Via David Codrea, at TTAG.

Last year, then-New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal subpoenaed Smith & Wesson, trying to force the manufacturer to hand over internal information regarding its marketing practices. The Civilian Disarmament Industrial Complex’s is conducting a coordinated effort to try to skirt the PLCAA’s protections by claiming gun makers are engaging in allegedly false and deceptive advertising.

Smith & Wesson refused to cough up the documents and sued the Garden State to block them. That suit was tossed out and the state filed their own suit to enforce the subpoena. This week, the New Jersey Supreme Court denied Smith & Wesson’s request to stay a lower court’s order to produce the documents, in effect ruling the manufacturer has to produce the documents.

Said the NJ AG, “Getting access to Smith & Wesson’s internal documents was a way “to hold manufacturers liable.”

The problem here is that this is still just about money to the manufacturers, rather than an existential war for survival.  They still want it both ways.  They want to sell firearms in communist states like New Jersey, and they still want to outfit the police state with weaponry, but they don’t like what follows.

When you dance with the devil …

The solution is to refuse to do business in any state like that, whether New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, or wherever.  Not even selling weapons to the police.

Manufacturers are going to have to stay out of such states, and the longer they wait, the better the chance that they end up like Remington.

They have been warned.

Dark Storm Industries moves South.

Dark Storm is a federally licensed firearms manufacturer currently located in New York. The project is expected to create 50 new jobs with an average annual salary of $50,000 and a capital investment of approximately $3.2 million. Products manufactured by the company are shipped across the United States.

“The Space Coast’s diversified manufacturing base is a major reason why we weathered the pandemic and continue to build on our strengths,” said Lynda Weatherman, EDC president and CEO.

“The EDC welcomes Dark Storm and their contributions to our economy, and I want to say how proud I am of the team we were able to put together to attract this growth-oriented company to the Space Coast.”

Founded in 2013, Dark Storm Industries developed the DS-15 line of rifles to meet the changing regulatory environment in states like New York and California.  Dark Storm products are available from leading firearms retailers and distributors nationwide.

“The combination of economics and a friendlier political environment made the decision to build our new headquarters and manufacturing plant in Florida an easy one,” said Edward Newman, Dark Storms co-owner.

“We are excited to join a growing number of gun manufacturers on the Space Coast and look forward to our new facility allowing us to both increase our production capacity as well as develop new and exciting products.”

The facility is expected to create an additional 20 indirect jobs and 17 induced jobs. The combined net new annual wages from all jobs are estimated to be more than $ 4.4 million with a contribution to GDP greater than $9.6 million and a 10-year economic impact in excess of $95 million.

Okay then.  Welcome.  You’ll have to compete with PSA, Daniel Defense, and a host of other manufacturers in the South, so focus on quality and price point.

Prior:

Gun Valley Moves South

Gun Valley Moves South Part 2

Many firearms manufacturers, from Mossberg (who is now in Texas) to Ruger (who is now in North Carolina) have joined an already large contingent of firearms manufacturers who were born in the South or have made their home here, including Daniel Defense (Georgia), Wilson Combat, (Arkansas), FN (South Carolina), Palmetto State Armory (South Carolina), etc.

Troy Industries may be the most recent to relocate, as they have begun building in Tennessee.

But there is still a large portion of firearms still manufactured in the North.

Based on data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which analyzed five categories of firearm production (pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns and others), the report identified the states where most firearms are manufactured. In 2019, New Hampshire accounted for the most firearm production of any state, with 1.2 million guns, followed by Missouri, Florida, North Carolina and Mississippi. Those five states made up more than half of all licensed firearms produced in the country.

New Hampshire produced the most rifles, at nearly 328,000, and pistols, with more than 700,000, in 2019, while Florida manufactured the most revolvers: nearly 190,000. Texas produced the most shotguns, at about 191,000, while Mississippi followed closely behind with 188,000. The two states made up 79% of all shotgun production in 2019.

I’m not certain who is in Mississippi, Florida or Missouri, but the obvious big actor in New Hampshire is SIG Sauer who has at least six plants in that state, with no manufacturing left in Germany.

Massachusetts also accounts for a large firearms manufacturing portfolio.

The American firearms industry was born in Massachusetts. As recently as 2018 the Commonwealth ranked as the largest producer of guns in America, according to Bloomberg News, accounting for about 1 out of every 4 of guns made each year — including military-assault-style rifles …

The gun industry in Massachusetts is a source of jobs, with companies that make guns that are used for recreational purposes and by officers of the law. But it also manufactures assault-style weapons that are sold to civilians out of state, such as the AR-15.

New Hampshire may be a tough nut to crack, as New Hampshire gun laws are quite favorable, and as best as I can determine, their plants are not unionized.

But this may all be about to come to an end for Smith & Wesson in Massachusetts.

BOSTON — State Rep. Frank Moran and three other Democratic legislators are proposing a bill which would outlaw the manufacturing of assault weapons in Massachusetts that are banned from being sold in the state.

The state has banned civilians from buying or owning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines for decades, but companies like Smith & Wesson, with headquarters in Springfield, can still make the guns in Massachusetts and sell them elsewhere.

Backed by parents who lost children to mass shootings and the Stop Handgun Violence organization, Moran, who represents Lawrence, launched the effort Tuesday with the support of fellow lawmakers. They filed legislation that would extend the existing assault weapon ban to cover the manufacturing of guns sold to civilians.

There are of course a host of ways to address this, including [but not limited to] refusing to sell weapons to police in states that have such bans.

One of the most obvious for S&W will be relocation.  If they can’t fabricate their S&M M&P ARs to sell to anyone but law enforcement, they’ll go bust (at least, this is my prediction).

One has to wonder anyway why they would still wish to be ensconced in a state who doesn’t want them.

Prior: Gun Valley Moves South

News from New Jersey.

New Jersey is asking a judge to force Smith & Wesson Brands Inc. to hand over internal documents, the latest twist in an ongoing legal fight over how the gun manufacturer advertises to residents.

The state first demanded marketing information in October. The Massachusetts-based company sued soon after, arguing that it wasn’t obligated to provide anything.

The gun manufacturer “claims that it is above the law — that it can deceive consumers and potential consumers of its products without consequence,” the state attorney general’s office wrote in court documents filed Friday.

The state’s subpoena was lawful and a court should enforce it, a deputy attorney general wrote.

A spokesman for New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal declined comment. Smith & Wesson representatives did not respond to a request for comment, nor did they comment on their lawsuit earlier.

The subpoena came after Grewal’s office asked outside lawyers to help investigate how gun companies promote their products.

Smith & Wesson said in its lawsuit that this all amounted to an “unconstitutional fishing expedition” designed to weaken the Second Amendment.

Grewal’s office pushed back, saying last week that state law allowed them to dig into anyone advertising within New Jersey.

The review was not about “the product Smith & Wesson sells, but the representations and omissions in its marketing and advertising,” state officials argued in court documents, and the investigation has shown that some ads “may misrepresent the impact owning a firearm has on personal safety.”

Some Smith & Wesson ads also promoted carrying concealed firearms without mentioning that New Jerseyans needed a permit to conceal carry, state officials wrote.

So get this.  The state of New Jersey wants S&W to inform potential buyers that N.J. required a permit to carry a concealed handgun.  Yes, you read that right.

Two things.  First, to S&W, ignore them.

Second, to S&W, get out of the North.  Leave there forever.  Come South.  You won’t be treated like that here.  You should have learned that by now.  There is no reason for you to stay where you are in a unionized state.

And if that court presses the issue, then inform all law enforcement agencies in N.J. that you will no longer be selling any of your products to them.

From reader Ned, CZ may be looking to purchase Colt.

The parent companies of both Colt and CZ have been negotiating a deal that may make firearms history. CZ is looking to buy out Colt following years of financial trouble for the iconic American firearms company.

While some people may not like the idea of a Czech firm swooping in to buy up one of the most storied manufacturers in American history, gun enthusiasts might see this in a completely different light. CZ might not be a household name like Colt, but gun owners everywhere know about CZ.

According to the CZ Group, the two have agreed to initial terms and CZ is now performing due diligence work before finalizing the deal. CZ expects to finish the due diligence period by the end of January 2021.

“The parties have reached an agreement in principle on key commercial parameters of the transaction,” said the CZ Group in a statement (.pdf). “Execution of the definitive documentation for the transaction is estimated to take place by the end of January 2021, subject to completing the negotiations, finalizing the transaction documentation, and obtaining necessary approvals of the relevant stakeholders.”

[ … ]

The question remains, what will a CZ-operated Colt’s Manufacturing look like? Hopefully a lot like Dan Wesson. CZ acquired Dan Wesson Firearms in 2005 in a move that revitalized the American company while preserving its legacy.

This is an interesting move, and not one I quite understand, frankly.  I’m not sure what the business model will look like.  Colt, like Remington, may be irretrievably lost.

For instance, has CZ considered that it may be impossible to conduct business in a financially responsible manner in a Northern state, combined with union labor?  Why wouldn’t they move Colt to a right-to-work state?  Or maybe they are considering that.

I’m also not quite sure what it means to purchase Colt?  Does this mean purchasing the rights to designs, branding, machinery, people-equity and intellectual property?  Also consider that any purchase of a company also means responsibility for debt.

CZ is making some fine equipment today.  I’d hate to see the brand sullied by failure to turn Colt around.

News from NY.

ILION — Following complaints by the union as well as U.S. Rep. Anthony Brindisi and Sen. Chuck Schumer, investigators from the National Labor Relations Board  launched a probe into the outgoing owners of Remington Arms, which laid off nearly 600 employees ahead of selling the 206-year-old firearms plant in a bankruptcy proceeding.

United Mine Workers of America, Local 717, has complained of what they say are unfair labor practices when the company in October laid off 585 employees without severance pay or continuing health care coverage, which the union says is in their labor contract.

“Our career experts in region 3, Buffalo, have begun an investigation,” NLRB Congressional Liaison Kevin Petroccione wrote in an email on Monday.

One of the allegations contends that “Within the previous six months, the Employer unlawfully dominated or controlled the operations of a labor organization,” and the “the Employer failed and refused to recognize the union as the collective bargaining representative of its employees.”

In a better world, Remington’s previous management would not have sold out to Cerberus Capital, “financial engineers” who had no intention other than to fleece all capital out of the company and leave it in shambles.  Good men don’t do that to a company, no matter how much they are paid to do it, no matter how many homes on the beach and in the mountains they are promised.

In a better world, workers would not be in a collective bargaining agreement anywhere, because that means there is no right to work by other men who need to feed their families.  They are blocked.  They cannot cross the line into the plants.  There is no competition between men.  The competition is between companies, and Remington got destroyed by that.

This is all a failure to live life by Biblical principles, whether on the part of the management or the workers, or both.  In the mean time, quality went down, innovation stopped, design ideas stayed on the drawing board or never even made it that far, and men simply worked their shift while the management got rich.

How sad for everyone.

After everything else Remington has been through – the Sandy Hook lawsuit, awful management, the Remington 700 trigger system failures and their refusal to own the design and correct it – there has to be this.

ILION, N.Y. — Workers at the sprawling Remington factory in this upstate New York village took pride in a local gunmaking tradition stretching back to the days of flintlock rifles. Now they’re looking ahead with uncertainty.

Jacquie Sweeney and her husband were among almost 600 workers fired by the company this week, a few months after Remington Outdoor Co. sought bankruptcy protection for the second time in two years.

Successful bidders for the idled plant in bankruptcy proceedings have said they plan to restart at least some production, though details remain scarce.

There are high hopes for a successful reload of the plant that dominates the local economy. But these hopes are tempered by questions about how many workers will come back, and when.

“My husband, he’s looking for work, just like everybody else. And I plan on going back to college unless I find a job before I start that up,” said Sweeney, recording secretary for the local unit of the United Mine Workers of America. “That’s all we can really do. We can’t sit around and wait for forever.”

It’s common for people here to say that Ilion is Remington and Remington is Ilion. Company founder Eliphalet Remington started making flintlock rifles on his father’s forge near here in 1816, and the Ilion factory site dates to 1828. Though the company moved its headquarters to Madison, North Carolina, the old factory dominates — literally and figuratively — a village that has long depended on workers making rifles and shotguns to power the economy.

Union signs reading “United We Stand with Remington Workers” are in the windows of local businesses that sell everything from pizza slices to steel-toed boots. At Beer Belly Bob’s beverage center across the street from the plant, Bob McDowell recalled the sales bump on Thursdays and Fridays after shifts ended at 3 p.m.

Remington’s recent history has been a roller coaster ride with a lot of drops. Layoffs have been common. The plant, which employed around 1,200 people eight years ago, was down recently to about 600 union workers plus an estimated 100 or so salaried workers. The company began moving two production lines to a new plant in Huntsville, Alabama, in 2014.

[ … ]

Roundhill pledged in court documents to bring back at least 200 workers. They could eventually add hundreds more, but details are not clear.

Well, that was an idiotic thing to do.  This is why.

Local officials believe a number of pieces need to be in place before production starts, from a collective bargaining agreement with the union to a new federal firearms license.

The UMW said it has held “productive discussions” with Roundhill. Meanwhile, it also has excoriated the outgoing owners for terminating 585 workers this week along with their health care and other contractual benefits. The union said the company is refusing to pay severance and accrued vacation benefits, sparking pickets in Ilion this week.

Legally, I agree with them on the issue of paid vacation.  I agree with them morally on the issue of severance.

Collective bargaining helped kill the plant and company.  You have a right to be a member of any organization you wish.  What you don’t have a right to do is prevent another man from working your job.

Don’t repeat the mistakes.

Many times I’ve asked to know why firearms manufacturers would continue to do business in states that hate their business, fleece them with taxes, and force them to deal with collective bargaining.  I’ve specifically mentioned Kimber, among other manufacturers.

It appears that Kimber finally figured it out.

Kimber Manufacturing, a company that makes a variety of firearms and ammunition, is transitioning its corporate headquarters from New York to its facility in Troy, Alabama.

The decision to change the location of the company’s headquarters was first announced last week, and much of the work has already been completed.

A release from the company notes that “leadership, R&D and manufacturing resources” are now in place at the 225,000 square-foot facility in Troy.

Kimber is now “adding staff across all departments” to complete the transition.

The gunmaker’s massive presence in the Wiregrass is still relatively new. Governor Kay Ivey first announced it in her state of the state address in 2018. At the time, it was described as a manufacturing capacity expansion, not a new headquarters, but the executives at Kimber appear to have grown fond of the Yellowhammer State.

The gunmaker was founded in Yonkers, New York, in 1979 and remained headquartered there until its recent transition to Alabama.

The company says it completed an exhaustive search for its new headquarters, and Troy stood out for its “proximity to top-tier engineering schools as well as gun- and business-friendly support from the city of Troy and the great state of Alabama.”

State Representative Wes Allen (R-Troy) praised the move in a statement sent to Yellowhammer News on Monday afternoon.

“I am very proud that Kimber is moving their headquarters from New York to Troy, AL. Kimber recognizes our business friendly environment, our strong support of the 2nd Amendment & our hard working people,” he remarked.

“This is a testament to the conservative leadership of Mayor Jason Reeves & the Troy City Council & the Pike County Commission,” Allen added in his statement.

As for the many positions that Kimber is now seeking to fill, the company lists “CNC technicians, machinists, quality control specialists, lean technicians, design engineers, compliance analysts, customer service representatives, materials planners, maintenance technicians, finishing operators, and assembly technicians,” as among the available jobs.

“Kimber is a great place to work, especially if you love firearms,” promised Pedi Gega, Kimber’s director of assembly and product finishing, in a statement.

“We have two indoor gun ranges, one outdoor range, a state-of-the-art design and prototype fabrication center, and a dynamic team of professionals who pride themselves in producing firearms with unmatched attention to detail, design and performance,” Gega continued.

Those interested in applying for a job at Kimber Manufacturing can do so here.

Give it time.  I predict there will be little left in New York.  Alabama and New York had a contest.  Alabama won.

Prior: Gun Valley Moves South