On March 23, 2020, Remington Arms Co. CEO Ken D’Arcy wrote a letter to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, offering Remington’s services in the effort to combat the coronavirus pandemic. While Governor Cuomo was declaring Remington a “non-essential” business, causing the Ilion, NY plant to shutter its operations and lay off workers for at least a month, President Trump was refining his executive orders specifically to include the firearms industry as “essential, critical infra-structure.”
No matter. This did not dissuade D’Arcy from wanting to donate, to the state and the nation, the services of the oldest firearms manufacturer in the country. Here are excerpts from D’Arcy’s letter:
“The Remington plant in Ilion now has approximately one million square feet of unused and available manufacturing space. We would be honored to donate our facility to the production of ventilators, surgical masks, hospital beds or any other products mission-critical to the war on corona virus. Ventilators are essential to winning this new kind of war and Remington stands ready to enlist in wartime production. . . Remington products have served in every U.S. military conflict for 200 years. And while the corona virus is a new type of war, we’re not sitting this one out. . . [W]e’re standing by ready, willing and able to support in any way we can. It would be an honor for our company to donate space for the manufacture of mission-critical products, such as the production of ventilators, surgical masks, hospital beds or any other products deemed necessary.”
While Governor Cuomo is all over the media, literally begging for help every day, the letter from Remington has gone unanswered. More alarmingly, nary a peep from the mainstream media about the obvious question. Let me frame it for anyone in the media pool of Cuomo sycophants who might bring themselves to ask it:
“Governor Cuomo, over two weeks ago, Ken D’Arcy, the CEO of Remington, the oldest firearms manufacturer in the country, headquartered in New York, offered to donate a million square feet of their manufacturing space and said, quote: ‘We’re standing ready, willing and able to support in any way we can.’ As of today, sir, you have failed even to respond to Remington, yet you’re continually begging for help while Remington is begging to help. Can you tell us why you have ignored their offer?”
Here we are, 17 days out from D’Arcy’s letter and the media remains silent on this tragic absurdity. It is colluding with Cuomo in his bigotry that “people like that have no place in New York.”
If you had any doubt about the media and its anti-firearms agenda, this example should prove the depth of its antagonism. Fake news isn’t just purposeful misinformation. It is also failing to do the job of holding the powerful to account.
It is criminal to deny help for New Yorkers based on vitriolic, personal sentiment. But like too many rulers, Andrew Cuomo does first what promotes his political future, and last what is right for the people he was elected to serve.
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—Bob Kingsley is a private investigator and writer from New York. He is a Life Member of the NRA, a certified handgun instructor and an educator for the program, “Refuse to be a Victim.” He blogs at BobKingsley.com.