As conditions in New York get worse and worse, particularly for conservatives and conservative-coded businesses, such as gun companies, the exodus from the state is continuing. Among those done with dealing with the state is firearms manufacturer Remington, which is now closing a famous manufacturing plant it opened in 1828.
Remington opened a second plant in Huntsville, Alabama, in 2014. That plant will remain open, which makes sense given that Alabama is far more friendly to firearms owners and firearms generally than New York. The New York plant closure will be complete by March of 2024.
The plant that Remington is closing is in the town of Ilion, New York. The facility is the longest-operating firearm manufacturing plant in America and employs three hundred people from the surrounding town, many of whom are part of families who have worked there for generations.
In a memo to employees, the company said, “I am writing to inform you that RemArms, LLC has decided to close its entire operation at 14 Hoefler Avenue, NY 13357. The Company expects that operations at the Ilion Facility will conclude on or about March 4, 2024.”
The big issues for the plant appear to be legal in nature, stemming from New York’s general hostility to firearms. For one, the plant was involved in a 2015 suit filed against Remington by the Sandy Hook families over its “Bushmaster” AR-15 being used in the shooting. A $73 million settlement between the families and the manufacturer was reached in 2022.The other legal issue for Remington was the NY SAFE Act in New York. One of the restricted gun control laws in the country, Among other things, the anti-firearm bill created “an expanded definition and registration requirement for assault weapons, new limitations on the possession and use of “high capacity” ammunition magazines, new requirements on the private sale of firearms, and new safe storage requirements.”
When the bill became law in 2013, Remington threatened to close its manufacturing facility and leave the sate. It was then, in the wake of the bill, that it opened its Huntsville, Alabama plant, the plant in the gun-friendly state that will remain open as Remington gets out of New York.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Republican member of Congress from New York, released a statement on the matter in which she blamed New York’s gun laws as being responsible and said she was working with the company and union over the matter. She also highlighted that the company is the “oldest gun manufacturer” in America and argued that New York hounded it out of the state.
She said, “It is because of New York Democrats’ unconstitutional gun grab policies that the oldest gun manufacturer in the country has been run out of the state. I have spoken with local officials and Remington Arms union members in United Mine Workers of America, Local 717 about how we must stand up to New York’s failed unconstitutional gun bans. Hochul must stop her unconstitutional assault on the Second Amendment now.”
