Kahr at the time said it wasn't the actual law, which banned assault-style weapons, but the rapidity with which it passed that worried them.
Andrew Cuomo pushed through the SAFE Act gun control law months after the Sandy Hook massacre. Kahr Arms, which had been based in Rockland County, expanded and then moved to Pennsylvania in 2013 after former Gov. The firm was also carrying a heavy debt load from when it was purchased in a leveraged buyout years earlier.Īt least one other company left New York over the years citing strict gun laws. Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. One of their assault-style rifles known as the Bushmaster was used in the school shooting. Remington went into bankruptcy in part due to lawsuits in which survivors of the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre in Newtown, Conn., sued the company. Remington earlier in the year had weighed in against a proposal, which has since been signed into law, that could hold gun makers liable if it is found that they irresponsibly fuel the criminal gun market. Peter Oberacker, an Otsego County Republican whose district is near the factory, said in a statement about the move. “New York state policies under one party Democrat rule, which are unkind to businesses in general and have directly singled out gun makers, play a substantial role in Remington’s decision to look to a more welcoming state for expansion,” State Sen. Local governments in Herkimer County, though, also offered a tax break for the plant to keep operating.īut at least one local lawmaker said New York's gun laws may have been a factor.
The state of Georgia and local government offered Remington a variety of inducements to move to the Peach State. Manufacturers have been leaving upstate New York for decades, citing high taxes and tough regulations. In addition to their corporate headquarters, the company plans a new manufacturing plant as well as an R&D center at their new home in LaGrange, which is about an hour from Atlanta.Įven though RemArms cited Georgia's gun-friendly laws, it's not clear that New York’s laws alone were enough to prompt the headquarters going to Georgia. “We are very excited to come to Georgia, a state that not only welcomes business but enthusiastically supports and welcomes companies in the firearms industry,” RemArms CEO Ken D’Arcy said in a prepared statement regarding the move. The company's new CEO took an indirect swipe at New York's gun control laws when he announced the upcoming move to Georgia earlier in the week. It was unclear how many management employees are there. The new owners, a consortium of investors known as the Roundhill Group, purchased the company and changed its official name to RemArms.Ībout 220 unionized workers are now at the plant, said Phil Smith, spokesman for the United Mine Workers of America, which represents the employees. More than 700 people worked at the Ilion plant when the old owners went into bankruptcy.
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