Remington Firearms announced Monday that it will invest $100 million in a factory and research operations in Georgia, the Associated Press reported.
Remington's headquarters will be moved from New York to LaGrange, Georgia, which is southwest of Atlanta. The country's oldest gun maker is one of many corporations to leave the Northeast in favor of the politically gun-welcoming South.
"We are very excited to come to Georgia, a state that not only welcomes business but enthusiastically supports and welcomes companies in the firearms industry," Remington CEO Ken D'Arcy said in a statement. D'Arcy said he plans to create over 850 jobs during a five-year period.
The company's sales slumped after the Sandy Hook school massacre in 2012, and anti-gun sentiment and support for legislative gun reform have increased due to mass shootings throughout the U.S.
"I am a proud owner of some of Remington's first-class product, and now, I am excited to welcome them to their new home in the Peach State," Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said in a statement.
"Georgia's firearms industry is responsible for thousands of jobs and millions of dollars of investment in our communities."
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.
Scott Malone, the economic development director for the city of LaGrange, said Remington has already secured at least one building in the city, and will operate from a combination of new and renovated facilities. He said local governments would offer property tax abatements, plus utility and infrastructure improvements.
Phil Smith, a spokesperson for the United Mine Workers of America, which represents some workers at a factory in Ilion, said the union had no information about whether workers in New York would be affected.
The new owners recently restarted operations there, calling back more than 200 workers who had been laid off. The local government in New York offered 10 years of tax breaks in exchange for the restart and upgrades.
It was not immediately clear what effect the transfer would have on Remington's operations in New York and Tennessee. The company owns the parts of the former Remington Outdoor Co. which make rifles, shotguns and some handguns after the former parent auctioned its assets in pieces last year during a bankruptcy proceeding in Alabama.
Investors doing business as the Roundhill Group purchased the Remington-branded gun-making business, including operations in Ilion, New York, and Lenoir City, Tennessee, for $13 million.
