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Comment by collegeburner | Hacker News Reader

dissapointed to see expansion in a high tax blue state with a trash tier record on gun rights. i can't find any mention of why they chose it, any ideas why?

edit: looks like water and seismic activity are the leading suggestions?

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It shouldn’t surprise you that economic activity is focused in a blue state. Blue states (even at a county level) have the strongest economies and red states are the welfare babies, on average.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/10/election-2020-democrats-repu...

I doubt gun rights are high on the list when embarking on $100B chip fab builds.

idk i've heard a lot of noise on companies paying for female employees to get abortions if they're unavailable in-state and imo it's a pretty good benefit in states with overly draconian laws. so i'm sort of hoping micron (and other companies who choose to expand in states that infringe on people's freedom) will announce a similar program to help employees access and exercise their gun rights.

Are gun rights particularly related or is this just an axe to grind?

He seems like a troll but it is curious that such a deal would go through this late in the election cycle, too late to affect races the way it could have in July.

With the exception of the Governor, most of the folks getting face time and taking credit for this either aren't up for election this year, or are running unopposed (or only facing token opposition).

Any company supporting a state or country that is flagrantly violating the natural human rights of its citizens should be called out.

sure, they're a big part of the reason i turned down an otherwise good position in new york state (along with higher taxes making it less competitive, not a big fan of the weather and don't much like the culture as a lifelong Texan).

Where's the logic here? Encouraging employees to abort their babies is in a company's economic interests so that's hardly a surprise. What makes you think gun ownership and use would be beneficial to them?

Replacing a dead employee is more expensive than simply setting up a company where your employees are more likely to stay alive. Also an employee proving their self defense case to the state will have fantastic retention due to the financial costs involved.

If avoiding dead employees is the goal, then setting up shop in a state with strict gun laws is the right decision. New York is consistently in the top-5 for lowest per capita firearm related deaths. New York scores very well for pretty much all preventable causes of death.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/stats_of_the_states.htm

And that’s pretty weird that a company would set up shop with no regards to the human rights of its employees.

Probably a combination of water, seismic activity is not to bad, and blue states generally have better education systems and an easier time attracting educated people. Also NY has been trying to grow the economy in the area, they probably provided attractive incentives.

FWIW, I think NYC is more restrictive than NY state on the gun stuff. At least I know some avid hunters from rural NY, I don't think they have any issues getting hunting rifles, maybe they had to fill out some paperwork or something.

NYS is overall absolutely terrible for gun stuff. Hunting rifles and shotguns are easy, but the current process for purchasing anything semi-automatic and/or a handgun in very onerous. Over a year wait in most counties, years long residency requirements, you have to give up your social media accounts, submit various notarized statements, in-person interviews, etc. If I have a NYS CCW and you don't, I cannot legally take you to a range (or my backyard) and let you try out shooting a handgun. You need to go through the entire permit process before you can touch a handgun inside of NYS. And if you're not a NYS resident? No permit for you, they don't grant them to non-residents.

It's easier to buy handguns in most European countries than in NYS, and that's not a good thing. The entire process is made to be incredibly time consuming, expensive and frustrating, enough that most people will just give up and not do it.

That sounds like a reasonable set of policies, to be honest. Easy to get the kind of gun you would want as an ordinary working tool in the countryside or for home defense. Difficult and time-consuming to get the kind of gun you would want for a mass murder.

Semiautomatic rifles and pistols are the most commonly used guns for home and self defense by a large margin. Being behind a 2 year wait to perform the same background check the federal government can do in 30 seconds makes absolutely zero sense.

It's not a reasonable set of policies though, they're intentionally made to be burdensome and hard to comply with.

Background check: yes, fine. However, these need to be processed quickly to have any effect. If someone is flagged, don't we want to know that sooner rather than later, even if they're blocked from buying a firearm legally?

Submitting social media profiles: What defines social media? What happens if I forget a handle? Are political opinions now going to be a deciding factor in whether or not I can exercise a constitutional right?

No out-of-state licenses issue: There is no good reason for this. If I'm spending time (and money) in NYS, and can otherwise possess a firearm, why am I not allowed to do this when visiting?

No touching of a handgun without a pistol permit: Specifically targeted at making the process onerous. If you're interested in shooting, you need to go through this entire process, and will afterwards be allowed to carry a firearm in public, all before you've actually tried to shoot one (outside of the very basic live-fire training course). Potential law abiding gun owners are very very dissuaded by this.

Residency requirements: Again, no good reason. If I pass a background check, why do I need to live in X county for 3 years before I can buy or possess a firearm?

Drug testing: Nassau county now requires you to submit a urine sample within 14 days of receiving the permit application. The sample must go to a lab with a certain certification, and there are _none_ in NYS, and the fee is $400. If the test results arrive to the county after 14 days, or they claim they arrived too late? Start over and pay the fee again. This has to be repeated every 2 years.

On the topic of "the kind of gun you would want for mass murder": this is a boogeyman in the current media. There are ~400 deaths from _all_ semi-automatic rifles per year in the US, including suicides, justified shootings, murders, mass shootings, etc. There are tens to hundreds of millions of these weapons in circulation, yet so few deaths. More people drown in pools every year than die by rifle in the United States.

We should be looking at the causes of these mass shootings, not trying to make legal access to firearms logistically impossible for all but the wealthy and well-connected.

Don’t forget that Nassau county, NY is now requesting that people who upgrade their pistol licenses pee in a cup to test for drugs. True insanity in NYS.

Even worse: the lab certification that the testing facility needs to have? There are _no_ labs in NYS that comply. You need to go out of state within 14 days of receiving a permit application, to have the sample collected and processed, and the results sent back, within that 14 day window.

NY State is horrible for gun owners. The only difference between Upstate and downstate is that upstate prosecutors and county police openly violate and refuse the enforce the gun laws since they are so egregious.

Of course, in classic New York fashion the laws are still weaponized against minority groups and local enemies of the county government, which is precisely the reason they were introduced a century ago.

While NY might be "trash tier" on gun rights, it's "S tier" on firearm related mortality... Wonder if those things are related...?

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/firearm_mortality/...

To answer your actual question though, the major reasons are access to cheap water (Lake Ontario), cheap housing, cheap/green power (lots of hydro and nuclear in the area), and low seismic activity. The location they selected also has quick access to both I-90 and I-81, the major east/west and north/south routes through the state.

The whole "blue state" thing also helps (blue states invest more in education, infrastructure, etc)

As a lifelong New Yorker who spent some time in Syracuse it’s bizarre to see. It’s a super sparse area with not much to offer.

Onondaga county is pretty decent on gun rights with regards to issuing pistol licenses quickly and having pro gun judges approve them, but you’re still within NYS which is a major headache. Would be better for companies to abandon the state altogether.

Dude, like what's your issue?

They've been in ruby red Idaho for like 30 years now.

Edit: Actually they've been in Idaho since 1978. So 44 years now.

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