Gun ID legislation may trigger exodus of gunmakers Remington, Colt

Western Missouri Shooters Alliance

http://www.wmsa.net/

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012...t-to-relocate/

Gun ID legislation may trigger exodus of gunmakers Remington, Colt
By Joshua Rhett Miller
August 28, 2012

Two venerable American gun manufacturers — Remington and Colt — could head for the West their weapons helped win if New York and Connecticut force them to implement microstamping technology.

Microstamping, or ballistic imprinting, is a patented process that uses laser technology to engrave a tiny marking of the make, model and serial number on the tip of a gun’s firing pin to allow an imprint of that information on spent cartridge cases. Supporters of the technology say it will be a “game changer,” allowing authorities to quickly identify the registered guns used in crimes. Opponents claim the process is costly, unreliable and may ultimately impact the local economies that heavily depend on the gun industry, including Ilion, N.Y., where Remington Arms maintains a factory, and Hartford, Conn., where Colt's manufacturing is headquartered.

“Mandatory microstamping would have an immediate impact of a loss of 50 jobs,” New York State Sen. James Seward, a Republican whose district includes Ilion, said, adding that Remington employs 1,100 workers in the town. “You’re talking about a company that has options in other states. Why should they be in a state that’s hostile to legal gun manufacturing? There could be serious negative economic impact with the passage of microstamping and other gun-control laws.”

In March, prior to the recent mass shootings at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., a Sikh temple in Wisconsin and at New York’s iconic Empire State Building, Remington executive Stephen Jackson wrote to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo warning forced microstamping could prompt the company to “reconsider its commitment to the New York market altogether rather than spend the astronomical sums of money” necessary to reconfigure its manufacturing and assembly processes.

Ilion Mayor John Stephens told FoxNews.com he believes the company, which has had suitors in several Midwest states with less restrictive gun laws, was not bluffing. Stephens also said the microstamping proposal is bad legislation.

“I don’t think it would help anything," Stephens said. "It would probably be more of a hindrance than anything else. A criminal is going to obtain a weapon if they want to obtain a weapon. This is a downstate ploy, it’s downstate politics.”

The closure of Remington’s plant in the 8,000-resident village would be a “huge hit” to the local economy, Stephens said, and suggested that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg — and other politicians supporting stricter gun-control measures — are off the mark.

Meanwhile, in Connecticut, similar microstamping legislation has long been opposed by Colt, whose executives have claimed the “feel-good legislation” would drive gun manufacturers out of the state.

Erich Pratt, spokesman for Gun Owners of America, said companies -- and indeed industries -- leave when they believe the business climate is hostile. He cited the car industry.

“It used to be Detroit and only Detroit, but now they’re opening up shops all along the South,” Pratt told FoxNews.com. “If they’re not going to be pro-business, then they’re going to lose those jobs. They’re making a bottom line decision: At what point does it become more cost-effective to leave the state?”

New York Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel, a Democrat and the chief sponsor of the microstamping legislation on semiautomatic pistols that was last considered by the state’s full Senate in 2010, said she believes Remington’s vow is merely a threat.

“Their main product isn’t even semiautomatic guns; the main thrust of what they do are long guns and military contracts,” Schimel told FoxNews.com. “As a former businessman, it would be foolish for them to leave the New York market. They are getting a lot of money from the state.”

Implementation of microstamping technology would cost roughly $12 per gun and would go a long way to helping solve crimes, she said.

“That’s the new threat: to move where that [gun] friendly state is,” she said. “It’s unfair of them to resist sensible regulation to save lives. It does not impact lawful gun ownership at all.”

I think it's long past time both companies faced the realities of their current situations. The fact is they're both in states that right now are more than a little unfriendly to shooters and have gradually been getting moreso over the years. Not quite as bad as S&W buying out Thompson/Center, abandoning a loyal workforce and moving their operations south to MASSACHUSETTS, one of the most unfriendly states to gun owners and shooters in the whole country (and devastaing the already reeling economy of Rochester NH), but it's only a matter of degree. Me, I hope they both move north/east to NH, bringing as many of their workforces as can make the transition, where they will be wanted and appreciated (as Ruger and Sigg have discovered). If either Colt or Remington relocated to, for instance, the Berlin NH area, they would have not only a friendlier business climate but also a trained and willing labor force just drooling over the chance at some decent jobs. It's time the rest of the industry followed Barrett's example and move out of and stop doing business with states that restrict their taxpayers' 2nd Amendment rights and impose useless and onerous restrictions on manufacturing and sales. It's time to get real.

I live in Idaho and I can tell you we are looking forward to them moving here. It would be a good move for both of us, the manufacturers and the residents who will work for them.