Iconic gun maker Remington recently announced they are closing their factory in Ilion, NY and moving to Georgia after 208 years. This follows the departure of Smith & Wesson from Massachusetts after 165 years, moving to Tennessee. Beretta USA, the American subsidy of the 500-year-old company left Maryland after 39 years and moved to Tennessee. All have cited the regulatory environment in their former home states.
Just for context, Remington is our nation’s oldest gun manufacturer, founded in Ilion, NY in 1816. Generations of entire families in the community have worked for Remington.
Of course, Remington, Smith & Wesson and Beretta are not the only firearm industry companies to flee the anti-gun states. Other notable exits include:
Magpul moved most of its operations from Colorado to Wyoming and Texas.
HiViz announced it was moving from Colorado to Wyoming.
Shield Tactical said it would move from California to Texas.
Kahr Arms decided to leave New York for Pennsylvania.
American Tactical Imports decided to move from New York to South Carolina.
Mossberg opted to expand in Texas, not in its home state of Connecticut.
The reasons for the departures are clear and consistent. Anti-gun legislation banning the sales of the products they manufacture in the state, and in some cases banning the manufacture of the products themselves. Manufacturers also faced pushback from their customers for continuing to invest in states which are working to eliminate their Second Amendment rights.
Even as the United States Supreme Court has made it clear that the Second Amendment is not a second-class right, states like New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, California and New Jersey have continued to pass blatantly unconstitutional laws targeting the manufacturing, sales and possession of commonly owned and legally used firearms.
Following the 2022 New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen ruling, “Bruen Response” laws essentially banning public carry of firearms were introduced in New Jersey, New York, Maryland and California. New York even laughing titled their public carry ban the “Concealed Carry Improvement Act”. New Mexico’s governor decided an executive order for a so-called “public health emergency” (a Covid era remnant) was sufficient to ban ALL public carry of firearms in one county.
While many of the provisions of the “Bruen Response” laws are being held up by temporary injunctions pending final adjudication, some portions continue to be enforced. Other laws banning so-called “assault weapons” and so-called “large capacity” magazines are successfully being challenged and making their way through the appeals process.
The Hawaii Supreme Court even went to the extreme of openly defying the United States Supreme Court by deciding “We hold that in Hawaiʻi there is no state constitutional right to carry a firearm in public.”
The timing of when these cases get to the United States Supreme Court is likely to be the deciding factor in their outcome. Today there is a 5-4 conservative majority on the Court. All it will take is for ONE seat to be flipped during the current or ANY democratic administration, and these cases will go down in flames. Any progress in protecting or restoring Second Amendment protected natural rights will most certainly be reversed at the very first opportunity by a “liberal” Supreme Court.
So, if you are a firearm industry manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer, do you really want to remain in a state which is systematically working to completely outlaw your products, business, and way of life? No, of course not. It wouldn’t make a bit of sense. Just as many individuals are choosing to flee the high crime, high tax, high cost, high regulation, and low constitutional rights blue states to the red states, the firearm industry is fleeing too. But is this the right move?
First off, let’s look at what’s happening to the formerly deep red states. Austin, Texas is currently the go-to destination of tech companies fleeing California. But in doing so, they’ve brought the same people and attitudes who continue voting for the exact same policies responsible for the problems they are fleeing. Don’t believe it, take a stroll through downtown Austin and see for yourself. Texas is no longer deep red, but an embarrassing blush of purple. And this is without considering the over 7 million “asylum seekers” and “migrants” flooding the country over the last three years.
If you look at many of the formerly solid red states, you’ll see a lot more blue showing up, mostly around the metropolitan areas. As these population centers grow with those fleeing the high crime/high tax, etc. areas, they are bringing the same thing with them. Unfortunately, that means the same failed and unconstitutional gun control laws which contributed to the demise of the areas they left.
Whose fault is this? Well, quite frankly it’s our fault, you and me. We have allowed others to control our government, courts, and educational systems by simply wanting to live our own damn lives. Because so many of us believe a big government is bad, we simply don’t get involved in it. Instead, we let others who say they will be our voice and will change the system from within, only to have them quickly assimilated into the culture and become part of the problem.
Make no mistake, the voice of sanity and reason across the country is strong and growing stronger every day, but it needs to be more involved. We can’t sit back and hope some hero on a big white horse is going to ride in and save us. We must be the ones who take back control of our towns, counties, states and the nation. Every elected seat on every elected board and commission matters.
Ugo Gussalli Beretta’s position on moving was, “If we’re going to build a factory somewhere, I want to put it in a state where I don’t have to worry about it, or my sons don’t have to worry about it, or even my grandkids.” A 100-year view of the company.
Do you really think we have 100 years before there are no more safe havens left for our Second Amendment protected right?
Bob
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