Anti-AR-15 Massachusetts Fires on Smith & Wesson, so It Shoots for Tennessee

As throngs attempt to escape poverty and persecution into a life and land of liberty, America is being transformed by migration.

I’m speaking, of course, of the flight from blue states to red.

You’ve heard of a mass exodus from California, in which many residents and businesses have landed in Florida, Texas or Tennessee.

Now count among those movers a gun Goliath.

At least, that’s the plan.

As revealed by a press release last week, Massachusetts mammoth Smith & Wesson will resettle itself in Maryville, Tennessee.

“[O]ne of the nation’s oldest firearms manufacturers,” the statement relays, will be “moving its headquarters and significant elements of its operations” to The Volunteer State.

According to President and CEO Mark Smith, it had to be done:

“This has been an extremely difficult and emotional decision for us, but after an exhaustive and thorough analysis, for the continued health and strength of our iconic company, we feel that we have been left with no other alternative.”

What was the trigger?

Per the proclamation, that’d be recently-introduced Massachusetts legislation that could “prohibit the company from manufacturing certain firearms in the state.”

As noted by CBS News, the measure would, “if enacted, bar the production of firearms that made up more than 60% of the company’s revenue last year.”

Massachusetts in 2004 banned the purchase of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. A bill introduced in the state legislature in April (H4038) would prohibit companies from manufacturing those same devices, other than those sold to law enforcement, the military or foreign governments.

The lawmakers sponsoring the proposal said it came in response to firearms made in Massachusetts being used in multiple mass shootings in other states.

The country saw its greatest percentage of homicides involving guns on record last year, with murders rising 30% nationwide in 2020, according to data released Monday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Might increased killings be linked to defunding the police and a climate of chaos in the streets?

Either way, of course, rifles are rarely employed in the commission of crimes.

Per FBI data from 2019, though boomsticks were involved in the majority of homicides that year (10,258 of 13,927), rifles comprised a tiny portion (364).

In fact, knives were the killing tools 1,476 times (See: The UK Wars with Cutlery, Offers Knife-Free Chicken Boxes & Tales of Murder for Dinner).

Back to Smith & Wesson, it cited other reasons for a Tennessee trek:

Business friendly environment
Quality of life for employees
Cost of living and affordability
Access to higher education institutions
Availability of qualified labor for its operations and headquarter functions
Favorable location for efficiency of distribution

CEO Mark hailed the home of the Smoky Mountains and the King of Rock and Roll:

“The strong support we have received from the State of Tennessee and the entire leadership of Blount County throughout this process, combined with the quality of life, outdoor lifestyle, and low cost of living in the Greater Knoxville area has left no doubt that Tennessee is the ideal location for Smith & Wesson’s new headquarters. We would like to specifically thank Governor (Bill) Lee for his decisive contributions and the entire state legislature for their unwavering support of the 2nd Amendment and for creating a welcoming, business friendly environment.”

Personally, the news strikes me as fitting.

America is in mid-reshuffle.

We look to be at the start of a New Tribalism, not just in the micro at colleges and universities, and not just for families at Thanksgiving, but in terms of red and blue states.

As for the national fashion, going forward, I believe purple is the new plaid.

Of course, I may be wrong.

And I very much hope I am.

For now — at the end of a year suffering from monumental insecurity in which gun sales have surged — it’s unsurprising that a well-known manufacturer is soon to set up in the south.

So goes intranational immigration as two nations — culturally, socially, and politically — are forming before our very eyes.