In January 2013, a month after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the state of New York passed gun control legislation that included a ban on the retail sale of assault weapons. Soon after, Remington Outdoor Company, the maker of the Bushmaster assault rifle used in the massacre, announced that it would lay off workers at its 200-year-old factory in Ilion and move production to Huntsville, Alabama. Then CEO George Kollitides explained in a letter to New York officials that the move was brought on by "state policies affecting use of our products."

The gun lobby crowed about political payback: "We hope that sends a very strong message," remarked then National Rifle Association president Jim Porter, on a NRA radio show. What Porter didn't mention was what Alabama had done to sweeten the deal: By relocating to Huntsville, Remington, a $1-billion firearms conglomerate owned by the Manhattan private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, would receive state and local grants, tax breaks, and other incentives worth approximately $69 million—the equivalent of getting about $14 from every resident of Alabama.

Since 2003, state and local governments from Alabama to Tennesee have given more than $120 million worth of taxpayer funds to at least seven major firearms companies, according to research by Mother Jones. Most of those subsidies—nearly $100 million—have been pledged just in past three years by states seeking to lure gun producers from the Northeast, where new firearm regulations have angered industry leaders.

"I've had CEOs in New England tell me that the offers from states' economic development teams are so extraordinary that they could essentially move their factories for free," Larry Keane, senior vice president of the National Shooting Sports Federation, told Guns & Ammo. "In some cases they've received these offers almost daily over extended periods of time."

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/01/gun-manufacturers-subsidies-southern-states