(GunReports.com) — The New York Times recently reported that states are using a “better lifestyle” pitch, with promises of greater personal freedom, low or no state taxes, minimal regulation, the absence of unions and the right to bear arms, to lure gunmakers to change locations. To wit:
For the past several months, states vying for gun manufacturers have been making hay of legislation in Massachusetts, where some 10 percent of the nation’s small arms makers are based, that would limit the number of guns people can buy and require “micro-stamping” (placing a mark on the firing pins of handguns that could allow casings to be identified). And in Illinois, home to several large firearms manufacturers, a law would ban assault rifles and would prohibit manufacturers from selling guns to state residents.
“They are pitched by places like South Dakota, Alabama and Montana, and undoubtedly part of the sales pitch is: ‘We have a better environment. Our Legislature respects the Second Amendment,’ ” said Lawrence G. Keane, senior vice president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the industry’s trade group.
Gun manufacturers say proposed micro-stamping laws could drive Colt out of Connecticut and Remington out of New York, which are among more than half a dozen states where the legislation has been introduced. California, which employs more firearms industry workers than any other state, has already approved a micro-stamping law that is pending.
Carlton S. Chen, a vice president at Colt, said the company would have few qualms about leaving Connecticut if micro-stamping became law.
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