Rifle companies seek to start up plant at Mountain City Bike Factory

A pair of rifle parts manufacturers seeking to assemble 100% American-made rifles could bring skilled jobs back to Johnson County. The factory, which would be at the former Bike Factory Outlet at 4667 Highway 91 North, could bring up to 80-110 jobs in the next decade. The effort is between OneHorse, headquartered in Brownstown, Indiana and European American Armory (EAA), headquartered in Rockledge, Florida. Drew Markel and Jeremy Hammons, co-owners of One Horse, and Keith Bernkrant, president of EAA, spoke to the Johnson County Economic Development Commission on Monday, April 27, about the project. Two days later, on Wednesday, April 29, Bernkrant's LLC, Avocado 5180 of Cocoa, Fla., closed on the six-acre facility with a 33,000 square-foot building for $650,000. The hope is that the business will be up and running in nine to 12 months. Markel said it could be sooner if the machines are fixed and set up. According to Mountain City Mayor Jerry Jordan, Bill McGuire and Danny Cunningham built the facility, named The Bike Factory Outlet. After that, a lumber yard bought it but soon went under. It became a storage building for a Virginia horse manufacturer, but the building has been shut down for many years. While admitting that the plant is not a done deal, Markel and Bernkrant spoke about the possibilities for the businesses in Johnson County. WHY JOHNSON COUNTY? Bernkrant said his family moved here three years ago. EAA produces handguns, mostly out of Turkey and Germany. "Since President Trump came in, tariffs have gone up and we've had changes in the business," Bernkrant said. So we decided we wanted to start on a project to produce a handgun, and the first handgun I needed to find a facility for." Bernkrant has known Markel for years, meeting at various gun shows through their previous company, Anderson Manufacturing. And recently, they thought they should work together. "It will grow. It starts out small. If we get more help from the state, then we can grow very fast," Bernkrant said. "We know the industry. I've got 35 years and three generations." "Between the two of us, we service both handguns and long guns," Bernkrant said. One of his long-term questions is whether a reasonably-priced over-and-under shotgun can be made stateside, saying there hasn't been one in a long time. The plan is to start with kits from overseas and with handguns, and then work on that AR project, and then eventually an over-and-under shotgun. Originally from Brownstown, Indiana, Markel said he's impressed with how beautiful the area is, and said Mountain City looks like the Las Vegas Strip compared to his hometown. STATE OF THE ARMS BUSINESS Markel talked about the state of the arms business, explaining that Anderson Manufacturing closed a large manufacturing plant following an acquisition, so Jeremy Hammons and he founded One Horse. One Horse, Markel said, was developed to be a "mid-market AR-15 and then defense company," supplying rifles to the military, police and retail market. "The retail market is giant in the U.S., it's a very large market," Markel said. OneHose is an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), saying many guns in the market today are their parts being put into firearms. Markel says many "American made" firearms are actually made overseas with some American parts. "One thing Jeremy [Hammons] and I did with One Horse was we wanted to produce a 100% American-made rifle," Markel said. "Every single part, springs, stamped parts, uppers, lowers, everything." The plan is to attain accelerated support from local and state officials. "So what we have put together, and this is our plan for this facility, would be reshoring from overseas," Markel said. "So bringing those Turkish parts here, making them here, producing them here, and then assembling firearms here." The facility will be "ITAR certified," meaning it complies with the International Traffic and Arms Regulations and will be registered with the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls. "We want to have multiple machines running at all times, 24-7 in that facility," Markel said, adding that this isn't to build parts and hope to sell them, it's using the parts already made and controlling the production. This facility, Markel said, will fill the void left by Anderson to supply OEM parts to rebuild the American-made rifle business. "With a reshoring mission, no comparable project is brought to Tennessee," Markel said. Several firearms manufacturers have come to Tennessee in recent years, Markel said, noting Troy Industries as one example. The climate here is "very nice, both weather and politically," Markel said. "When you're looking at a multi-million dollar investment, you do not want to have to move in two years or every four years," Markel said. While there is a 10-year plan, Markel said those plans could accelerate as parts are needed. "When you look at that Iran conflict, we depleted 75% of our precision-guided munitions," Markel said. "So all of that has to be resupplied." Those jobs would need to be skilled roles, such as heavy machine operators, robotic techs and more. "Jeremy and I sat at the main intersection and looked at the long line of cars that were, I'm assuming, exiting Mountain City to go to work this morning," Markel said, noting they're both from small towns and know what it's like. "We would love to keep those people here." The machinery will be automated, which Markel admits is a scary word, but said that requires engineers and programmers. The plan would be two machine cells every two years, getting to 10 and possibly more, but no promises were made. "You still have all the people, and we just need those machines being loaded and unloaded at all times," Markel said. "We're not talking about minimum-wage jobs here." Currently, One Horse assembles its parts in Indiana, but would look to bring all those components into Johnson County, potentially growing the facility. OneHorse is not a defense firm, Markel said, but they want to be ready to handle that work when it comes. Markel, Hammons and Bernkrant are in contact with federal-level officials to support their reshoring efforts through different programs and to help fast-track equipment. The big program would be workforce training, which they feel the state of Tennessee has. Why Tennessee? Markel credits Bernkrant with suggesting Tennessee, noting the demographics work out. "These are the people we want," Markel said. "We need hardworking folks. We need folks that are willing to learn, and honestly, we need folks that want to stop driving 40 miles to work, and those people will be pretty aggressive to try to find work." The building itself needs some rehabilitation, but Markel said they've been "wearing Zillow out" looking for places. When asked about water usage, the answer was that it wouldn't be high-flow water and that the facility is on Town of Mountain City water and sewer.