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Remington Arms CEO Ken D’Arcy spoke at the LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce Early Bird Breakfast on Tuesday.

The CEO spoke about ongoing efforts to move their manufacturing facilities from New York to LaGrange.

“Moving a factory 208 years old was not an easy thing to start with,” D’Arcy said. “It’s been in the same place for 208 years. It was a huge challenge. But getting out of New York was fundamentally the right thing for our company to do.”

“We had multiple offers and lots of chances for different places. We came to LaGrange, spent the day here, and I went back and said, provided we get the things we hope that we’ll be able to get, this is the right fit for us,” D’Arcy said.

D’Arcy spoke about the difficulties of gun manufacturing, saying the industry is heavily regulated, noting the company is currently being sued by two separate cities in upstate New York because they sold too many guns.

“How the hell can we sell too many guns? The consumer wants to buy them. You know, we sell them to retail stores. The retail stores buy them. So we’re being sued because we sold too many. I don’t know what too many is,” he said.

D’Arcy said they plan to completely exit New York and expect to have everything in LaGrange by the end of October. 

“We’re closing that factory. It is closed now. We’re not producing anything and moving. I don’t know how many people have moved their house, but you can imagine moving a million-square-foot factory that’s been in the same place for 200 years. That’s a huge undertaking,” D’Arcy said.

He said they are negotiating bringing their museum to LaGrange as well.

“We’d like it here, getting the right facility, the right support to do it. That’s our plan. And I think it’s great for LaGrange because people come from across the country to visit the Remington Museum.”

D’Arcy said Remington currently has 160 employees in LaGrange but long-term plans call for upwards of 800. 

“Life has changed a lot since Covid. People don’t seem to want to work as much, and because they don’t seem to want to work as much, we’ll automate,” D’Arcy said.

D’Arcy said they are currently manufacturing about 300 guns per day. Once they get in their new facility they are hoping to make 1000 to 2000 guns per day. He said they could potentially be in the new facility as early as late October.