Why Are Gun Companies Moving?

Since the 1816 founding of Remington Arms in Ilion, New York, the northeastern United States has been the domestic firearm industry’s home for traditional manufacturers such as Colt and Smith & Wesson. Currently, however, an unprecedented number of gun companies are expanding or considering a move to entirely different states.

Why? The most obvious answer is that these companies find it difficult to do business in regions favoring an anti-gun sentiment. Connecticut and New York, both home to large, historic firearms manufacturers, enacted some of the nation’s strictest gun-control regulations last year. The governors of these states continue to foreshadow additional restrictions.

During an interview with CNN’s Candy Crowley, Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy had a telling response to criticism of a new state law that bans semiautomatic rifles and 10-round magazines and requires preexisting magazines to be registered.

“What this is about is the ability of the gun industry to sell as many guns to as many people as possible — even if they’re deranged, mentally ill, [have] a criminal background, they don’t care,” said Malloy. “They want to sell guns.”

In a radio interview, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was similarly disdainful when asked if his state’s SAFE Act, which was passed just before midnight on January 15, 2013, is a burden to law-abiding gun owners and manufacturers.

“Who are they?” Cuomo asked rhetorically of his opposition. “Are they these extreme conservatives … pro-assault-weapon? Is that who they are? Because if that’s who they are and they’re the extreme conservatives, they have no place in the state of New York, because that’s not who New Yorkers are.”