Marlin closing Northeast plant ... moving to North Carolina?

I just saw on Michael Bane's blog that Marlin is closing its Connecticut plant, another sign of flight from the unfriendly gun climate of the northeastern U.S. region.

Marlin Firearms Co., a 140-year-old company which made a gun that was a favorite of Annie Oakley, is closing its Connecticut plant, company officials said Friday.

Workers at the plant in North Haven say they've been told all 265 employees will lose their jobs.

Jessica Kallam, a spokeswoman with Madison, N.C.'s Remington Arms Co. Inc., which owns Marlin, said the Connecticut plant will close by June 2011 and employees would be offered severance and help finding jobs. She said Marlin is relocating its manufacturing operations to an undetermined site.

Kallam could not confirm if all employees in Connecticut are losing their jobs.

She read a company statement that says Freedom Group, which owns Remington, must reduce its costs to remain competitive.

"Although long term prospects of the business look positive, economic factors beyond Freedom Group's control related to increasing costs and pricing pressures within the firearms industry are impacting the entire Freedom Group of companies," the statement said.

Remington Arms bought Marlin for nearly $42 million in 2007.

Bane says he's planning to buy a Marlin 1895GBP .45-70 guide gun sooner rather than later, but I doubt there's any danger of Marlin going out of business. The Freedom Group is expanding and consolidating costs of its family of firearms businesses, so Marlin's manufacturing may well be coming to the Remington plant here in my state at Madison, NC.

My Marlin 1894SS .44 Magnum lever carbine is my favorite long gun (that's it in the header of my blog) and I nearly bought a Marlin just like it in .357 Magnum, but somebody else bought it at the shop where I work before I could get my act together. Now I wish I'd been a little quicker on the draw.

I'm confident Marlin isn't gone, it's just moving from the northeast to a friendlier gun clime. But if we get a used Marlin lever gun in .357 Magnum, I'll just have to jump right on it.