The Gun Industry's Exodus - Granite Grok

The Gun Industry’s Exodus

“Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas.”   —Joseph Stalin

Guns_The_ExodusOn Saturday, a Union Leader Editorial entitled, “Grabbing gun makers NH’s big opportunity” posited the question, “So why is the state not aggressively pursuing these companies and the jobs they would bring with them?”  The UL editorial named off the states of Nebraska, Mississippi, North Dakota, Nevada, Texas and West Virginia as those who have officially reached out to Gun manufacturers, Beretta, Colt, and LWRC International in the wake of states passing utterly restrictive gun control legislation in Colorado, Maryland, New York and Connecticut.

Firearms manufacturing is nothing new to the Granite State. Sturm Ruger has been around for years, Thompson Center was here before being acquired by Smith & Wesson, Heckler &Koch, SigArms and a new start up Muzzleloading Rifle Company  LHR Sporting Arms. New Hampshire has the labor value, the skill and the experience these company’s require. Despite that history, there is our more-recent history: John Lynch and Maggie Hassan. Both were…and are willing to throw citizens in New Hampshire under the employment bus for the sake of personal political ideology.

Despite New Hampshire having a high per-capita membership of its residents in the National Rifle Association, words mean things. During the debates with Ovide LaMontagne, Governor Maggie Hassan gave support for a renewed assault weapons ban, yet she back-pedaled and was ambiguous about such a strong position on December 19. The Nashua Telegraph’s Kevin Landrigan quoted Hassan saying,

“While we continue to learn more facts about the horrific tragedy in Connecticut, we owe it to those we’ve lost to come together and determine what can be done to make our communities safer and better, including improving our mental health system and addressing the proliferation of deadly assault weapons,’’

Hassan’s campaign talking head at the time also told the Telegraph’s Landrigan, (Hassan) has no specific proposals she’s thinking about, whether it’s to renew the federal assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 or make background checks mandatory at gun shows or private sales that make up to 40 percent of firearm purchases (On March 18, I discussed why the 40% number is bogus).

States that have a higher concentration of anti-gun, Kool-Aid-drinking liberals have in knee-jerk fashion, jammed through restrictive legislation. Some have described it as an, “emotional response to the Newtown Massacre.” I say, not so much.  I believe this was neither knee-jerk nor emotional. This anti-gun agenda has long been in place in places like New York, Colorado, Maryland and Connecticut, as self-evident in the gun laws already in place in those locations prior to the Newtown Massacre.

First came New York with its passage of magazine restrictions and all-out assault weapons ban. 197-year-old Remington, based in Ilion, NY is looking at its options. I have a friend who works there and is sending out resumes. That is 1,600 jobs in peril. 197-year-old Colt Manufacturing of Hartford’s executive, Carlton S. Chen said on December 23, “the company would seriously consider leaving the state if the bill became law. Sturm-Ruger is also based in Southport and Mossberg & Sons is based in North Haven. One bullet dodged (pun intended) was Marlin, formerly based in North Haven, having been acquired by the Freedom Group, moved to North Caroline in 2007. Italian originated Beretta USA, based in Accokeek, Maryland, announced Saturday it will be moving out of Maryland. Marty O’Malley pushed hard for stricter gun control laws…and got them…bye-bye 300 jobs.  Finally, Magpul Industries, makers of AR-15 Accessories and magazines (darn good ones, I might add), will be leaving Colorado.

In sum total, if you are a gun manufacturer looking to locate anywhere other than where gun-grabbers can be found, New Hampshire ain’t the place.  John Lynch was not a friend to the Second Amendment rights of citizens and our body politic seems unstable. We have flipped our legislature three times in the last seven years. We have a continual flow of gun grabbers moving to this state from the people’s Republic of Massachusetts. Our own Governor was born and raised in Massachusetts and certainly she is less than candid on guns. First she states her support for the Assault Weapons ban, then she panders to second amendment community, back-pedaling on her first statement, using liberal buzz phrases like, “we need to come together for ‘common sense’ solutions to gun violence.”

I would love more than anything to have more gun makers choose the Granite State as its home. We have the skilled labor, the technical know-how and the Yankee ingenuity. Our politics are far too unstable and we have demonstrated the collective “sheeplism” that ruins good economic opportunities. Lets be clear: the exodus of the aforementioned gun manufacturers and the jobs that left those states were not enough of an incentive to rethink the laws put forth.  Didn’t even slow them down just a little. When the few Kool-Aid drinkers we have here start their sabre-rattling, certainly it makes for some serious long pauses, if not shies away potential gun makers.

The flight of gunmakers is instructive. When liberal democrats talk about jobs, jobs, jobs, they are being selective. Some jobs are welcome but others are not, and damn the cost.

 

 

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