A manufacturer of firearms and ammunition for military, law enforcement, and commercial markets in Israel, the U.S., and around the world.
Colt CZ Group SE, previously named Česká Zbrojovka Group, is a firearms manufacturer headquartered in the Czech Republic. Since 2021, it has been the parent company of Connecticut-based Colt's Manufacturing Company, one of the world's oldest and most recognizable gun makers for the military, law enforcement, and commercial markets. Colt CZ Group also owns the 4M Systems, Dan Wesson, and Spuhr brands.
Colt manufactures and sells a wide range of firearms (pistols, revolvers, rifles, and machine guns), ammunition, and tactical accessories. In particular, the company markets various configurations of AR-15 rifles and semi-automatic M4 rifles—including M4 Carbine, M4 Carbine OEM2, M4 Carbine Magpul SL, M4 Commando, and Enhanced Patrol rifles—law enforcement and military agencies. There are some differences between the AR-15 and M4. Most notably, the M4 can be fired in either a three-round burst or full automatic mode, while the AR-15 is semi-automatic. The M4 can also be mounted with a grenade launcher due to the design of its barrel. In addition to these firearms, Colt also markets its 9mm Submachine Gun (SMG) to law enforcement and military personnel. According to the company, the hyper-militarized weapon is “exceptionally well suited for military, paramilitary, and Law Enforcement organizations.”
Colt markets its wide range of firearms, ammunition, and tactical accessories to the U.S. military and other armed forces around the world. Between 2008 and July 2024, the company supplied Department of Defense agencies with $753.5 million worth of rifles and machine guns, accounting for the vast majority of its overall federal contracts. It has boasted that it stands "shoulder to shoulder with the United States military and continues to evolve in order to safeguard today's warfighters."
The Israeli military has been using Colt assault rifles since 1973. Colt's M16A1, CAR-15, and M4A1 were the standard issue firearms for Israeli soldiers from the early 1990s until 2012, when they were gradually phased out and replaced by the Israeli-developed Tavor. However, Colt's rifles are still standard issue for some infantry units and sharpshooters, and many older M16 rifles are still in use by the Israeli military and police.
During its genocidal attacks on Gaza in 2023–2024, Israel requested to purchase about 18,000 M4 and MK18 assault rifles from Colt—out of 24,000 total assault rifles from U.S. companies. Israel has designated these firearms for civilian “security squads” in dozens of cities and towns, including illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. While Israel guaranteed that the rifles would only be used by government agencies, the U.S. reportedly delayed a shipment of 4,500 rifles from the same order in November. Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has documented numerous incidents of these weapons being used against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank.
US Immigration and Prison Authorities
Colt supplies its firearms to U.S. immigration enforcement agencies. Between 2008 and July 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) awarded the company contracts worth over $14.4 million for M4 rifles, weapons parts, ammunition, and accessories.
Colt also contracts with the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). Between 2008 and 2023, the BOP purchased just over $490,000 worth of M4 and M16 firearms, parts, magazines, and accessories directly from the company. The agency also purchases Colt firearms, munition, and miscellaneous weapons parts from privately owned law enforcement supply companies, such as Arms Unlimited, Clyde Armory, and Kiesler Police Supply.
US Police
Colt extends its military ethos to U.S. policing by selling military-style firearms, training courses, and other law enforcement products to state and local law enforcement agencies across the country. 37 California law enforcement agencies included in the AFSC’s Equipped for War report, for example, spent over a combined $2.1 million on Colt firearms and/or training courses between 2015 and 2021. They purchased these weapons and courses mainly from police weapons and equipment distributors like Adamson Police Products and LC Action Police Supply. These police departments commonly purchased the M4 Commando, M4 Carbine, M4 Carbine EPR, M4 Carbine Magpul SL, and Enhanced Patrol Rifle. Many of these firearms have been listed as "military classics" on Colt's website.
Colt weapons have been connected to the increasing militarization of police presence at protests and to related police killings. For example, in California, the Vallejo police officer who killed unarmed Sean Monterrosa during a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest used a Colt M4 Commando. In New York City, the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, a heavily militarized rapid-response unit also known as NYPD's "goon squad," arms its several hundred officers with M4 rifles. In 2021, the unit "was deployed against Black Lives Matter protestors" following the police killing of George Floyd.
Other Controversies
Colt AR-15 assault rifles, first introduced by the company in the early 1960s, have been used to carry out numerous mass shootings in the U.S., including the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, which left 11 people dead, and the 2017 Las Vegas Strip shooting, which left 60 people dead. Lawsuits filed in the wake of the Pittsburgh and Las Vegas shootings alleged that Colt designs its rifles in a way that allows them to be easily modified to fire like automatic weapons, "'in order to substantially increase the body count during a mass shooting.'" In September 2019, Colt announced that it would suspend sales of its AR-15 rifles to the public, in a shift that the company attributed to a market already saturated with similar weapons and a desire to focus on fulfilling outstanding contracts with law enforcement and military customers. In June 2020, Colt reportedly reversed its decision and resumed selling AR-15s to commercial customers.