Spend enough time in the firearms industry and you will hear the term ‘Gun Valley.’ This describes a general area within the collection of northeastern states where so many of the biggest and oldest names in the firearms industry can be found.
This is an area steeped in gunmaking tradition and the heart of the burgeoning industrial base of Colonial America.
According to the New England Historical Society, Gun Valley began back in 1777 when George Washington “scouted the site on an old Puritan muster ground in Springfield, Mass., looking for a place to store weapons out of reach of the British Royal Navy.”
The facility would be known as the Springfield Armory. Located on the Connecticut River, this is where they “stored musket and cannon and made cartridges and gun carriages for the American Revolution.”
The Springfield Armory served as the primary small arms design and production facility for the U.S. Army, operating from 1796 to 1968.
From this base, New England became home to several firearms makers, including Remington Arms (1816 Ilion, NY), Colt’s Manufacturing Co. (1836 Hartford, CT), Smith & Wesson (1855 Springfield, CT), Winchester Repeating Arms Co. (1866 Springfield, CT), Marlin Firearms Co. (1870 New Haven, CT), and Savage Arms (1894 Utica, NY).
In the 1900s companies such as O.F. Mossberg (1919 New Haven, CT), High Standard (1926 Hamden, CT), Sturm Ruger (1949 Southport, CT), Charter Arms Co. (1964 Stratford, CT), Thompson/Center Arms (1965 Rochester, NH), Bushmaster Firearms (1973 Bangor, ME) set up shop in Gun Valley. Sigarms, now Sig Sauer, relocated in 1990 from Tyson’s Corner, Virginia to Exeter, New Hampshire.
This congregation in New England of major firearms makers, and their supporting manufacturing vendors, is one of the reasons the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) is also headquartered in Connecticut.
Simply put, New England is Gun Valley, and it has a long, storied and rich tradition of gunmaking. However it’s a tradition that is slowly being eroded, erased, bulldozed and otherwise stricken from the books – or so they hope – by today’s anti-gun politicians doing their most to push out gunmakers.
And they are succeeding.
Relocation is a major undercurrent in the modern firearms business as companies flee hostile states for those where firearms are as welcome as the jobs that accompany them. That’s why each year at SHOT Show you’ll find a handful of states in attendance working to lure industry jobs to their states.
There are a couple states that have scored major victories in attracting firearms companies. Georgia is now home to Taurus’ huge manufacturing facility after the Brazilian owned company left Florida. Sig, which remains headquartered in New Hampshire, has expanded with facilities in Oregon (optics) and Arkansas (ammo).
The big winner is probably Tennessee with both Beretta (Maryland) and more recently Smith & Wesson (Massachusetts) setting up shop in the Volunteer State.
While these are more recent moves, one of the big Gun Valley companies, and today’s second largest U.S. firearms manufacturer, decided back in 1987 to head west to expand its manufacturing operations.
That company is Ruger, and the western state it chose to do business in is Arizona.
The 48th State is home to a growing number of firearms industry companies, from the behemoth that is Ruger to the kind of small garage startups that one day hope to take their place among the major players in the industry.
According to their roster of members, NSSF has 414 member companies located in Arizona, which doesn’t account for all industry companies in the state. Based on NSSF’s 2022 report on Firearms and Ammunition Industry Economic Impact, Arizona ranks 8th among all states in industry created and supported jobs with 11,993. And those jobs are paying $778.6 million in combined wages.
In terms of Federal Excise Taxes paid, Arizona ranks 9th, and 10th in Federal Excise Taxes per capita.
Firearms and ammunition are more than big business from just the jobs creation aspect. They are also a big business at the consumer level. In the five year period from 2018 through 2022, Arizona saw 2,033,511 NSSF-adjusted NICS checks. And for January through May of 2023, that number is 160,371.
Hunters and shooters are also a big driver within the overall economy of Arizona. According to a report prepared for the Sportsmen’s Alliance by Southwick Associates, hunters (297,000) and shooters (448,000) contribute a combined $793 million to the state’s GDP.
And if you were to eliminate hunting or shooting you’d see the elimination of 5,100 and 7,200 jobs respectively. Losing 12,300 jobs has serious consequences on local and state economies.
How serious? Well consider that during the height of the pandemic in 2020 when many states were shutting down every business possible, here in Arizona then Governor Doug Ducey signed an executive order that very specifically exempted from closure “for purposes of safety and security” those places where guns and ammo are sold.
In 2021 Ducey went further in protecting firearms makers and signed into law a bill by Rep. Quang Nguyen, R-Prescott Valley, that put in state protections similar to those in the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. NSSF later that year named Rep. Nguyen their Arizona State Legislator of the Year.
Arizona is a true western state with western sensibilities, particularly when you escape the sprawling urbanization of the Phoenix Valley. The cowboy ethos is alive and well in many areas of the state. And gun rights remain strong in Arizona where they enjoy staunch support from state and federal legislators, like Rep. Nguyen.
Carrying a gun, whether concealed or in the open, is common throughout Arizona. Back in July of 2010 Arizona became a constitutional carry state.
The shooting sports are huge here. From numerous retail ranges providing indoor shooting to public ranges on BLM lands to private ranges, the shooting opportunities are plenty. And Arizona is home to one of the best state agency range systems, overseen by the Arizona Game & Fish Department. The crown jewel of the system being the well known Ben Avery Shooting Facility.
Thanks to its gun friendly environment, and a robust manufacturing infrastructure built to support a large aerospace industry presence, Arizona is a natural destination for firearms, ammunition and accessory companies looking to relocate, or even to start from the ground up.
It’s already home to night vision maker AGM Global Vision, bullet and ammo maker Berger Bullets, wholesale distributor Davidson’s, reloading equipment maker Dillon Precision, holster maker Galco Gunleather, the firearms training facility Gunsite Academy, stock maker McMillan, optics company Riton, gunsmithing school Sonoran Desert Institute, less lethal supplier Taser / Axon, trigger manufacturer Timney Triggers, ammo reseller True Shot Gun Club, body armor and tactical equipment manufacturer Tyr Tactical, and magazine publisher Wolfe Publishing, just to name a few.
Arizona is home to so many firearm industry suppliers, retailers and manufacturers that it is more than just a pro-gun, pro-business state. Arizona is Gun Valley West.
In the coming months we’ll visit some of the companies that helped Arizona, and in particular the Greater Phoenix Area, become Gun Valley West, and find out how they got their start and why they call the Grand Canyon State home.
-– Paul Erhardt, Managing Editor, the Outdoor Wire Digital Network