War Profiteer of the Month: Česká Zbrojovka

Established in 1936 and exporting to over 100 countries, Česká Zbrojovka is the CzechRepublic's largest arms manufacturer, producing:

• weapons for armed military and police units, as well as for hunting and sporting purposes

• components, parts and assemblies for the aircraft and motor industries

• special tooling for machine production.

History

Česká Zbrojovka was established on 27 June 1936 as a branch of the Česká zbrojovka Strakonice armament firm in the small Moravian town of Uherský Brod in Czechoslovakia, now in the Czech Republic. After World War II all the firearms manufacturers were managed by a single central agency which required that "Any firearm exported will bear the BRNO markings"; this is why many ČZUB firearms bear BRNO markings.

Throughout the Cold War ČZUB manufactured a wide variety of military small arms including the Sa vz. 58 assault rifle, the Škorpion vz. 61 submachine gun, various .22 caliber training and target rifles and the very successful CZ 75 family of pistols.

In 1991 the Czech weapons factories were "de-centralized" and began business as free market companies. In 1992, Česká zbrojovka a.s.(PLC), Uherský Brod became private, moving into the free world economy and eventually establishing a small arms presence in over 60 countries.

In 1997 ČZUB established a permanent presence in the United States with the founding of CZ-USA. ČZUB and CZ-USA continue to expand and dominate the small arms market world wide, with military, police, defensive, sporting and recreational firearms.

The ČZUB factory employs some 2000+ engineers, craftsmen and business personnel, making it one of the largest firearms manufacturers in the world.

Today

It is clear form their website that weapons, particularly small arms and light weapons – those weapons so commonly turned against women in incidences of domestic violence, as this newsletter has explored – are CZ's main area.

To add insult to injury however, they not only produces weapons all too often used to kill, maim and threaten women, they also use women to sell these weapons in adverts such as these, thus also contributing to the objectification which makes violence against women so much likelier.

Even if you are not into buying arms, you can still boycott this company, which is also a manufacturer of motorcycles through its Česká Zbrojovka subsidiary. If you see a motorcycle with a ČZ logo and their women objectifying promoting pages, you should know that they are not only taking you for a ride, but also making a killing off selling weapons.