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Several hundred gun enthusiasts who ordered the official Utah Legislature's commemorative rifle are still awaiting delivery and now have learned the original manufacturer no longer is involved in the project.
Ryan Clarke, of Tegra Arms in Orem, sent an email Thursday to those who ordered the AR-15 rifle as long ago as February, stating he had made an agreement with lobbyist Jeremy Roberts to manufacture the collector's item, but has not received the orders from Roberts nor any money to begin work.
Tegra Arms had agreed to make the rifles at cost, Clarke said, because Roberts noted the proceeds would go toward a youth gun-safety program and, as a start-up, the company thought it would be a good way to get its name known.
But Clarke said Tegra Arms has been frustrated in its efforts to get the orders or the money to cover costs and that Roberts now has told him another manufacturer has been chosen to make the weapons.
For his part, Roberts, sent me emails he exchanged with Clarke from July in which Clarke said he needed the cash to begin making the guns within a week or he would have to back off the project. Roberts responded that many of those who placed orders had not paid him yet, so he couldn't meet the deadline. Roberts said he would work something out with another Utah-based manufacturer.
The new manufacturer, Roberts said Thursday, has finished the rifles, adding that they are in the process of being delivered.
About 350 orders were placed for the run, which carries a special design and a legislative seal. They were bought as limited editions for $750 to $1,200, depending on accessories.
This is the fifth year the Legislature has offered a special commemorative firearm. The first four were handguns. Roberts said next year's model will be a 1911 handgun.
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No inns at the room? • The conservative Sutherland Institute, which is hosting the much-ballyhooed and sometimes-maligned World Congress of Families, wanted to ensure Salt Lake City could accommodate the thousands expected for the Oct. 27-30 conference at the Grand America Hotel.
So Sutherland reserved blocks of up to 150 rooms for each day at several downtown hotels, including the Radisson, Courtyard by Marriott, the Marriott City Center, the Crystal Inn, the Red Lion, the Sheraton and DoubleTree.
This week, Sutherland called all those inns and canceled, leaving some of the hotel brass to wonder if the conference, which has been under fire from LGBT supporters, has suffered mass cancellations.
Sutherland spokesman Dave Buer says the group expects a full conference of about 2,000 attendees. Gov. Gary Herbert, Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes and Mormon apostle M. Russell Ballard will be among the featured speakers.
Buer said it is common for large conferences to offer attendees a range of hotel options by negotiating rates with several places. But virtually all the attendees opted for the Grand America and Little America hotels, which together can accommodate the visitors.
Some folks at the other hotels, however, were miffed that they were persuaded to turn down early reservations to reserve huge blocks of rooms, only to have them scrapped.
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Familiar territory • Rep. Jason Chaffetz has been roundly criticized in editorials and on social media for his grilling of Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards during her testimony before his House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
The Utah Republican demonstrated his ignorance of Planned Parenthood's funding by acting as though federal money is a gift, rather than reimbursement for services to low-income clients. He repeatedly asked Richards accusatory questions and then refused to let her answer. And he embarrassed himself by badgering her over a chart he said came from Planned Parenthood that showed increases in abortion services and decreases in cancer screenings. But the graph, it turns out, was a fake concocted by an anti-abortion group.
During the hearing, Chaffetz said his criticisms didn't mean he was against government spending for cancer screenings. He said the government should spend more on those health services.
Those comments, however, belie his actions. In 2011, Chaffetz co-sponsored HR1217 to repeal the Prevention and Public Health Fund, created by the Affordable Care Act to "provide expanded and sustained national investments in prevention and public health."
That included breast- and cervical-cancer screenings.