The Northeast has long been home to firearm titans, but recently the region has lost out to the South and Mountain West as more and more gun businesses follow financial and cultural incentives to relocate.
And for those firearms producers still in states with gun control measures on the table, there鈥檚 increased temptation to take their business elsewhere.
The Center Of The Gun World
One week a year, Las Vegas becomes the center of the gun world. That鈥檚 when the National Shooting Sports Foundation鈥檚 SHOT Show comes to town, bringing with it roughly 60,000 buyers, sellers and even foreign government officials. And it鈥檚 here that the tension between shifting legislation and economic impact is on full display.
For the last 22 years, Las Vegas and SHOT Show have seemed a perfect pairing. But then in 2018, the relationship was tested: Nevada鈥檚 legislature put forward .
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the gun industry鈥檚 largest trade organization, lobbied hard against the measures, but an increasingly Democrat-dominated state government passed most of the bills into law.
Leading the charge was Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui, a Democrat who represents the Las Vegas suburbs. She鈥檚 also a survivor of the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history, at a Las Vegas music festival in 2017.
鈥淎 lot of people think of Nevada as the Wild Wild West still,鈥� Jauregui said. 鈥淚t still has that feel but overwhelmingly Nevadans support gun violence prevention laws. And gun owners do, too, because gun owners know that the biggest threat to them and their right to carry a firearm is irresponsible gun ownership and people who don鈥檛 follow the law.鈥�
And they鈥檙e not done yet. Nevada鈥檚 considering a ban on so-called assault weapons. If it passes, SHOT Show has threatened to leave, taking the tens of millions of dollars it injects into the Las Vegas economy with it.
NSSF spokesman Mark Oliva said an assault weapons ban could stop 95% of showgoers from displaying their wares. It鈥檚 a fight that may play out next year when the legislature meets again.
鈥淚 think an 鈥榓ssault weapons ban鈥� would be absolutely devastating to the SHOT Show,鈥� Oliva said.
Manufacturers On The Move
Nevada is not alone. In the aftermath of a mass shooting, even those that have long been home to the giants of firearms manufacturing.
Remington Arms has been based in New York state for more than 200 years. But as that state has passed some of the most restrictive gun measures in the country in recent years, Remington has moved some manufacturing to the more gun-friendly location of Arkansas.
Next door in Connecticut, . Connecticut has passed a number of gun restrictions since Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting in 2012.
And Oliva said a suite of gun control measures is the latest worry for the industry. Those proposals
鈥淲hen you start to look across the landscape of threats to the industry, the states are really where we have our concern,鈥� Oliva said. 鈥淚 think Virginia right now is the bellwether.鈥�
Jurgen Brauer, founder of Small Arms Analytics, says gun manufacturers have, indeed, been on the move for quite some time, but that the factors are likely a complex mix of economic incentives and culture.
鈥淲hile the industry has occasionally argued in the statehouses and senates, 鈥榃e will move out of the state unless you become gun-friendly,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淭he fact of the matter 鈥� there鈥檚 some truth to it, but not the whole truth.鈥�
Wooing The Gun Industry
Idaho Department of Commerce Director Tom Kealey speaks in January at SHOT Show, the gun industry鈥檚 largest annual expo. He and other Idaho officials have been wooing the gun industry in a bid to get a bigger slice of the multi-billion dollar industry.
Heath Druzin / Boise State Public Radio
Some Red states aren鈥檛 just waiting around for their slice of the multi-industry. Idaho is actively courting businesses looking for a gun-friendly home.
, states like Idaho are stripping away nearly all of their gun restrictions. Idaho Gov. Brad Little was one of at least four governors in Vegas for SHOT Show this year.
Speaking at a gun range event for state lawmakers in Meridian, Idaho, Little says it鈥檚 easy to sell the state to gun manufacturers:
鈥淢ost of their employees hunt and fish and are recreational shooters and just feel more welcome here than some of those other states,鈥� he said.
The wooing is working.
In the past few years, several gun and ammunition manufacturers have either relocated or expanded operations in Idaho. Idaho Department of Commerce Director Tom Kealey also went to SHOT Show and said the state is hoping to add even more companies to the relocation list soon.
鈥淲ithout naming names I think we have three or four very serious interested parties that are looking to come from Washington, California and Colorado,鈥� he said.
One of the companies that has already made the move is multinational firearms manufacturer Caracal.
Caracal USA鈥檚 president, Jeff Spalding said Idaho wasn鈥檛 even on his radar until Little鈥檚 predecessor, Gov. Butch Otter, and other state officials, cornered him at SHOT Show a few years back to sell him on the state.
鈥淲hen the [Idaho] Department of Commerce team came by and asked if we would be interested in setting up shop in Boise, it never once crossed my mind,鈥� he said, 鈥渂ut I put it on the list simply because they took the time to come here and show support in that way.鈥�
Spalding praised Idaho鈥檚 gun-friendly culture and lamented his home state of Maryland鈥檚 treatment of the gun industry.
鈥淚 was born and raised in Maryland and I watched Maryland go from a very pro-[Second Amendment], Republican-run and industry supportive government to deteriorate to the point where Beretta was forced to leave,鈥� he said.
Beretta USA is a subsidiary of the Italian firearms titan Beretta. It moved to Tennessee in 2014 after Maryland passed a gun control bill that included a ban on many semi-automatic rifles, like the AR-15, and high-capacity magazines.
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