Gun manufacturer leaving New York for Pennsylvania’s Pike County
This May 21, 2013, image shows some of the 400,000 signed postcards to be delivered to N.Y. Assembly members, calling on them to repeal the NY SAFE Act, stacked on a table outside the Capitol during a Second Amendment rally. (AP Photo/Mike Groll, file)
The Kahr Firearms Group has announced it’s moving its corporate headquarters from New York State to Pennsylvania.
Kahr, which makes pistols, rifles and replicas of historic weapons, including Prohibition-era Tommy submachine guns, is the first gunmaker to leave New York State since the state passed new laws in the wake of the Newtown school shootings.
Vice President Frank Harris said the company’s executives were “shocked” by the rapid passage of New York’s SAFE Act, which bans high-capacity magazines and sales of assault weapons.
The company had already started a search for a new headquarters and, looking south, Harris said it saw a friendlier environment in Pennsylvania’s rural Pike County.
“They were treating us like rock stars,” Harris said. “You guys, you want to bring a gun business here? Hey, we would love to have you. We’re gun owners.”
Harris said it will take about a year to complete the move. In addition to a corporate headquarters, the company also plans to build a manufacturing facility that could eventually mean up to 100 jobs.
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