Well, it does illustrate the beauty of an open capitalist society .... the ability of a company to move to friendlier-to-do business with states.
I knew Strom Thurmond because of my family ... my Dad being a big political player in the state, was close friends with Carroll Campbell and Floyd Spence and, of course, Mr. Strom would hang-out at the family restaurant when he was in town. Sometimes he would bring his friends Bob and Elizabeth Dole. I have hanging in my home now a picture my Mom took of Strom and Ronald Reagan, speaking in the restaurant for a fundraiser. Dad was good friends with a kid he had mentored, a kid named Lee Attwater ... Lee graduated from the local small Lutheran College, same one my Son just graduated from.
Mr. Strom loved me because I had worked his reelection campaign vigorously as a student at UofSC in the 70s ... and then when I went into the service I was assigned to 2/325th PIR 82nd Airborne Division ... the same Parachute Infantry Regiment as Strom during WWII. It is a brotherhood, the White Falcons, so it was a big deal to him when I was named Soldier of the Year ... he flew down from D.C., Jim Gavin actually pinned my MSM on me with Strom standing there ... and they were both on my VIP bird for the big jump along with General James Lindsey and others from my chain of command.
Strom was a firm believer that one day there would be another civil war. He talked about it often and made it his life's mission that The South would never be underprepared, under gunned, dependent upon foreign gun makers again .... he felt that was the cause of the loss the firat time around. Not enough manufacturing he used to say ... not enough arms and ammo and food production.
So SC had Fort Jackson, and he built it to the largest base of its kind in the country. And Sumter AFB, and Charleston Naval Shipyard and Charleston AFB and Myrtle Beach AFB and Paris Island .... and he made sure Fort Bragg and Camp Lejune and Cherry Point were all major bases ... and Stewart and Eglin and so forth ... all in the South. The South became home to all the major combat arms bases. Look around today, Benning and Rucker and so on and so forth ... credit Strom as head of Ways and Means and Senate Armed Services.
But he didn't stop there. He brought Bell Helicopter to Greenville and Force Protection to his hometown of Edgefield and it went on and on ... then he brought Sopako to Mullins ... you know, they make MREs.
But he wanted more so he supported Jaimine and PSA ... which has now become the largest maker and civilian supplier of AR and AK style weapons in the country. And PSA is about to become the largest maker of civilian milspec ammo in the country ... especially steel cased ammo.
And Strom brough-in FN manufacturing .... you know, they make all of the M4s right here in Columbia, SC along with the small shoulder fired belt fed squad automatic machineguns for our military.
All of it right here in SC .... just in case. It is absolutely amazing ... few people even notice.
Strom must be smiling right now. This was always his plan. He made it happen .... and the entire South is now a safehaven for freedom. Firearms manufacturers are flocking here.
We'll see how it plays-out but all of these firearms manufacturers moving down here is more good news imho. And it'll really pay off in the long run.
We need the ammo manufacturers down here now .... we need those badly. Right now they are in Missouri and Arkansas and Minnesota and Idaho. We need some big ones producing ammo in the Carolinas and elsewhere down here. PSA just bought a massive building, old hangers actually, near the airport. And they're already tooling to start making ammo ... it's gonna be huge. But we need more. We need to become the ammo producing capital of the country.
