Gun makers moving to red states

 Washington Examiner:

The announced departure this past week of Remington, the country’s oldest gun manufacturer, from a blue state to a red state is just one of several instances of firearm companies relocating to friendlier jurisdictions in recent years.

Remington, founded more than 200 years ago, will soon be headquartered in LaGrange, Georgia, hundreds of miles away from its current base of operations in New York, where the business was founded. The move is evidence of a shift in the gun industry in which companies are moving to new states — typically Republican-led states with lower taxes and more politically accommodating environments for gunmakers.

“It has been a trend, and it’s been continuing over time,” said Mark Oliva, director of public affairs at National Shooting Sports Foundation. The NSSF is a trade group for the $63 billion industry of firearms manufacturers, distributors, and retailers.

Oliva provided the Washington Examiner with a list that shows that companies have been relocating or expanding operations in red states for at least a decade, although the biggest two, Remington and Smith & Wesson, happened this year.

Smith & Wesson, founded in 1856, announced in September that after more than a century, it will move its headquarters from Springfield, Massachusetts, to Maryville, Tennessee. CEO Mark Smith said at the time that certain gun policies under consideration in Massachusetts would hamper the company’s ability to manufacture guns.

Last year, gunmaker Kimber Manufacturing also announced that it will move its corporate headquarters from New York to Alabama, Olin relocated its Winchester Centerfire Operations from Illinois to Mississippi, and Stag Arms moved from Connecticut to Wyoming, among several other company moves.

In addition to gun laws, other regulations have played a role in companies relocating. Several businesses, not just in the gunmaking space, have moved from states like New York and California since the pandemic began because of burdensome restrictions.

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There is more in a lengthy list of gunmakers moving from blue to red states.  The blue states tend to have control freak policies for businesses in general but gun makers are often targetted.  It looks like the red states will be well-armed in the future.

It is not just guns that are leading people to leave blue states.  The city of St. Paul Minnesota recently passed a highly restrictive rent control ordinance that is leading builders and developers to reconsider new housing in that area.  Rent controls have a history of reducing new housing stock.

When you attempt to restrict the market for goods and services you get less of them.