Remington, a New York-based gun and ammunition manufacturer, may soon decide to leave the Empire State in response to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s strict new gun control law.
Lawmakers from gun-friendly South Carolina, Michigan, Arizona and Oklahoma are all encouraging Remington to relocate, the local news site Innovation Trail reports. Representatives from all four states have sent letters to Freedom Group, Remington’s owner.
“The enemies of freedom are waging an all-out assault on the Second Amendment to the Constitution which we have sworn to protect and defend,” South Carolina Rep. Jeff Duncan wrote in a letter to Freedom Group’s CEO. “At a time when our government is consistently thwarting the ability of individuals to own businesses, voluntarily trade goods and services, and grown our economy, South Carolina is committed to writing a different story.”
“In South Carolina, we believe in the right to keep and bear arms,” the letter continued.
On Jan. 15, Cuomo signed a regulatory package he called the “toughest gun control laws in the nation.” In response to the overtures from other states that came in the wake of that legislation, Remington told the local Utica Observer Dispatch last week that it is now “carefully examining its options” concerning relocation.
United Mine Workers of America Local 717, the union that represents the Remington workers, delivered a letter to Cuomo’s office on Tuesday warning that a move would be “devastating” to state’s economically depressed Mohawk Valley region. Remington currently employs around 1,200 workers in the area and signed a new five-year contract with the union in December. (RELATED: Cuomo’s new gun law does not exempt New York cops, could prevent police from responding to school shootings)
The Remington factory has operated out of Ilion, N.Y., for nearly 200 years. As Innovation Trail notes, the town was essentially built around the plant, and New York has given the company over $5 million since 2009 to expand operations in the state.
But despite the company’s importance to upstate New York’s long-suffering economy, Remington has come under attack from lawmakers in Albany and Washington. The company’s products include the Bushmaster, a popular variation of the AR-15 that was used by shooter Adam Lanza in December’s Sandy Hook massacre.
A spokesperson for Gov. Cuomo did not immediately respond to The Daily Caller’s request for comment.