I really like the moxie of these guys. Horry (I’m told the “h” is silent) County, South Carolina already landed Connecticut’s PTR Industries and added Ithaca Gun Company yesterday. They’ve also made the short list of relocation sites for AR-15 manufacturer Stag Arms against a competing site outside of Houston, Texas.

Just in case the rest of the gun industry wasn’t aware of Horry County’s apparent gravitational pull, the county is now sending a contingent to SHOT Show 2014 to let the rest of the world know that Horry County is open for business.

Brad Lofton, president and CEO of the MBREDC, told the Horry County Council at its meeting Tuesday that it plans to walk the trade show with representatives from PTR Industries – the Connecticut gun manufacturer county and economical development officials lured to Horry County earlier this year.

“Because of some of the success we’ve had with PTR and we’re fighting with Houston, Texas for Stag Arms and some other opportunities with gun manufacturing and suppliers, we’ve actually targeted gun manufacturing now,” Lofton said. “It’s a niche we didn’t think we’d compete in. We found that because of a lot of success, we’ve discovered that that is indeed an area that we could start focusing on.”

The last ten months have been very interesting.

In North Carolina, Ruger is opening a new facility in Rockingham County, just down the road from Remington HQ, and Cape Fear Arsenal is ramping up ammunition production in Robeson County, and sources tell me that there are potentially some other manufacturers eyeballing the Old North State. Horry County, SC, has the gumption to offer their southern hospitality to the rest of the industry.

Are the Carolinas becoming the new “Gun Valley?”