guns.com / By Max Slowik / February 6, 2013
A company called III Arms has just received ATF approval to manufacture firearms. Setting up a gun manufacturer is just a small part of III Arms’ plan, which is to establish a completely self-sufficient community in the mountains of Idaho.
It will be called “The Citadel” and include a walled urban center—10 feet thick by 20 feet high and four miles long—surrounded by rural plots for farming. It is, to turn a phrase, a planned prepper community.
Despite being armed and armored, the Citadel isn’t being made to defend its people from military or government action, rather, it’s intended to be a safe haven for forward-thinkers to weather a social, economic or environmental collapse. It is at the leading edge of anti-establishment living, but it “is not designed to withstand any direct .mil or .gov attack. Nor is the Citadel, in any manner, attempting to provoke any government entity,” according to the project FAQ.
III Arms began taking pre-orders for AR-15 rifles and 1911 handguns last November anticipating the FFL. Both have pre-order prices of $1,550, reflecting the difficulty of making small batches of firearms and current market trends. They’re also limited by the availability of certain parts, although it stands to reason that down the road they’ll be able to make everything in-house, should everything else go according to plan. All profits, if any, will go towards expanding their manufacturing capabilities.
On III Arms’s blog, project founder Jim Miller wrote, “In this afternoon’s mail, III Arms Company received a little note from the ATF saying: ‘Thanks for your interest, please start building firearms’.”
