Gun Control Update: Firearms Makers Relocate To Friendlier States

The gun control debate just became even more contentious. An Oregon manufacturer of AR-15 type rifles that produces the weapons for the arms company Colt announced Friday that they would leave the nicknamed -- "left coast" state for the more welcoming greener pastures of Breckenridge, Texas. Bold Ideas, which makes "Colt Competition" firearms will relocate to the north Texas town of just over 5,000 and has already reportedly posted a "help wanted" advertisement in local Texas newspapers.

Colt, based in Connecticut, has been mulling its own future, as the longtime New England icon deals with its own increasingly restrictive regulations thanks to passage of the state's new stringent gun control regulations, said to be in response to the shootings of 20 children and staff at a school in Newtown, Conn. Gov. Dannel Malloy, D-Conn, has wholeheartedly endorsed the new regulations despite his state being home to a number of gun manufacturers and hunters who use guns for sport.

The firearms maker's relocation to Texas is seen by many as Bold Idea's literal acceptance of Gov. Rick Perry's reported open solicitation to arms manufacturers and related organizations telling them they would have free reign to produce what they want as they want in one of the most conservative states in America.

Elsewhere, Magpul Industries, a maker of ammunition and magazines, announced that they would leave their longtime base in Colorado if progressive Gov. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., signed a bill limiting the size of such magazines. The firearms maker did not confirm whether it would relocate as Hickenlooper recently made the bill law. State leaders in "freer" states took to social media to lobby Magpul to relocate to their district if they decide to leave following Hickenlooper's edict. One such page founded by a Last Frontier state representative was titled "Magpul Industries-Alaska Wants You!"

Adjacent to gun-friendly states West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Delaware to some extent lies Maryland. Many say the first major Catholic outpost in America has made a U-Turn since Lord Baltimore found his new home in the Treasure of the Chesapeake. Gov. Martin O'Malley has been criticized, though mostly from folks out-of-state who have no effect on his electability, of instituting repeated tax increases and regulations on everyday life. Many have suffered double-takes when traveling along Interstate 95 through the new "Photo-Enforced 55 mph" zone that stretches throughout a formerly half hour straight shot from the Gunpowder Falls to the Patapsco River.

Now American icon Beretta has decided to leave the said-to-be treacherous business climate of Maryland for elsewhere. Its Accokeek, Md. headquarters lies inside the confines of yet another state to impose strict regulations on gun use and manufacturing. Beretta, founded in 152, is the oldest active firearms manufacturer in the world. State Delegate Anthony O'Donnell, R-Solomons Island, echoed the feelings of many in the conservative minority in Maryland, which lost the state house to O'Malley following the defeat of incumbent Republican Bob Ehrlich.

"Maryland has a reputation for having a horrible business climate, and [the departure of Beretta] would be one more nail in the coffin," O'Donnell told "Opposing Views."

Liberal analyst James Carville once famously described the schism in American politics between the right and left, noting how some states, like Maryland, have population centers of oft-democratic voters, such as Baltimore, and Montgomery & Prince Georges Counties which border the District of Columbia, that are offset geographically but not electorally by a majority of the rest of the state, such as Ocean City and the western panhandle counties of Garrett, Allegany, and Washington. Carville described a similar situation in the Keystone State, calling it Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with "Alabama in the middle," which later led to the moniker "Pennsyltucky."

In Pennsylvania's case, outside of those two areas noted by Carville, the commonwealth has a large number of gun owners as many see the wilds of Pennsylvania as a hunting mecca. Unlike Maryland, Pennsylvania often votes more conservative-minded in local elections despite its recent voting record in national elections.

The prevalence of two polar-opposite viewpoints on the gun control issue inside a number of states throughout the country have made for a fierce battle on the extent to which the Second Amendment covers gun owners' rights.