Remington Outdoor Company, one of America’s oldest gun manufacturers, announced Monday that they would be filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after years of debt accumulation and possible financial mismanagement.
The North Carolina-based company says that it does not plan on shuttering operations just yet, and that Americans will still be able to purchase its products, though, as CNN reports, it will undergo a major restructuring as control of the company is handed over to Remington’s creditors.
Leftists were quick to dance on Remington’s grave, under the mistaken belief that their recent efforts to regulate guns were somehow responsible for Remington’s financial troubles. But the arms manufacturer’s woes go back much further than even Sandy Hook.
According to financial records, Remington accumulated an astounding $800 million in debt, $700 million of which they hope to wipe off the books by declaring bankruptcy — and that’s why they chose this route. Debt-riddled Remington simply couldn’t see another way out of their financial mess.
That’s not to say that there haven’t been societal factors that have contributed to Remington’s downfall. Once Trump took office, gun sales declined because the gun owners of America were less afraid of forcible confiscation, and for a while were safe in knowing that gun laws weren’t likely to become more restrictive.
Remington, among other gun manufacturers, were also hit with a series of frivolous lawsuits attempting to tie them to several mass shootings on the theory that gun makers were somehow responsible for what legal gun owners eventually did with their weapons (in Remington’s case, the Bushmaster Rifle, used by the shooter at Sandy Hook). Even though most of those lawsuits were quickly dismissed, Remington still found itself on the hook for millions in legal fees.
Remington does not plan, it says, on falling behind on orders and will continue to pay its employees.