Posted on 06/20/2013 4:17:34 AM PDT by RBW in PA
A gun manufacturer is considering buying the entire 620-acre Pike County business park for $2 million to escape an unfriendly gun climate in New York. Kahr Firearms Group would move its corporate headquarters from in Pearl River, N.Y., to Pike County, bringing a some 100 jobs, company spokesman Frank Harris said. Some jobs will be temporary construction, others will be administrative and manufacturing. The business would be built in phases.
Already the company has hired engineering, legal and real estate firms to work on the project. It is conducting an executive search for an operations manager to oversee the building phase. "This land has a lot of woods. We have to clear the land and put in foundations. An operations manager will handle that and hire construction people," Harris said.
The first phase in Pike will begin with site preparation, clearing of trees and office construction as early as late this year. This will be followed by the relocation of company corporate offices and the research and development department. Some company executives who will work at the new offices have already purchased homes in Pike County, Harris said.
In the second phase, manufacturing operations will be expanded to the Pike County location to meet an increasing demand for the Kahr Arms, Thompson, Auto-Ordnance and Magnum Research product lines.
High demand Business is booming.
The company website advises customers that due to high demand, delivery times on firearms and high-capacity magazines will vary and may take as long as six months for new orders. Manufacturing is backlogged about a year, as are other gun makers, Harris said, although the company manages to send a little bit of product to all of its customers.
Kahr Firearms Group was founded in 1994 by Justin Moon, the son of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church. Today the private company sells between $75 million to $100 million in firearms and accessories annually, Harris said. Since 2001, sales have grown annually by 10 to 15 percent, Harris said. That is why for two years, Kahr had been in talks to buy land for a manufacturing facility in New York.
After the Newtown school shootings in December, the company saw some panic buying as there was talk of stricter gun control laws. Harris said the growth then jumped to 25 percent.
New York unfriendly "We were ready to sign a deal in rural Orange County, N.Y. But when the governor passed stricter gun control, it made it tough to continue on that path, so we jumped over the river," Harris said.
"New York has become very unfriendly to people in the gun business. We feel like we are being treated like criminals in New York. That is one of the reasons we are coming to Pennsylvania."
Kahr would use some of the business park in Blooming Grove for its own purposes, and sell some lots to other manufacturers, said Pete Helms of Chant Real Estate who is handling the deal.
The company signed a 60-day contract with the Pike County Economic Development Authority and the Business Development Corporation, during which the company will seek permits and approvals, and have engineers look at the property, Pike County EDA President Kathy Hummel said. The company plans an indoor shooting range to test equipment.
"I think it is a perfect fit. I believe they are going to be good neighbors," Hummel said. The Kahr Group of manufacturing plants, operating at full capacity, will continue production in their current locations in Worcester, Mass., and Pillager, Minn.
The business park land has been off the tax rolls since 1996, Pike Commissioner Matt Osterberg said. This deal will finally get that land generating taxes again. "This will go a long way in helping unemployment in Pike County," Hummel said.
CT is losing a gun company from what I have heard yesterday.
While I welcome the business to Pa., what do we know about the son of Moon? btw, I’ve never heard of Kahr. I guess I’m getting older. Smith & Wesson, Colt, Winchester and my favorite, Henry. So many newer players I can’t keep up.
Great news. I would love to work for a gun company.
If you love what Robert Mugabe did for South Africa ,You will love what these idiots in govt. are doing for Businesses in this country.
We are allowing Feckless Fools to direct and ruin our Lives.
I’ve got my eye on a new Ruger but I’m not buying until they leave Ct .and move to a more firearm friendly state!
I live in New York. Good. I hope this state implodes.
They (if they decide to move) should look further south and west. I appears that liberalism is metasticising in the northeast. The cradle of our republic is crumbling. Sad, sad times we’re in. Guess nobody teaches history up there anymore huh?
Kahr has been around since the early ‘80’s and produces a well-respected line of very concealable firearms, many in serious calibers. Good guns.
In Ruger's case, I guess it's okay to give them some time - their entire year's production was sold months ago, before the Connecticut mess. All they're doing now is filling the orders; it's probable that the state taxes have already been paid.
Going forward, though, they should really consider changing their corporate address to a state that their customers don't mind supporting. Same thing with Remington, but I think they're tied down in NY for years to come due to recent expansion involving state funding.
Is PA really safe ground? It is a pretty liberal state.
While I have a couple, and am knowledgeable about the basics of owning and operating a firearm, I'm hardly an afficianado or an expert...and I've heard of Kahr. They're definitely not some knock-off brand.
How many of the current employees will be able to relocate? That will affect the number of jobs at the new location. It will also create an opportunity for Realtors at both ends with home rental, sale and purchase needs.
It will be tough on some of the employees who can not move for one reason or another.
I don't know much about him but I know a little bit about his father Sun Myong Moon (sp?), He was a Korean who started a so-called "church" in Korea back in the 1950s. He and his church came to the US later on and he soon became a billionaire, usually by taking over businesses that were having financial difficulties and making them profitable again.
He was also known for suckering hundreds of thousands of young Americans into his phony-baloney "church". He and his so-called church were often in the news back when he married hundreds of his young converts in mass wedding ceremonies that often attracted nationwide media coverage. His son apparently took over the businesses after the father died a few years ago, and Kahr is just one of the US companies he owns.
I hope every gun and ammunition maker in New England, NY, NJ, and CA will get out of those states and move their manufacturing facilities and business offices to gun-friendly states in the south and west. I know that GA (where I live) would gladly welcome any and all of those companies and would probably offer tax breaks and other enticements to any gun manufacturer that would come on down. Why would any manufacturing business want to continue to operate in states where it's products are banned and it's potential customers are denied their Constitutional right to own and keep them?
Outside Philly, Pittsburgh, university towns and their suburbs, not so much.
Don’t they own the right to the Thompson semi-auto “machine” gun?
Yes, they bought Auto Ordinance, which also makes M1 Carbine repros and 1911’s.
“Why would any manufacturing business want to continue to operate in states where it’s products are banned and it’s potential customers are denied their Constitutional right to own and keep them? “
Because they are successful businesses, they will make these decisions based on economics. I doubt that any of them would locate where they are today, but that said, it isn’t easy to pick up and move a going business without majors costs and the possibility of disruption of their business and that of their suppliers, to say nothing of their employees. It amazes me how quickly some here are to demonize this company or that, because of where they make their products. This nonsense with these state governments is quite new. For craps sake, give them time to make and implement plans. It does not happen over night!
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