S&W has seen it.
Smith & Wesson Ditches Massachusetts Over Pending Legislation, Moves Headquarters To Tennessee
Less than six months after gunmaker Kimber Mfg. moved from New York to Alabama due in part to ‘gun and business-friendly support’ from the red state, Smith & Wesson is moving out of Massachusetts – and will relocate its headquarters to Maryville, Tennessee in 2023, according to Bloomberg.The nation’s largest gun manufacturer cited restrictive legislation currently under consideration in Mass., which if enacted, would prohibit the company from manufacturing certain guns in the state they’ve called home for nearly 170 years.
“These bills would prevent Smith & Wesson from manufacturing firearms that are legal in almost every state in America and that are safely used by tens of millions of law-abiding citizens every day exercising their Constitutional 2nd Amendment rights, protecting themselves and their families, and enjoying the shooting sports,” said SWBI CEO Mark Smith.
“While we are hopeful that this arbitrary and damaging legislation will be defeated in this session, these products made up over 60% of our revenue last year, and the unfortunate likelihood that such restrictions would be raised again led to a review of the best path forward for Smith & Wesson,” he added.
The move will bring 750 jobs to Maryville, along with a $125 million investment, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing the Tennessee Department of Economic & Community Development.
Welcome back to America, y’all. Having been trapped in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts all these years, the move will no doubt neccessitate, for whatever employees decide to come along, a substantial psychological readjustment to help them cope with the wholly unfamiliar concept of freedom and individual rights. But they’ll all be much better off for it in the long run.
Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno said in a statement that the move will cost the city 550 job, which he described as ‘devastating’ for the families involved. The city said they would attempt to work with the gunmaker to try and retain 1,000 remaining jobs.
Aww, that’s a damned shame. The fact is that at this point, ANY company situated behind Enemy lines up North and associated in any manner at all with firearms has to have a death wish. Regardless of how long the company may have thrived there, how deep its roots in the community were before, such companies are now in hostile territory, thus are living on borrowed time. The sad fact must be faced: the anti-2A shitlib majority population in those climes doesn’t want you, doesn’t like you, and doesn’t intend to tolerate your presence among them for very much longer. Herschel breaks it down in simple, concise terms:
The good. S&W is moving. What took you so long?
The bad. You should have made this move a long time ago. You waited too long, just at the time when housing prices are at a peak.
The ugly. You’re leaving some manufacturing in Massachusetts. This is a bad move, and you’ll live to regret it, from unionization from one plant to another, to further restrictions on firearms manufacturing. What – you don’t really think this is the last, do you?
If you do, you’re a suicidal fool, and will deserve what you’ll soon be getting.
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If S&W is moving, why are there 1000 remaining jobs in Mass?
Moving the headquarters is relatively easy. Moving manufacturing not so easy, especially when the manufacturing is at a high peak. They would have to invest in a complete new factory at the moment. I suspect they will start with a smaller facility and begin expanding it as finances and orders make possible.
They will move it. The massholes will see to that eventually.
The thing is, the writing has been on the wall for the historic gun making firms for decades now. Mass, Connecticut, New York, and the rest of the New England/upper East Coast states have made no secret of their being anti-gun and anti-2nd Amendment since at least the 1970s.
Sure, manufacturing is hard to move: massive industrial machining and moulding equipment is heavy, bulky, and fucking expensive, and all of those things to relocate. But –
They’ve had ample warning and ample time to pull up stakes and relocate their plants to more gun friendly climes over the past twenty to thirty years.
So, some kudos to S&W, among others, for finally putting on their bifocals and seeing the writing on the wall – along with a sour, “What the fuck took you guys so long?”
It’s not like people in the gun and 2A community – some of them like David Codrea with really large megaphones – haven’t been shouting the warnings from the rooftops for for-fucking-ever now.