The Flathead Valley has been described as a growing headquarters for a firearms industry enjoying record production.
Of the 31 gun manufacturers and shooting sports companies registered in Montana, 18 exist in either Kalispell or Columbia Falls.
While the recession hurt other industries in recent years, firearms manufacturing has continued to expand, both on a local and national level.
Reflecting the valley’s growing stature in the nation’s firearms community, the recent Montana Firearms Institute’s Second Annual Conference featured two prominent keynote speakers: David Keene, president of the National Rifle Association; and Tommy Millner, the CEO of Cabela’s.
“The firearms manufacturers in Montana are really important to us as well as everywhere else,” Keene told the Beacon on Sept. 27 during the event at The Lodge at Whitefish Lake.
Keene, who became president of the nation’s largest firearms advocate organization in May 2011, credited the people and culture spurring Northwest Montana’s strong reputation. There’s no reason why the valley could not become a capital for the industry, he said in an interview.
“If I could spend all my time in Montana I would,” Keene told a room full of people that included community, business and industry leaders.
“This is a wonderful place. The Flathead Valley is so attractive. If you set a level playing field in terms of taxes and regulations and invite (other businesses) up here, what more do you need to do? I think you’re on the right track in that sense.”
Gun manufacturing in the U.S. has spiked in the last decade, particularly since 2008. According to the latest government statistics, firearm production in 2010 totaled 5.45 million, a small drop from 2009’s record total of 5.55 million. Less than 3 million U.S. firearms were built in 2001.
“These are boom times for the firearms industry. It’s the only sector of the economy that the Obama administration has managed to stimulate,” Keene said in an interview.
Keene said companies across the country that need to expand often look elsewhere because of challenges like restrictive regulations or a culture not receptive to firearms.
But Montana has historically remained a gun-friendly state where both Democrat and Republican politicians stand firmly in support of Second Amendment rights along with a majority of its residents.
“This is not an effort to attract a depressed industry to the area,” Keene said. “This is literally an attempt to get vibrant businesses up here.”
Since its inception in Whitefish last year, the Montana Firearms Institute has remained focused on fostering a friendly business climate for the gun industry and assisting existing businesses. This year’s conference featured sessions about job training, effective leadership and development and how to reshape more favorable state laws.
“Right now we see this as being a huge economic driver,” said Chris Hyatt, one of MFI’s co-founders along with Ryan Zinke and Duncan Scott.
Hyatt attributed the valley’s success to “this synergy of the firearms manufacturing cluster.” The entire scope of gun manufacturing exists here, he pointed out, from companies that develop specialized parts and entire firearms to technology companies that supplement that manufacturing.
According to Keene, another factor contributing to the industry’s vibrancy is the culture surrounding firearms, which has transformed in the last decade.
“The difference between the culture today and 10 years ago or 15 years ago is that guns are cool,” Keene said. “People actually want to get into the shooting sports. That’s why so many people identify with the NRA.”
The gun community has broadened and now includes more women, he said. Keene considers this expanding group — which includes over four million registered NRA members and 30 million unofficial supporters, according to Keene — the NRA’s greatest accomplishment.
“That’s why politically it’s very dangerous for politicians to mess with the Second Amendment,” he said. “Not because of the NRA itself, not because of any of us individually. But because we have managed over a period of several decades to communicate with the American people and develop an understanding of the role of firearms in the American culture.”