Storied American gun manufacturer, Remington Arms, appears to be moving some of its operations away from its famous plant in Ilion, New York. Per Syracuse.com

Eighty Remington workers will be laid off in the coming months with no guarantees of future jobs as New York’s oldest gun maker shifts two assembly lines from Ilion to Alabama, a union official said this evening. “You’re not guaranteed a job,” said Fran Madore, president of United Mine Workers Local 717. “You have a fill out an application. There’s no incentive to go.” Madore said other jobs in Ilion are affected by Remington’s decision to start making its Bushmaster semi-automatic rifle and 1911 pistol at a new plant in Alabama. Madore didn’t know specifics outside of his union members.

New York’s new gun-laws may be, at least in part, to blame:

Madore said the plant learned the news Thursday. He said no one mentioned the NY Safe Act, the state’s stricter gun laws, at the announcement. But he said it hung in the air. “Everybody that works here, everybody who lives here, knows full well what it’s about,” Madore said of the connection between the Safe Act and the gun maker’s decision. “I knew it would hurt us.” Starting in July, Remington will begin shifting the two assembly lines to Alabama, eventually moving 100 to 150 jobs there, according to state Sen. James Seward’s office. The plant currently has about 1,300 workers. “It’s pretty tragic, really,” Madore said. “Oldest gun manufacturer in the country … and got a governor who is driving us right out.”



Still, it’s not just that the SAFE Act makes it illegal for Remington to sell their weapons in the state that they are made but that the business environment in Ilion has become increasingly toxic. The Tax Foundation’s 2014 report put New York State’s “business tax climate” as 50th out of 50:

The 10 lowest ranked, or worst, states in this year’s Index are: Maryland Connecticut Wisconsin North Carolina Vermont Rhode Island Minnesota California New Jersey New York


Alabama, by contrast is number 21 on the list.