Savage Arms Says They're NOT Leaving Massachusetts

PublicDomainPictures / Pixabay

Smith & Wesson is pulling up stakes and moving out of state. They’ve had enough of Massachusetts and their anti-Second Amendment nonsense. Especially as the state was making it difficult for them to conduct business within the state.

Advertisement

I mean, why not?

However, at least one other Massachusetts-based gun maker has said they’re not going anywhere.

Savage Arms doesn’t feel threatened by a proposed state law Smith & Wesson blames for forcing it to relocate 550 jobs and its headquarters from Springfield to Tennessee, saying it would have minimal impact on its business.
“We are kind of in different markets,” said Savage Arms president and CEO Albert F. Kasper on Monday, adding, “I worry about any gun legislation.”
Savage does have several semi automatic rifles in its lineup of what the industry terms modern sporting rifles. These firearms are popular with consumers, but raise the ire of gun control advocates. Kasper noted Savage does have a few products that cannot be sold in Massachusetts under the strict gun laws here.
“But nothing that moves the needle,” Kasper said. “Its very, very small for us.”
The proposed legislation, backed by lawmakers including state Rep. Bud L. Williams, D-Springfield, could make it illegal to manufacture certain firearms in Massachusetts. The restriction would apply to magazine capacity, the presence of threaded barrels, the required pressure needed to pull the trigger and other restrictions backers say make firearms safer.
Advertisement

Now, it is certainly Savage’s right to decide to remain in Massachusetts. However, I can’t help but think that this is incredibly stupid and shortsighted.

Frankly, it’s kind of Fuddish. I mean, the whole “well, that law doesn’t really impact me, so I’ll just pretend it’s not really a problem.”

Yeah, the law may not really impact Savage all that much, but what about the next one?

This is Massachusetts we’re talking about here. Only a complete idiot would believe that they won’t try to build off this legislation. Maybe next, they’ll focus on “sniper rifles.” That would essentially shut down Savage.

Savage and any other firearms manufacturer still doing business in states like Massachusetts or California or any other anti-Second Amendment bastion need to look at themselves for a moment and remember that they’re doing all of this to themselves. By staying and paying into an economy that hates your business and all you stand for. They will put you out of business in a heartbeat and yet you stay and just let them do it.

Advertisement

A while back, talking with the president of a smaller gun manufacturer, he said that most of the people who run gun companies aren’t really pro-Second Amendment. He was, but he said many of his contemporaries weren’t. At the time, I found it an interesting bit of data but otherwise didn’t focus on it too much.

I can’t help but recognize just how right he probably was. After all, the pro-Second Amendment move would be to pull up stakes when your state says you can’t make certain guns, regardless of whether you made them in the first place.

Savage Arms doesn’t care. I don’t suppose we should care when it happens to them.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Advertisement
Advertisement