Much has been said and written about the bifurcation of America along political lines. The red/blue tribal divide has only deepened and intensified over the last four decades, with more and more Americans voting with their feet, leaving where they’ve been to live and work among people whose values more closely align with their own. That movement has included, of course, firearm makers and related businesses that were founded in once-friendly states that have gradually become openly hostile to their operations and their very existence.
The list of companies that have pulled up stakes and moved is long and distinguished. Names like Beretta, Stag Arms, Weatherby, Smith & Wesson, Les Baer, Remington, Magpul, Kimber, Kahr Arms, and Winchester Ammunition come immediately to mind.
The latest to fully abandon its now openly hostile original location — in this case the benighted gun rights hell hole of New Jersey — is Henry Repeating Arms. It’s been a long process for them. The Bayonne-based rifle maker began making parts in Rice Lake, Wisconsin in 2011 and commenced complete firearm manufacturing there in 2014 before eventually relocated their headquarters there. Now Henry has announced that they’re completing the process, fully abandoning America’s armpit for the much friendlier business environment of the cheese curd state.
Henry Repeating Arms, one of America’s leading firearm manufacturers, is announcing a firm commitment to establishing 100% of its manufacturing operations in the state of Wisconsin. The commitment includes transferring all of its Bayonne, New Jersey manufacturing operations to its newly expanded state-of-the-art headquarters in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, and two additional facilities in nearby Ladysmith, Wisconsin. The company is also closing on a third Ladysmith facility in mid-summer 2025. This strategic transition accommodates the need for increased production capacity and better supports the company’s future growth driven by innovative firearms design.
Planting its flag firmly in the state of Wisconsin solidifies Henry Repeating Arms’ commitment to American craftsmanship in the heart of the Midwest and underscores the company’s relentless pursuit of enhancing the quality of its offerings, leading the industry in both aesthetic and functional design engineering, and delivering unmatched value to its growing customer base.
“We are putting all of our eggs in one basket, the Wisconsin basket, because it makes us more efficient, more productive, and allows for more collaboration amongst our design and engineering teams, all while sustaining and enhancing Henry’s solid reputation for quality,” said Anthony Imperato, Founder and CEO of Henry Repeating Arms. “With about 400,000 square feet of cutting-edge manufacturing operations in four facilities within minutes of each other, Henry Repeating Arms is well positioned for its next chapter.”
“This transition allows us to double down on what we do best—making world-class rifles, shotguns, and revolvers right here in the heart of America,” said Andrew Wickstrom, President of Henry Repeating Arms. “Our Wisconsin operations have been essential to our success for a long time, and now it is the cornerstone of our bright future.”
Henry Repeating Arms has played a principal role in the increased consumer demand for American-made lever action rifles, a platform the company has been committed to since its founding. As the company introduces new, innovative lever-action rifles and expands into other segments, its increased capacity in Wisconsin accelerates speed to market, streamlines distribution, and enhances quality control to effectively meet the needs of today’s and tomorrow’s firearm enthusiasts, competitors, hunters, and collectors.
For more information about Henry Repeating Arms and its lineup of rifles, shotguns, and revolvers, visit www.henryusa.com.
https://x.com/conncarroll/status/1901624635692605511
While it is a state likely to lose population (especially compared to conservative neighbors) for the next census it will be a vast improvement compared to NJ nonsense and may help stabilize that region a bit.
The last I heard a few weeks ago, Cali, New York and a few others are about to lose a combined 14 electoral votes thanks to people voting with their feet and moving to Texas and Florida, primarily.
Removing 14 from the left and handing 14 to the free states results not in 14 votes, but 28.
28 votes equals a fair-sized state come major election time. That *seriously* impacts their ability to win elections. Combine THAT with the Latinos now voting for us rather than them, they are looking at a future where they may never hold political power again in our lifetimes, since they refuse to believe that THEY are the problem.
They used to crow about demographics are destiny with the old fat whites dying off, they just never suspected THEY were the ones to lose that battle…
Legal Latino males are yes. Females not so much and when taken as a whole still average towards democrat slightly. With that said lot can change but we are already seeing most Republicans now saying the same things as early 90’s Democrats but at the same time guns and taxes are getting more and less popular so predictions from any of that is tricky.
“Females not so much and when taken as a whole still average towards democrat slightly.”
What I’m most hopeful for is that the the change is picking up speed.
Add to that the fact that poorer you are, the more religiously-devout you are, the Leftist-Fascist Scum ™ have a bomb about to explode that will ruin their plans.
I seriously suspect they will be DEMANDING a secure border in the near future. I’m more and more encouraged as time goes on.
Oh, and once the poor Latino women find out how pro-abortion they are, that’s just gonna make it all the worse for them…
https://revolver.news/2025/03/most-revealing-autopsy-of-2024-election-just-dropped-its-insider-intel-that-changes-everything/ more optimistic than my guesses but a good read and related.
Another example of a company that moved from their intolerant state of origin to one more welcoming: In 2013, PTR moved from Bristol Connecticut to Aynor South Carolina.
Although they offered a reasonable response On the Sandy Hook Shooting and Gun Policy, their home state’s politicians made the environment unsustainable until they left Connecticut, the cradle of America’s firearm industry.
The is nothing wrong with being tribal. A tribe is simply a group of like minded individuals. Who have come together for common interests and agree on the most fundamental ideas.
They reject outsiders who they see as dangerous, to the safety of group and to the individual.
So yes, those bible thumping christians. In fly over country. They really do see the world differently.
Congress woman Maxine waters made it perfectly clear. When she said, “to make these people uncomfortable.” “Make it known that they are not welcome here in restaurants.”
America became tribal a long time ago. It’s just only now that most people are starting to wake up to that fact.
There are not a lot of people willing to acknowledge that last paragraph of yours. It really got bad before I was even born with real domestic terrorism (many participants of which are now teachers) but commie infiltration of institutions and pushing of their agenda will do that. Now they just need to keep enough of the population not being American to hold on long enough for us to lose interest.
An Ivy-league education is no longer a guaranteed meal ticket in the real world, they just don’t realize it yet…
@Chris,
Bible-believing Christian here, though not in the Midwest but behind enemy lines in my West Coast state that’s been infested with Leftists over the past couple of decades. I had the unsavory experience of standing in a TSA line directly behind Maxine Waters at the airport last year. She’s of incredibly small stature and frail, with an incredibly large bodyguard who accompanies her. She was detained by an agent (they like to call themselves “officers” now in their documentation and conversations, but it’s an Agency, so they’re “agents”, and they have no powers of arrest anyway). My wife and I were allowed to pass by on our way to our gate while she argued with the agent, who informed her she was in the wrong line.
“America became tribal a long time ago.”
The so-called “gun community” is tribal; we cannot accept 2A defenders from groups we consider undesireable. So, we shun them. Sorta like how we treat “FUDDS”. Not that I am opposed to being tribal; anyone who doesn’t think ecactly like me should be denied all their natural, civil, human rights.
Never forget.
The libertarians liberals and the left. We’re content when the steel Mills all close. And production moved outside the country.
Well now it’s happening again. Manufacturing is leaving one part of the country and moving to another.
And there are a lot of people happy about that.
California use to be the number one producer of oil and gas in the USA. It hasn’t been that way for many decades now. And gas is $7 a gallon in the former Golden State.
But they did make stealing and weed legal.
No, gas was briefly $7 here a couple of years ago under Joetato. Briefly as in only several weeks during its price spike. It’s been around $4.29 in my SoCal area for a while now.
Eventually all the farming and manufacturing will be done in red states and the blues will androgynous opium dens desperately seeking HIV meds.
So long as the farms can sell out of state they will still exist in the blue ones but if they follow their commie course to the end……yeah Zimbabwe.
Best to you, Henry! Whatever enables your excellence to grow.
wisconsin has a voter i.d. referendum on the april fool’s ballot along with a critical supreme court vacancy. soros and pritzker financing one, musk the other. get off the couch.
rice lake and the surrounding towns are my old vacation stomping grounds. i’ve friends that work at the henry plant.
new auburn is a bit south and where michael perry’s excellent “population: 485- meeting your neighbors one siren at a time” is based.
highly recommended.
What was that 60’s song say, “You don’t need to be a weatherman to know it’s raining out” or something…
bobby zimmerman sang “you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.”
and “the pump don’t work ‘cuz the vandals took the handle.”