Remington Arms Files For Second Bankruptcy Since 2018

The rumors about Remington Arms filing for bankruptcy again are true. On Monday, America's oldest gunmaker filed a Chapter 11 petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Alabama for the second time since 2018, according to FOX Business.

The story comes as Remington has been searching for a buyer and the Navajo Indian Nation had confirmed that they were in talks with the gunmaker. However, Alexander Gladstone of the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that those talks have stalled in recent weeks. If true, It would be the second time the Navajo Nation was in acquisition talks with Remington over the last decade, only to have the negotiations collapse. As a result, the company is now entering the bankruptcy process without a bidder, according to WSJ.

In 2018, Remington reported over $950 million in debt when they filed for bankruptcy reorganization to shed a $775 million share of that debt burden. Since then, the company has struggled with sagging gun sales, revenue losses, and outstanding legal fees from the Connecticut lawsuit over a Remington gun used to kill 20 elementary students and six adults in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The suit claims advertising by Remington marketed "military style" guns to the public which is a violation of Connecticut law. This downturn and decline has resulted in layoffs and furloughs, in particular at their original plant in Ilion. In Huntsville, Alabama, the company has struggled with local officials, who in the last few years, reversed tax credits given to the company because promised jobs when the plant opened in 2014, have failed to materialize.

In Ilion, where the company was started by Eliphalat Remington II in 1816, most of the plant's workers were recently furloughed shortly after the company told employees that a financial audit was underway which disrupted the payroll schedule. Some employees were actually paid a few days earlier than the normal schedule. Officials from Remington were not willing to comment at the time. On July 14th, employees told WIBX that as part of the unscheduled work stoppage, the company was keeping one or two lines of production active which would retain about 200 employees through the summer. The remaining estimated 500 workers are expected to be idle through the third week of August. Workers had just come off their annual July vacation company-wide shutdown.

James Bono, Chairman of the Herkimer County Legislature, told WIBX's Keeler Show on Tuesday that they recently reached out to company officials and offered them their full support and assistance. He said they did not hear back from the company. Remington is Herkimer County's largest employer, at one point running three full shifts daily and employing nearly 3000 workers when owned by DuPont. "The financial impact would be terrible if they left," said Bono. "We just want them to know we're here to help."