It is absolutely crucial that we have the ability to manufacture our own weapons here in the US. If ever there were an industry vital to national security, weapons manufacturing is one. We simply must make it in the USA.
I agree that this is crucial, but if we don't make the best I don't want it for the troops. I remember going to Nam with an M-16 that if you put more then 18 rounds in the magazine you were almost sure to get a jam; besides the many other reasons why the damned thing jammed.
Within a week I had traded my M-16 to an ARVN for his M-14. And I wouldn't have cared if that M-14 had been made in Hanoi by Jane Fonda.