Beretta Ditches Maryland Over Restrictive Gun Laws

Beretta, the famous gun maker, is moving
its entire manufacturing capacity from Maryland to a new facility
in Tennessee. There’s no secret as to the reason for the move
either—the company cites the state’s
ever-more restrictive gun laws as the reason to move its
production lines and related investments and employment.

“During the legislative session in Maryland that resulted in
passage of the Firearm Safety Act of 2013, the version of the
statute that passed the Maryland Senate would have prohibited
Beretta U.S.A. from being able to manufacture, store or even import
into the State products that we sell to customers throughout the
United States and around the world.  While we were able in the
Maryland House of Delegates to reverse some of those obstructive
provisions, the possibility that such restrictions might be
reinstated in the future leaves us very worried about the wisdom of
maintaining a firearm manufacturing factory in the State,” stated
Jeff Cooper, General Manager for Beretta U.S.A. Corp.

“While we had originally planned to use the Tennessee facility
for new equipment and for production of new product lines only, we
have decided that it is more prudent from the point of view of our
future welfare to move the Maryland production lines in their
entirety to the new Tennessee facility,” Cooper added.

The Gallatin, Tennessee, facility, to which Beretta is moving
all manufacturing, was
announced only in January of this year. Ground has yet to be
broken there and it’s not expected to be completed until mid-2015.
Yet the company is obviously eager to get out of the state.

Employees in Maryland affected by the move will be offered a
chance to move to Tennessee, or can remain with the company until
it winds down its current contracts. In particular, Beretta
produces the M9 9mm pistol for the U.S. military, though the Army

announced plans for a new, harder-hitting pistol that would
seem to spell changes for that production line—and a good
opportunity for a shift in location.

Once completered, the Gallatin facility is projected to employ
300 people. Maryland, on the other hand, will be losing jobs.

When he signed the Firearm Safety Act last year, Maryland Gov.
Martin O’Malley boasted that it
includes “common sense reforms” in the “strongest gun safety laws
in the nation.” Common sense considerations of economic
consequences from those affected by and offended by the laws
apparently didn’t make the cut.