State has helped fund rifle plant

[fasteddie]

State has helped fund rifle plant

Ilion facility has guns for police, military

Michael Virtanen

Associated Press

ALBANY — New York state has spent nearly $6 million over the past three years on subsidies for a two-century-old upstate factory that makes fire­arms including semiauto­matic rifles used by the military and police and like those used in the re­cent killings in Webster and Connecticut. Though several elect­ed leaders in this tough­on- guns state want tighter restrictions on those mili­tary- style weapons, none say it’s time to stop sup­porting Remington Arms Co. and risk the nearly 1,000 jobs it provides in the central New York community of Ilion. The gunmaker has plenty of defenders, particularly those who support the continued manufacture of weapons used by the mil­itary or police.

In 2010, Empire State Development, the agency that works with private companies to attract and retain jobs, announced $2.5 million in grants and subsidies to help Reming­ton bring its Marlin lever­action gun production from Connecticut to Ilion and add 100 jobs. That fol­lowed two grants in 2009 worth $3 million for reno­vations and machinery.

“It was never the de­sire of the state of New York to subsidize the de­velopment of the sort of tactical weapons that end­ed up being used in Con­necticut and now, I under­stand, in upstate New York as well,” said Assem­blyman Charles Lavine, a Long Island Democrat. “By tactical weapons, I’m talking about a rifle such as the Bushmaster.” In 2011, Bushmaster Firearms moved manu­facturing operations from Maine to Ilion, where Remington now makes Bushmaster guns. No state money was used in that transfer, which brought more than 40 jobs. Police said Bushmas­ter military-style rifles were used to kill 20 school children and seven adults in Newtown, Conn., and to kill two volunteer fire­fighters and seriously wound two others Mon­day when they responded to a blaze in Webster. Police have not said where the guns used in the shootings were manufac­tured. It’s possible they were made in Maine be­fore operations moved to New York; Remington also has one other produc­tion plant in Hickory, Ky., according to the compa­ny’s website.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Charles Schum­er said he has consistently said that he believes it’s appropriate for lawmak­ers to support production of semiautomatic assault­style weapons for mili­tary and law enforcement use, but that the guns don’t belong in the hands of civilians. Schumer, who has helped Remington se­cure Army contracts in­cluding an $8.9 million award in 2011 to produce 1,212 M24 sniper rifles, joined the company at last year’s event announcing the move of Bushmaster to Ilion.

Since the Newtown shootings, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said better gun control should be addressed first with federal legislation, noting New York already has some of the toughest gun laws and many of the guns used in crimes come from out of state. He added that the state ban on so-called assault weapons has “sig­nificant loopholes,” in­cluding allowing large-ca­pacity magazines made before 1994.

“Much of the law’s on the cosmetics of the gun, the design of the gun, rather than the actual ca­pacity of it, so there’s no question but that the law needs to be improved, in my mind,” he said.

New York law general­ly prohibits possession of an assault weapon or large-capacity magazine, felonies punishable by up to seven years in prison. An assault weapon is de­fined as a semiautomatic rifle that can use a detach­able magazine and has at least two of these other characteristics: folding stock, pistol grip, bayonet mount, flash suppressor or grenade launcher.

Police said the Bush­master that William Spengler used to kill two firefighters in an ambush Monday was equipped with a flash suppressor, which makes it harder for a potential target to see the flash of light emitted from the end of the rifle barrel when a round is fired. Many of the Bush­master rifles advertised also have pistol grips.

“I think much more has to be done on assault weapons, quote unquote, starting with the point: How do you define an as­sault weapon?” Cuomo said. He promised his gun proposal in his State of the State Address on Jan. 9.

Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi said subsidies to Remington were awarded under the previous administration and that are no pending requests for future aid.

Assemblyman Marc Butler, a Republican who represents Ilion, said that Remington makes guns that are legal and that the company and the commu­nity are getting “a bad rap.”

[WNYBuckHunter]

Police said the Bush­master that William Spengler used to kill two firefighters in an ambush Monday was equipped with a flash suppressor, which makes it harder for a potential target to see the flash of light emitted from the end of the rifle barrel when a round is fired.

Flash suppressors are illegal in NY already unless the gun is preban. Im pretty sure that Spengler didnt give a damn about the laws, AWB or anything else, and him possessing a gun of any sort was illegal. I fail to see what the point is of that statement, or even mentioning that incident when trying to advocate for gun control. I guess if you are a mindless sheep, you dont think about the real facts though, you just drink the Kool Aid you are served without question.

I know you didnt say it eddie, just quoting the article.

[fasteddie]

The article was in today's Democrat & Chronicle . Thought it might be of interest to members .

[tony m]

Taxpayers funds shouldn't be used to fund private business. We lost the Pork Lawsuit last year in Albany. Thanks to Jim Ostrowski from Buffalo for putting the effort in to defend the New York State Constitution. We lost our appeal. Violating the NYS Constitution won.

[dbHunterNY]

i disagree to point with what tony m said.... if military and police here in NY have a need for a product then by all means buy it from a business that supports jobs and people in NY. that's assuming contracts are bid on and the cost isn't much more than getting stuff from somewhere else. Remington has incentive then for staying in NY, opposed to moving all those jobs elsewhere. that's my opinion.

[fasteddie]

They brought Marlin manufacturing along with 100 jobs to NYS . That isn't much compared to the taxpayer investment .

[dbHunterNY]

....of $2.5 million, no, i agree with you if that's all we get. seems like the numbers you posted doesn't add up to getting much for the $. if it sets things up for further expansion and mfg of marlin rifles and they now have the capacity for more jobs or taxed revenue coming back to NY than that's something different. i don't know which is the case. you know an answer to that? like i said i'm ok with providing contracts that are bid on and not just awarded at an inflated price. if they're within a certain percentage of the low bid then i don't see why we wouldn't want to keep that money here in NY. wasn't trying to single tony m out either, just saying to a small extent taxes we pay do end up funding private business. no way around it.