Yet another Connecticut-based gun manufacturer is setting up shop in a friendlier locale.
Sturm, Ruger & Co. announced Monday that it is building a new facility in North Carolina, bringing with it revenue and several hundred new jobs.
The company released the news on its website on Monday:
“Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc. (NYSE: RGR) announced today that it plans to open its third manufacturing plant, a 220,000 square foot facility in Mayodan, North Carolina,” the statement said. “This will be the Company’s first major expansion in over 25 years and it is expected to be finalized in August.”
According to The New Hampshire Business Review, the expansion comes after Sturm, Ruger & Co. CEO Michael Fifer revealed to investors back in May that the company had reached its capacity at its other facilities in New Hampshire and Arizona.
Instead of making existing plants larger, Fifer said he would rather expand elsewhere, as he believes that once there are more than 1000 employees “you lose touch with the employees and the bureaucracy starts to build.”
As one the country’s top gun manufacturers, Sturm, Ruger & Co. was courted by many as it began its search to expand, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who sent a letter to the company encouraging it to come to his state.
It seems, however, that the company has decided to set up shop in North Carolina — a move that the President of the Rockingham County Partnership for Economic and Tourism Development believes will bring up to 500 jobs and an investment of 30 million dollars, as reported by WFMY.
The company’s decision to create a manufacturing facility outside of its base in Connecticut, where the company’s headquarters remain, is just another blow to the northeastern state.
In addition to Sturm, Ruger & Co., PTR Industries, another Connecticut-based gun manufacturing company, announced earlier in June that it will move its operations to South Carolina, due to the Connecticut’s harsh gun control regulations.
On Monday, Gov. Dan Malloy (D) and others were also slapped with a lawsuit from The National Shooting Sports Foundation, which claims that the new gun control legislation is unconstitutional. The NSSF also charges that legislators abused their power in passing the far-reaching law.
