Les Baer left the Illinois side of the river and settled in Iowa about five years ago.
Today, gun maker Lewis Machine and Tool announced its departure from the Prairie State, taking 170 good-paying jobs with them. In fact, the owner, Karl Lewis, said he was very eager to make the move.
How soon? “The sooner the better.” Ouch.
Their destination: Davenport, Iowa.
“Why?” you ask.
Gee, could it be Illinois’ less than gun-friendly legislature, constantly working against gun owners’ interests? Could it be we missed the implementation of a semi-auto gun ban by just a few votes this spring?
We say congratulations to LMT. Why pay taxes to a state government that hates you?
DAVENPORT (Quad Cities Online) — A longtime Milan-based gun manufacturer announced plans Thursday to move his 170-employee operation to Davenport.
During a city enterprise zone commission meeting, Karl Lewis, owner of Lewis Machine and Tool Co., said he plans to build a 60,000-square-foot building on Kimmel Drive. The board unanimously approved Mr. Lewis’ plans.
If those plans come to fruition, Lewis Machine and Tool will be the second gun manufacturer to move across the river in the past five years. In 2008, Les Baer Customs moved its operations and two dozen workers to a new 18,000-square-foot building.
“I would hope, if everything lines up as it should, that sometime in 2014 we’ll make the formal move,” Mr. Lewis said. “The sooner, the better.”
What does LMT make?
They make things that cause some Illinois politicians to lose bladder and bowel control.
Also in the quad cities, and ripe, ripe, ripe for an easy river jump: Rock River Arms and Springfield Armory. (I’d mention Armalite, but since they’re willing to throw civilians under the bus to make sure LEO’s get theirs, I’m sure they’d stick around and deal with the devil.) Easy commute across the I-80 bridge, guys …
I can’t blame anyone for leaving a state that does not like them. Illinois is cutting their own throat and is not bright enough to know or care!
I personally wonder why I still live in this FOID card state. The values of the Illinois general assembly and chicago are not mine.
The part that people are missing in this story is the fact LMT is a manufacturer which means were not losing 170 jobs but closer to 800-1000 jobs when you add in the support jobs needed to make a business like LMT work.
That is one of the biggest problems that exists in the USA our elected official, elected by us don’t care about what we want. its all about what they want. They are our big brother and to them we bear watching at all times.
I bought a .308 MWS just before the Obamanation was re-elected. I’m glad to see them leaving that leftist state just like I left North Jersey where I was born and raised in ’02.
I understand the move is probably not a long distance, however, Iowa is a blue state, I hope a gun loving Blue state. I would think a firearms and accessories manufacturer would rather be in a red state.