The nation’s oldest gun manufacturer, Remington, confirmed it will close its massive firearms factory this month in Ilion, New York, and head to Georgia, leaving entire families out of work and the city’s mayor searching for answers.
Eliphalet Remington forged his first rifle barrel in the town of Ilion in 1816, and over the next two centuries his business grew into a 1 million square foot factory with thousands of employees.
But in December, Remington’s current owners, RemArms, revealed they were moving operations to gun-friendly Georgia and laying off 270 people. The mayor confirmed this week that the measure will be carried out this month.
With a population of just 7,600, the factory has long been the town’s largest employer and Mayor John Stephens is concerned about Ilion’s immediate future.
“It’s going to be tough for a while,” Stephens said. ‘Local businesses are definitely going to see a bit of a drop. But again, 300 against 1,500. It’s a little easier to swallow, but it still doesn’t make things easier.’
The nation’s oldest gun maker, Remington, confirmed it will close its massive firearms factory this month in Ilion, New York, and move to Georgia, leaving entire families out of work and Mayor John Stephens searching for answers.
Stephens, who has previously confessed that revenue losses from the closure could amount to $1 million, said budgeting for the next 12 months may be the biggest challenge he faces without the factory.
“This year we are going to be very, very strict,” he said. Fox News but he signaled that he and his cabinet were going to make it work.
‘It’s going to be very tight. But when we started our budget process, which we’re just finishing… we started with a 30 percent tax increase, if we were to cover everything we were going to lose.’
“And thanks to my hard work, the town board and our village treasurer, we are looking at a tax increase of between two and three percent, and that’s without cutting any services,” he added.
Stephens said his residents are quick to blame New York state’s liberal leaders, who led the charge in passing anti-gun laws, but while they share some of the blame, that doesn’t paint the whole picture.
‘Do I think the political climate in New York is partly the reason? Yes. Yes I do. But I think that’s probably the… least of the reasons. “The people who currently own RemArms made a business decision,” he said.
And some of his reasons were right, others I disagree with. The factory is probably not efficient for production today,” Stephens admitted.
He’s still asking Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul to work with them to help save the city.
The 1 million-square-foot Remington plant in Ilion, New York
The plant has been in the city for over a hundred years; This photo from 1875 shows the first stables.
Stephens said he feels like the town is “losing its identity.”
Stephens, 57, said the plant is the only thing he has “ever known” and that there are generations of families who have worked there.
‘I need the governor to know. I need our county, our state, and our federal elected officials, everyone to be aware, I just need them to know that we need financial help. “Next year will probably be the most difficult because it will be the first full year, budget year, without that revenue,” he said.
Stephens said no matter what happens, he and the people of Ilion will remain steadfast and optimistic.
‘We have to stay positive here and not only in Ilion, but in this entire region. “We have to be sure that we are going to be able to attract companies to use that facility,” he stated.
‘And again, it could be a large company or a couple dozen smaller companies that can use the space. And that is our goal, and I am optimistic and work every day to achieve it.”
Speaking to DailyMail.com a few weeks ago, he said: ”It’s like the city is losing its soul. It’s almost like losing a family member. That’s what people struggle with: nostalgia, history. “It seems like we are losing the identity of the city.”
His own father worked at the plant for 37 years and raised four children on a Remington salary.
Stephens said his residents are quick to blame New York state’s liberal leaders, who led the charge in passing anti-gun laws, but while they share some of the blame, that doesn’t paint the full picture.
Stephens asks federal and local leaders like Joe Biden and Kathy Hochul for help
The plant has manufactured millions of firearms over the years and has expanded into bicycles and typewriters.
‘There are people who are 100 years old in this town and it’s all they’ve ever known. Ilion is Remington and Remington is Ilion,” he told DailyMail.com.
He’s also worried about the building being empty, saying, “It’s just going to deteriorate over time and then I’ll have an abandoned factory that’s collapsing in on itself.”
Stephens believes those who are laid off will be able to find work as there are “many jobs available.”
But that may be little comforting to those left in the lurch: some entire families lose their jobs in one fell swoop.
One of them is furnace operator and technician Frank ‘Rusty’ Brown, who said the move is a ‘double whammy’ for him and his wife, with both of them out of work.
He said: ‘My mum worked there. My dad worked there. My wife works there with me now. My daughter works there with me now. My second daughter works there with me now. And my son-in-law works there.
Frank ‘Rusty’ Brown is devastated by the closure and said it will leave him and his wife out of work.
A view of the Remington Arms Co. complex in downtown Ilion, New York
Likewise, in a Facebook post, former Remington worker Konstanty Patrick Bielanski said the closure was “sad news” as it was a “great place to work.”
He said: “Many of us built millions of these rifles to make Remington the best from early 1971 to 2010. How sad it had to end, Ilion will never be the same.”
In a 2016 promotional video, Remington employee Scott Nichols said, “We bring jobs to the area and the profits from those jobs are distributed throughout the community.”
‘It’s hard to find someone in the area who doesn’t have someone related or doesn’t know someone. It’s easy to hit the trail and find someone you know.
In a letter to union officials in November, Remington Firearms’ current owners, RemArms, blamed the plant’s closure on “production inefficiencies.”
They cited the high cost of maintaining and securing the 1 million square feet (92,903 square meters) of space in multiple buildings, many of which date back to World War I.
RemArms added that Georgia offered an environment that is “better supportive and welcoming of the firearms industry.”
New York Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik blamed the shutdown on the state’s gun laws.
In a statement, he said: The ‘New York Democrats’ unconstitutional gun-grabbing policies have driven major businesses out of the state.
‘History cannot be erased. I am proud to represent Ilion, former base of operations for Remington Arms in upstate New York. And I will always defend our 2A Constitutional Rights!’
Another former employee, David Brewer, wrote on Facebook: “I spent 34 years there and it’s sad to see it go, but the governor wants to make a name for herself among the do-gooders and not punish the criminals, but punish the law-abiding.” the citizens.’