Smith & Wesson relocated its headquarters from Springfield, Massachusetts, to Maryville, Tennessee, and the new facility hosted a grand opening Saturday.
On September 30, 2021, the Associated Press noted Smith & Wesson’s announcement that the move from Massachusetts to Tennessee would occur.
The move was expected to be “a $125 million investment expected to create 750 jobs in Tennessee.”
On October 5, 2023, WBIR reported that the figures have remained roughly the same, with Smith & Wesson agreeing “to spend at least $120 million on the new property.” The new headquarters is projected to “generate more than $33 million in direct income for workers in the area.”
Smith & Wesson company leaders explained their move from Massachusetts to Tennessee by citing Tennessee’s lower cost of living and more gun-friendly culture.
FOX Business quoted Smith & Wesson CEO Mark Smith telling the Daily Times, “From where I stand, the next 170 years of Smith & Wesson are looking pretty good. It is something special here in Tennessee.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.