Great article on Gun Makers moving down south away from anti-gun states:
All three of those states are home to familiar names in the gun industry, some of which threatened to seek out expansion opportunities in other states or move their operations entirely.
Remington Outdoor, the parent company of Marlin, Bushmaster and other brands, is the latest to announce an expansion down South. Its flagship brand, Remington, is the oldest gun maker in the U.S. and has a manufacturing base in Ilion, N.Y.
Earlier this week, the company formerly known as Freedom Group detailed plans to open a plant in Huntsville, Ala. Remington Outdoor expects to create more than 2,000 jobs in Huntsville over the next decade to meet growing demand for its products.
…Late last year, Ruger began manufacturing at a third facility located in Mayodan, N.C. The company is headquartered in Southport, Conn., but does all of its manufacturing outside of the state.
Ruger’s two other plants in Prescott, Ariz., and Newport, N.H., employ a combined total of roughly 2,000 workers. The new North Carolina location created around 450 jobs, according to Ruger’s vice president and general counsel Kevin Reid.
…North Haven, Conn.-based O.F. Mossberg & Sons, is in the midst of adding manufacturing capacity at its existing factory in Eagle Pass, Texas, said spokesperson Linda Powell.
Another Connecticut gun maker, Stag Arms, is searching for a second home to expand. Stag Arms was ready to add a fourth factory building in New Britain, but the company put those plans on hold once the state began debating further restrictions on its specialty, modern sporting rifles.
“With the way the laws went in Connecticut, we decided to do expansion out of the state,” Stag Arms President and CEO Mark Malkowski said. The company has new products being developed and is already nearing capacity at its current location.
…Beretta, which makes the U.S. military’s standard-issue sidearm, the M9, has its U.S. headquarters in Maryland. As a bill making the company’s 13-round 9mm pistol magazines illegal neared passage, Beretta warned lawmakers that any additional regulations would play a role in where Beretta operates.
Last month, the Italian company added itself to the list of gun makers seeking greener pastures, unveiling plans to build a new plant in Tennessee this year. In 1990, Beretta moved one of its factories to Virginia when Maryland passed a round of gun laws.
Colorado-based Magpul, known for its magazines and gun accessories, recently made good on a promise to leave the state if a limit on magazine capacities passed. Magpul said early this year it will relocate to Texas and Wyoming.
Kahr Arms purchased 620 acres in Pike County, Penn., to move its corporate offices from Pearl River, N.Y. It also anticipates adding manufacturing operations in Pike County.
Beretta, which makes the U.S. military’s standard-issue sidearm, the M9, has its U.S. headquarters in Maryland. As a bill making the company’s 13-round 9mm pistol magazines illegal neared passage, Beretta warned lawmakers that any additional regulations would play a role in where Beretta operates.
Last month, the Italian company added itself to the list of gun makers seeking greener pastures, unveiling plans to build a new plant in Tennessee this year. In 1990, Beretta moved one of its factories to Virginia when Maryland passed a round of gun laws.
…Colorado-based Magpul, known for its magazines and gun accessories, recently made good on a promise to leave the state if a limit on magazine capacities passed. Magpul said early this year it will relocate to Texas and Wyoming.
Kahr Arms purchased 620 acres in Pike County, Penn., to move its corporate offices from Pearl River, N.Y. It also anticipates adding manufacturing operations in Pike County.
Even companies that aren’t completely relocating are choosing to expand down south rather than opening or expanding shops in their anti-gun home-states. This is sending a clear message!
Oh and I must chuckle at this little bit of “Editorial Oversight”:
Smith & Wesson (SWHC) and Springfield are two of the most prominent rifle and handgun makers in Massachusetts. Savage Arms, which was acquired by Alliant Techsystems (ATK) last year, also calls the state home.
Yes the Springfield Armory is in Springfield Massachusetts, but that place hasn’t made guns since the 60s, this Springfield Armory is in Illinois. I wouldn’t be surprised if I didn’t see them start to diversify in a more free environment either.
And since it has some relation to this story, and it’s also wearing the BLNN tag:
Georgia lawmakers on Tuesday voted to allow bars and churches to decide for themselves whether to let gun owners carry weapons into their buildings.
The measure heads for the state Senate after the members of Georgia’s House of Representatives approved the legislation with a 119-56 vote, according to the chamber’s Twitter account.
Contrary to popular opinion, the South isn’t home to the most gun friendly states. Until quite recently carry was very difficult there, and Jim Crow laws from reconstruction became blanket laws against any non-connected citizen from carrying guns. Also restrictions on WHERE you can carry guns down south is generally much higher than up North. Really Northern New England, Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire are some of the most gun friendly states, as they have never really made much of a political issue of guns since the days when they weren’t a political issue at all.
Still the South is gun friendly in that it is moving quite fast away from those horrible days of oppression and racism. Several years back the wife and I were considering re-locating to North Carolina. We chose to pick a gun-friendly town in Massachusetts, mostly for proximity to family and the ease of a move of a few miles vs nearly 1,000 miles. Still I noted that while you could buy any gun you wanted, and get a carry permit with ease in NC, you couldn’t actually CARRY that gun in most places.
Many of those laws in NC have since changed, and more change is on the Horizon while the North East is still talking about MORE restrictions as the failure of their laws drag on.
