The nation’s oldest gunmaker, Remington, confirmed it will close its massive firearms factory in Ilion, New York, this month and move to Georgia, leaving entire families out of work and the city’s mayor scrambling for answers .
Eliphalet Remington forged his first gun barrel in the village of Ilion in 1816, and over the next two centuries his company grew into a 1 million-square-foot factory with thousands of employees.
But in December, Remington’s current owners, RemArms, revealed it was moving its operations to gun-friendly Georgia and making 270 people redundant. The mayor confirmed this week that the move will take place this month.
With just 7,600 residents, the factory has long been the town’s main employer and Mayor John Stephens is concerned about Ilion’s immediate future.
“It’s going to be tough for a while,” Stephens said. “The local businesses will certainly see a small setback. But then again, 300 versus 1,500. It’s a little easier to swallow, but it still doesn’t make things any easier.”
The nation’s oldest gunmaker, Remington, confirmed it will close its massive firearms factory in Ilion, New York, this month and move to Georgia, leaving entire families out of work and Mayor John Stephens scrambling for answers.
Stephens – who has previously admitted that revenue losses from the closure could be as much as $1 million – said coming up with a budget for the next 12 months could be the biggest challenge he faces without the plant.
“This year we’re going to be very, very strict,” he said Fox news but noted that he and his cabinet would 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 had to cover everything we would lose.”
“And thanks to the hard work of myself, the village council and our village treasurer, we are seeing something between two and three percent in tax increases, all without any cuts to services,” he added.
Stephens said his residents are quick to blame New York state’s liberal leaders, who have 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… lesser reason. The people who currently own RemArms have made a business decision,” he said.
“And some of their reasons were exactly what I disagree with. The factory is probably inefficient for production today,” Stephens admitted.
He is still asking Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul to work with them to help save the city.
The 1 million square foot Remington factory in Ilion, New York
The factory has been in the city for over a hundred years, this photo from 1875 shows the first few blocks
Stephens said it feels like the village is ‘losing its identity’
Stephens, 57, said the factory is all he has ever known and that there are generations of families who have worked there.
“I want the governor to know. I need our county, our state and our federal elected officials – all aware – I need them to know that we need financial help. “Next year will probably be the most difficult year because it will be the first full budget year without that revenue,” he said.
Stephens said whatever 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 need to be sure that we can attract businesses to use this facility,” he said.
‘And again, it could be one large company, but also a few dozen smaller companies that could use the space. And that’s our goal, and I’m optimistic and I’m working every day to achieve that.”
A few weeks ago he told DailyMail.com: ‘It’s like the city is losing its soul. It’s almost like losing a family member. That’s what people struggle with: the nostalgia, the history. It feels like we are losing the identity of the city.’
His own father worked at the factory 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 have led the charge in passing anti-gun laws, but while they share some of the blame, that doesn’t paint the whole picture.
Stephens is asking federal and local leaders like Joe Biden and Kathy Hochul for help
The factory has made millions of firearms over the years and expanded into bicycles and typewriters
“There are people in this village who are a hundred years old and that’s all they’ve ever known. Ilion is Remington and Remington is Ilion,” he told DailyMail.com.
He is also concerned about the building being vacant, saying, “It’s just going to deteriorate over time and then I’ll have an abandoned factory falling in on itself.”
Stephens believes those who are laid off will be able to find work because there are “plenty of jobs available.”
But that may offer little comfort to those left behind, as some entire families lose their jobs overnight.
One of those is furnace operator and technician Frank “Rusty” Brown, who said the move is a “double whammy” for him and his wife as they are both out of jobs.
He said: ‘My mother worked there. My father worked there. My wife now works there with me. My daughter now works there with me. My second daughter now works there with me. And my son-in-law works there.’
Frank ‘Rusty’ Brown is devastated by the closure and says it will leave both he and his wife without jobs
A view of the Remington Arms Co. complex in the middle of Ilion, NY
Similarly, former Remington employee Konstanty Patrick Bielanski said on Facebook that the closure was “sad news” because it was a “great place to work.”
He said, “Many of us built millions of these rifles from early 1971 through 2010 to make Remington the best. No matter how sad it had to end, Ilion will never be the same again.’
In a 2016 promotional video, Remington employee Scott Nichols said, “We bring jobs to the area and the revenue from those jobs is distributed throughout the community.
“It’s hard to find someone in the area who doesn’t have someone related or know someone. It’s easy to walk onto the floor and find someone you know.”
In a letter to union officials in November, Remington Firearms’ current owners, RemArms, blamed “production inefficiencies” for the plant’s closure.
They cited the high cost of maintaining and insuring the 92,903 square feet of space in multiple buildings, many of which date back to World War I.
RemArms added that Georgia provided an environment that “better supports and welcomes the firearms industry.”
New York Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik blamed the state’s gun laws for the shutdown.
In a statement, she said: New York Democrats’ unconstitutional gun-grabbing policies have driven key businesses out of the state.
“History cannot be erased. I am proud to represent Ilion, the former home of Remington Arms in Upstate New York. And I will always stand up for 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 the do-gooders and not punish the criminals, punish the law-abiding. citizens.’