ILION (AP) -- Not everyone in Ilion, N.Y., works at the Remington factory, but everyone knows someone who does.
The big brick complex looms above the rooftops of modest wood-frame homes. And Ilion can look more like a factory with a village than a village with a factory.
So it's little wonder that residents in this blue-collar stretch of the Mohawk Valley are defending Remington after New York lawmakers banned the sale of semi-automatic AR-15 assault-style rifles like the Bushmaster weapon made here.
The move came after the weapon was linked to gunmen in the Connecticut school shootings and in the Christmas Eve slayings of two firefighters.
Tom Bradle, who works at the gun factory, says it's the person who pulls the trigger who is responsible for killings, not the gun.
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