could go to Midway and order 5 magazines or whatever, and Midway would arrange to deliver them straight to the organizers of this even, or other similar ones? Moreover, get the vendor to fill those orders on a priority basis.

    (I realize it would be irritating to be from, say, Texas and have your backorder delayed to fill those orders, but yours will come in time; for people in CO and similar states, waiting until your order is filled might be too late)

  20. If MagPul made it a point to always make currently available 30 round Gen 3 Pmag without dates or serial numbers, how could a Colorado prosecutor establish the manufacturing date of such a magazine in anyone’s possession?

    Additionally, if someone purchased a 30 round Gen 3 Pmag with cash in another state, how could a Colorado prosecutor establish whether the Colorado resident purchased the magazine before or after the effective date of the ban?

    • I’m reasonably certain that some of the legislation makes the marking of magazines with serial number, date codes, etc mandatory. That’s a big part of why Magpul will be leaving, because they don’t want to retool their very expensive high-volume production line to support the disarmament brigade’s desire for marked magazines.

  21. I’m supporting Colorado gun owners by donating one million buttons and bumper stickers stating “Only Flaming @ssh0les Vote for Democrats.”

    Catchy, huh?

  22. All you people who think CO can FOAD and that it’s our own fault, I was transferred here less than a year ago thinking it was a 2a friendly state and I know a lot of people who did the same and more who support gun rights. If more and more states pass laws like this how long do you think it will be before the feds do it? We need to fight this kind of legislation in every state. Don’t think your state is going to be the only bastion of gun rights in the country when everyone else passes bans.

    We might not even need people to donate mags. These bills passed the CO house by only a few votes and the senate will be similar. We just need to put pressure on and get FIVE senators to flip and vote no. The governor is wishy-washy on it too so we can possibly pressure him no to sign. You can do that here
    http://www.colorado.gov/govhdir/requests/opinion.html

    Here are the email addresses for every CO senator. Copy and paste and pressure them to shoot these bills down. If CO falls other states and the feds will take it as a sign that they can pass similar infringements.

    [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

  23. Um????? I work for a living and I can’t afford to give away mags or ammo that I have spent my hard earned money on over the past five years. And what exactly is meant when one says “extra?” Whenever I purchased one magazine all I received was one magazine…….no one sent me any “extras.” Sorry but I think this is an incredibly stupid idea. I will save my magazines to share with those neighbors who wind up next to me when the madness of confiscation happens in my state. Just because my home state of Florida my not try and take them doesn’t mean the feds won’t be knocking on our doors here in the very near future!!

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