We’ve reported that proactive pro-gun states have put on the full court press to entice gun makers and related firms to relocate from the chilly (as in business climate) northeast to friendlier pro-gun states. Now C Products Defense has decided that doing business in a state that’s openly hostile to your products – Connecticut in this case – no longer makes sense. The manufacturer of stainless steel AR mags is baling out of Newington for sunny Manatee county where, to qualify for a $100,000 incentive payment, they’ll add 100 jobs to the local economy in the the next five years. They’ll also be living and working in a place that actually welcomes them and what they do. The only question left: is this just a one-off or the beginning of an flood of similar companies who’ve decided they’d much rather be elsewhere?
hurting the local economy is not the way to go…but money is money and you have to go where you get the biggest tax break i guess…
Local economies welfare should only be determined by the survival of the fittest. That is how a free market works. If it should fail it needs to fail.
It bugged me so bad when my family started ordering pizza from the local place only when it announced it was going out of business. The pizza was so crappy, and that was so predictable.
I don’t see a problem with the economy of a region or state that votes anti-gun suffering because a gun company leaves for a friendlier venue.
I know it’s slightly different due to being acquired and moved by the new parent company, but can’t you include Marlin vacating Connecticut after 100 or so years in this conversation too?
Any gun maker that stays in a state that hates their product is nuts. They should all move to gun loving states and give them the jobs.
They also got hit with a messy lawsuit over contract issues with one of their subcontractors and went out of business. It was a big cluster-f*ck over on ar15.com.
The “C Products Defense” corp is not the original C-Products LLC although it appears Larry is running this new entity as well and combining it with the LCJ Wholesale business. Looks like he is rebuilding his business.
I can’t say a bad thing about his magazines though. The 9mm ar15 mags and 30 round ar15 mags have never given me issues. He also was very good at bringing 7.62×39, 5.45, 6.5, and 6.8 mags to market at very reasonable prices. Last I knew he also had a very good customer service reputation before the lawsuit troubles.
C Products doesn’t exist anymore, can’t remember who they are now, but C Products essentially signed a contract with someone to be their exclusive coater, but they broke the contract and got sued and the coater got some of the machines and started making magazines under another name.
Here’s to the hope that this is the start of a new trend.
Absolutely!
I doubt that this move was political. Economics rule, and the economics in Florida (land cost, rent, salaries, taxes, workers comp cost, union issues, the list goes on and on) are far superior in every way to the economics in Connecticut. Are there any surprises here? The Sun Belt has been siphoning jobs away from the Northeast and the Rust Belt since the 1950s. I’m surprised that the Northeast and Midwest have any manufacturing jobs left. Oh, wait. They don’t.
It’s a race to the bottom. Zero new jobs have been created. C Products has simply taken a $100,000 incentive (“bribe,” a cynic might say) to move the existing jobs from CT to FL. If another locality comes up with a $150,000 incentive, guess what.
New jobs ARE being created in a state who is willing to go the extra mile to gain the business. There are 100 jobless folks in Florida who will gain a new job i.e. new jobs! And as for incentives/bribes or whatever you want to call them it is simple business. By your definition every auction held could be categorized as a bribe fest.
That’s silly. No new jobs have been created. The jobs have simply been moved from CT to FL at the taxpayers’ expense. If another locality is willing to bend over a little further on tax abatement or environmental variances, the jobs will move again.
To get reelected, politicians will import jobs at a net loss to the community and send you, the taxpayers, the bill. This is what politicians mean when they say they “create jobs.” They’re buying them with your money.
And it’s not like these are great jobs. These are non-union, light manufacturing jobs, a few clicks above the minimum wage. Many of these jobs move to the sunbelt to take advantage of undocumented labor. Next stop, China.
To a jobless person, the opportunity to start work is absolutely a new job and if you want to argue it further then I suggest you argue semantics to any one of those formerly unemployed folks in Florida who will now start work. For those in Connecticut, they need to ask their legislators why exactly they lost a firearms-related company and either go get a “good union job” or in the future maybe vote accordingly to keep it friendly for said company in their state.
So for a job to be a “real” job it has to be union? Your naivety is painful. From my lurking in this forum I’ve gathered that you’re somewhat the pariah around here but from your posts I just don’t see why.
So to an out of work person how would you explain to them why “non-union, light manufacturing jobs, a few clicks above the minimum wage” is the bad thing you imply? Have you ever had to scrap for a living? If you have then you’ve definitely forgotten the experience and, keeping in mind those that are scrapping right now, you should be ashamed for that.
You are missing the point. For every person who gains a job, another loses a job. The result is zero net growth in employment. Competition between localities has its benefits, but not without significant cost, especially to the communities and taxpayers.
Magoo, Don’t know where you live, but do you actually know anything about the Sun Belt and the South? Let’s take this out of the gun manufacturing realm for a second, and look at some other industry. Musical Instruments, for example. Gibson moved their plants to Tennessee and Arkansas. Ludwig Drums moved from Chicago to the Carolinas. Why? It wasn’t dissatisfaction with local workers. It wasn’t to go low-rent on jobs. It was because the unions were killing the company. I knew Bill Ludwig, Jr., personally. His dad and my grandfather played in the same orchestra together in Chicago. The Ludwig family was a part of the fabric of Chicago. But when the musical instrument biz changed (Japan Inc. and all the imports), they couldn’t compete. Ludwig went to the union and said, “Look, we’ll show you the books. We can’t continue on like this. We have to negotiate so we can lay people off and get a break on benefits.” The union refused. Ludwig kept negotiating. Finally, they said, “We have two choices – move the factory or close up shop. We can’t afford business as usual.” The unions refused to budge. So Ludwig looked around. Seems there were a bunch of highly-skilled former employees of furniture factories in the Carolinas that were out of work (as the furniture biz went overseas). Rather than export the jobs, Ludwig moved their factory, lock, stock, and drumshell to N. Carolina and hired back scads of skilled woodworkers. Today, Ludwig thrives in a non-union state. All those union workers in Chicago? I don’t know what they’re doing today, but it sure as Hell isn’t making drums.
For you to claim that these are “non-union, light manufacturing jobs, a few clicks above the minimum wage” is a stretch. Do you know this for a fact? Have you interviewed the company? The union local? The shop steward? Are you certain of your facts? Sounds to me like you have another one of your pet theories, and you’ve invented some “facts” to fit your worldview.
Just look at the Post Office to see how the unions are screwing things up big time.
It’s not the unions that are destroying the Post Office,it is the massive unqualified management plus a congressional mandate to pay 75 years of pension costs in 10 years. What other business or Federal agency is told told pay over 5 billion dollars for years to come to the the US Treasury off the top ?The Post Office has 1 manager for every 8 hourly workers. Most managers only have high school diplomas,I’ve never met one who had a real college education. Most are promoted because of who they are related to or their race/sex. We have teams of managers in our district who drive around in new cars checking that we roll the windows up in postal vehicles up in the summer for security . How to fix the Post Office -1) pay actual retirement costs every year. 2) Anyone whose job does not involve moving,processing or delivering the mail is liable for layoff. Do these 2 items and the Post Office is in the black.
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