AR15/news

Update on Knight’s Armament

Posted on by Caleb

Since posting yesterday on Knight’s products, Team Gun Nuts has been in direct contact with the guys at Knights, who have been very polite and professional in our exchanges.  Here’s a quote on the media policy from SHOT SHOW:

[W]e wanted Media personnel to talk to one of our senior personnel, preferably Trey Knight if available, before taking pictures so we could explain what we would prefer they focus on, (and what they tend to pass by or at least not focus the camera in close ups of).  The reason for that is we had several of our weapons systems on display that we rarely show publicly, mainly our PDW and our LMG.  We feel these systems are revolutionary enough that we try to ensure that detailed pictures of their mechanisms are not shown.

I believe that what happened was a misunderstanding of the intent of our photo policies, which where not designed to hide or block access to items we had on display.  The policy was there to protect our intellectual property, and not to hinder the viewing public and the press, and unfortunately we seem to have applied it to restrictively in some circumstances.

Knight’s has also agreed to a Q&A session on an upcoming episode of Gun Nuts Radio; they are aware of the rumor and statements that KAC is unfriendly to the civilian market, and have agreed to the aforementioned Q&A.  Here’s how that’s going to work: all questions should be submitted here with the title “Knight’s Armament Q&A”.  We’ll then use those questions on air with KAC on an upcoming episode of Gun Nuts Radio.

We’ll also have some pretty nifty images of KAC gear coming out here in the next couple of days.  I do want to thank Knight’s Armament for being so quick to respond, it’s good to see companies getting involved online and working directly with the social media component of the gun industry.

Caleb

17 Comments

  2. It’s still an odd policy. Do they ever let anyone who doesn’t work for the company get their hands on one of these?That would certainly let their “revolutionary mechanisms” get out.

    If they want to protect their intellectual property they should file a patent application before they display them publicly.

    “We would rather have you report what we tell you to report” is still not a media- or customer- friendly strategy.

    2. Patent’s don’t stop certain overseas places from making copies for, shall we say, the Airsoft market.

    1. According to Knight’s those pictures weren’t supposed to be taken. It’s difficult to stop people with a zoom lens, especially when the booth is busy. We stopped by on a Friday when the show was dying down and were the only people at the Knight’s booth.

      1. Judging by the various angles, the photographer walked right up to those guns and started photographing them, and even opened the feed tray cover of the LMG to film the innards. No zoom lens could have gotten all of that. KAC’s explanation doesn’t hold water for me at all.

        1. Why the conspiracy theory? KAC already said that booth persons were too loose at first, then too tight. Not hard to understand really.

          1. First, check the time stamp of my previous post followed by Kevin’s post. Second, if KAC had only been allowing some to photograph but not others, it would indicate that they were trading photos for favorable coverage from complicit photographers. After Kevin’s explanation, I don’t believe this to be the case anymore. And third, LBJ had JFK killed to advance the military-industrial complex of which KAC is a part. See? Totally viable. 😀

  4. Hello, I am Kevin Boland, from Knight’s Armament Company; I want to thank Caleb for letting us have a chance to explain our policy.

    Secondly we know Chen Lee who took the pictures on M4C, and unfortunately while we was allowed to take pictures he was not supposed to be taking close ups of the PDW and the LMG.

    Most of our Senior Management where in meetings, and we had tried to filter down our Media Policy to those who where working the booth, however it is clear that some of the message was missed, and I would like to apologize for the unintended slight, as we did not mean to restrict access for pictures, especially since unlike a lot of other photographers who take guns down, and block areas while they photo them on the floor, the Gun Nuts crowd took pictures with the weapons on the wall as so as not to impete traffic, I am not sure what the miscommunication was, but it was unintended and we will ensure it does not happen again,

    Regards,
    Kevin S. Boland
    Military/Government Product Liaison
    Knight’s Armament Company
    701 Columbia Blvd.
    Titusville, Fl 32780
    Office 1(321)607-9900 ext. 1365
    Fax 1(321) 383-2143
    [email protected]
    http://www.knightarmco.com

    When your life is on the line…

    1. I am still confused about your IP policy, though. Was it constructed with the assistance of a bona fide IP attorney?

    2. I’m confused as to why Reed Knight is complimenting Mr. Lee’s photos on the thread instead of asking him via PM to take those particular shots in question down, but that’s his prerogative.

  5. Regarding the pictures on M4C by SMGLee, they where good shots, and credit where credit is due it was given, secondly once they get posted, a lot of people take copies etc. so asking for them to come down is effectively askign to close the barn door after the horses have fled. Our biggest concern is of people taking pictures of the internals, airsoft illegitmate copies are a big concern as well as other issues. I know several companies that have had issues from other manufactuers outside the US and Europe stealing a lot of R&D knowledge from pictures at shows, and before peopel scoff, once you have a known area (like M1913 rail) a computer can easily dimension a lot of other aspects…

    Over 10% of the registered attendees of SHOT this year where Media, so it is becoming tougher and tougher to fit everyone in the booth.

  6. The explanation doesn’t make sense.
    “No pictures” is not the same as “Speak to one of our friendly high level people before taking pictures so we can “help””.
    If they really said “No pictures”, then the “misunderstanding” wasn’t on Calebs part.

    1. I think the misunderstanding was mutual – it was Friday, by that time it feels like the show has been going on for months, so everyone is just bone tired and ready to go home.

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