Collateral Damage

New York passed some new firearms legislation last month, and according to the Utica Observer-Dispatch:

At least five states have contacted the parent company of Remington Arms to encourage the gun manufacturer to relocate in response …

Legislators whose districts would be affected by the loss of more than 1300 manufacturing jobs should relocate are, predictably, fighting back:

Generations of expertise is in the DNA of all those who work for Remington and live in upstate New York,” Hanna, R - Barneveld, said in a statement issued Tuesday. “The Ilion plant remains highly competitive, and its workers and the community are committed to the success of Remington. I look forward to working with New York state leaders to see that Remington stays here for generations to come and thrives right where it began almost 200 years ago.”

This, one suspects, is what we can expect, many times over, as the Pentagon slims down.  For many in Washington, defense spending is fundamentally a jobs program and when defense spending is cut, someone's constituents bleed.