We’ve documented the efforts by New York state lawmakers to get microstamping (along with other feel-good gun control measures) enacted there, as well as the threats by gunmakers to “reconsider their commitment” to New York if the expensive-but-useless legislation is passed. Companies like Remington and Kimber would have plenty of incentive to look elsewhere if they’re required to re-tool to keep their manufacturing operations in the Empire State. But somehow the prospect of losing as many as 2000 good-paying jobs hasn’t made much of an impression on New York’s gun-grabber community . . .
nytimes.com reports that residents of Ilion, home to Remington, are naturally concerned by the prospect of cutbacks at the town’s largest employer. Remington’s been a unique bright spot in the upstate economy. Unlike the overall decline in manufacturing jobs in the area,
“Not only have they stayed, but they’ve grown,” said John Scarano, the executive director of the Herkimer County Chamber of Commerce. He added that the jobs at the plant were “not minimum-wage jobs — they’re good jobs,” and, indeed, many of the job postings on Remington’s Web site recently were for skilled engineering positions.
But none of that cuts much ice with the disarm-at-all-costs crowd. They’re taking a ‘let them eat cake’ approach to the prospect of more unemployed upstaters.
Advocates of tighter gun laws are unsympathetic, accusing Remington and others of using the threat of layoffs to give themselves leverage against state lawmakers. The proposed microstamping law would require that the technology be used only on semiautomatic pistols sold to consumers in New York State, not all of the guns they make in the state.
“I think it’s ridiculous for them to argue that they would leave New York,” said Jackie Hilly, the executive director of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, a group that wants microstamping. “Look, frankly, if we really want to keep jobs in New York, let’s invest more money in yogurt,” she added, referring to one of the state’s growing industries.
We’re sure New Yorkers Against Gun Violence will step right up and be among the first to contribute to cover the cost of retraining unemployed metal fabricating workers for their new lives in the dairy industry.