http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080420/ap_on_re_us/the_gun_wars
I thought this was a very interesting article about Colt and the US Military.

Thanks Sully. This is the very reason that the government should own the design -- so they can farm it out if necessary.

That would be patent infringment, if the government started doing that people would think twice about inventing new things for the govenment and may just straight up sell overseas or where ever they could bank roll on there idea. They could offer to buy the patent on the rifle but they dont have to sell it.

I said "own" which means to buy. People sell designs every day. How do you think that the automotive business works?

But they dont have to sell it. If the government had offered up enough money they probably could have bought the design but they havent (at least as far as I know).

Why are you stating the obvious?