Beretta factory in Italy (courtesy gunsforsale.com)

“Beretta, one of the world’s leading gun manufacturers, will be establishing manufacturing operations in Gallatin, bringing more than 300 jobs to the region,” tennessean.com reports. “The company will invest upwards of $45 million to bring a manufacturing and research and development facility to Middle Tennessee, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam announced Wednesday morning.” The announcement almost kinda ends months of speculation about the gunmaker’s new home, after Beretta announced its intention to leave Maryland’s anti-gun environment. (You may remember the company’s statement when questioned about the threatened move, immediately after Newtown: “Beretta doesn’t bluff.”) This is, after all, an expansion rather than a relocation. But what’s the bet this is Step 1 in that process . . . 

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77 COMMENTS

  1. GOOD.

    Though far be it for any Democrat to apologize for ruining an industry. They destroy job creators, replace them with welfare state dependent jobs and say “you’re welcome for all the new jobs.”

    • Would you rafter they release a substandard product, which you would then criticize as being a useless piece of s*** that needed more time in development?

      • I’ve carried both a Beretta 96 and a Beretta 96 Vertec for work….both sucked ass.

        Few people liked them…but hey the City got a good deal on them.

  4. So in addition to not stopping gun violence, O’Malley’s gun control agenda is now costing us jobs.

    Too bad folks in the blue part of the state don’t care.

    • well I’m sure my neighbors who live in pg county might be a little pissed about loosing their jobs, but the problem is that they are from the same population that fully and openly supported the idiotic passage of sb281, and the fact that in this stupid law they gave the new beretta arx 100 (in 556/223) a specific carve out in the law so it could be sold within MD as long as the rifle meets our overall length requirements (29.5 i think)

      this is also coming from omalley who is such a genius that he actually read “conclusion” off of the teleprompter screen at the end of his speech when giving his state of the state address to the MD general assembly recently.

      • This is simply not true.

        There is no specific carve-out for the ARX100 in SB281.

        It will be illegal in Maryland (once released) because it has a folding stock and flash hider. Two features (folding stock, flash hider, or grenade launcher) makes it an “assault weapon” [sic] under the law.

        I was working with contact within Beretta USA to get MD-resident group buy going but the firearm wasn’t released in time.

        Now, the gun shops here in MD can replace the flash hider with a muzzle brake and sell the ARX100. However, there is no carve-out for the ARX100. Period.

      • That’s like saying we pro gunners in CA and elsewhere are SOL because we have become overrun with mindless sheeple voters who have installed vicious anti-gun Democrat majorities into state government; so too bad, we brought it on ourselves. Where’s the logic in that?

        People of the gun have to fight back. There is inaction until people are galvanized by unjust, unwarranted government incursions into their lives. That’s what is happening now.

        Not one step back.

        • Soo… fight back. Not trying to sound cavalier about it, but talking about it isn’t the same as action.

          I hate that it happened to you guys- and I pray that the rest of us can keep it from happening where we live.

      • The only way your neighbors in PG County would lose their jobs id if the Federal, State, and County governments moved to Florida.

  6. “The announcement ends months of speculation about the gunmaker’s new home, after Beretta announced its intention to leave Maryland’s anti-gun environment. You may remember the company’s statement when questioned about the move, immediately after Newtown. “Beretta doesn’t bluff.”

    Love it. If you want to win a bet, ask someone to name a company that has been in business for nearly 500 years, making the same product, and owned by the same family for that entire period of time.

    Answer: Beretta Firearms
    From their website: “In 1526 Mastro Bartolomeo Beretta (1490 – 1565/68) of Gardone received 296 ducats as payment for 185 arquebus barrels sold to the Arsenal of Venice. Already in production in the early 1500s, Beretta products were chosen by the highly discriminating Republic of Venice because of their excellence. As the Beretta name became synonymous with uncompromising quality, design, materials, construction and performance, word spread beyond the Italian borders, establishing a tradition that has carried over, uninterrupted, through fifteen generations of Berettas.”

    • Also, “ducat” or “ducats” wins my non-monetary award for best name for money, ever.

      If you’re unfamiliar, it’s not pronounced like the first part of Ducati, the motorcycle. It’s pronounced “duck-et” or “duck-ets.”

      • If you want obscure ones, there are ringgits and ngultrums out there somewhere.

        A ducat is typically a coin of about 3.6 grams of very pure (99+%) gold; and many countries have issued them (even Russia!). Another name was “florin.”

        The roman denarius has lived on, some countries use “dinars” to this day. (It was also the ancestor to the british penny.)

        And of course the US dollar is descended from the Joachimsthaler, (or “thaler”), a large silver coin created in Joachimsthal (Jachymov), now in the Czech Republic. It became a generic term for coins with about 25-27 grams of silver in them.

  8. Yeah Remington, step up. Time to leave NY. I did it, other businesses have done it, it’s your turn.

    I already sold my 870, with Mossberg based in Connecticut I sure as hell will not buy one of their shotguns. Sounds like I need a Beretta.

    • Remington fancies itself as part of the military-industrial complex through its ownership by Cerberus Capital. Remington is NOT our friend and isn’t going anywhere unless it’s sold.

  9. For those who understand the way business operates it can’t just shut down production and move. This is the first step. Get the plant built, slowly expand and eventually close Maryland operatons. These jobs would have gone to Virginia if wymen and other idiots didn’t vote for gun grabbing Terry McAuliff.

    • It was a lot of people voting for mini-Clinton, not just the traditional base. The news wags made sure to scare everyone into thinking Cooch was going to invade our bedrooms and clap chastity belts on everyone. And the groundlings ate it up.

      • McAuliffe’s long term plan for Virginia is to turn it into a deep blue state ruled over by the Nomenklatura. He is quite happy to drive out the private sector and increase the number of welfare recipients. The bluer the state, the more extreme is income inequality. It’s all about 20% on welfare, 75% working poor and lower middle class all ruled over by kleptocracy of 5%

      • Florida is in danger in a similar way. The state has just certified a successful petition drive to get medical marijuana on the ballot for a Constitutional amendment in November.

        While I don’t particularly care about weed, this brings two problems. First, I don’t believe that issue has a place in the state Constitution. Since Florida has allowed amendments to be added to the Constitution based on a 60% popular majority, we’ve had several things added that had no business in a Constitution, in my opinion. As an example, we now have amended our state Constitution with a measure “[l]imiting cruel and inhumane confinement of pigs during pregnancy”. Yup. Pigs in our Constitution. Florida’s ill-fated boondoggle high-speed rail was also an amendment. Fun stuff.

        The second problem this ballot measure brings out is that it’s going to bring the blue voters to the polls in droves. Lots of people that otherwise couldn’t be bothered to vote (college students and young adults) will do so because they think it means they’ll get their weed. Again, I don’t care about that, but those folks are gonna vote blue while they’re there.

        Florida politics have a storied history of insider trading, backroom dealing, and corruption at levels from minor to staggering. This is just another step along the trail. Charlie Crist, former Republican governor of Florida is now a Dem. He joined the law firm of Morgan and Morgan (“For the people”), a massive, statewide law firm, as a “face,” and not just a little money, I’m sure. He’s now going to run for governor again, this time as a Dem, with John Morgan’s backing, and guess who is a major and outspoken proponent of medical mary-jane? That’s right… John Morgan.

        Now maybe Morgan truly believes in the benefits of medical marijuana. He says he has seen the benefit of using the drug by his late father, who had esophageal cancer, and his brother, who is a quadriplegic. But there’s also no doubt that ganja on the ballot will help his candidate get elected, and it will surprise absolutely no one in the state when Morgan turns out to be a major player in marijuana dispensaries in the state should the ballot measure pass.

        If you live in Florida, this is your first warning. Vote how you like on marijuana, but you’d better vote, and you better get everyone you know who thinks like you to vote as well. This one’s gonna be big, and once Florida goes blue, it’s not likely to come back in my lifetime.

  10. I applaud Beretta and congratulate Tennessee and would like to thank Virginians for voting that Bloomberg shill into office. Those jobs and that venerable company could have been ours (Beretta was looking hard at Fredericksburg). But we made our choice.

    • Yep, exactly. I had this in the Digest a few weeks back, when it was announced that they’d officially struck Virginia from their possibles list after the election of McAuliffe. Sorry, guys.

    • Sweaty balls in your mouth Virginia!

      ….all 2A supporters are excluded from balls in their mouth of course.

  11. Would love, love, LOVE to see Colt leave Connecticut (and come to Florida)! Do it. Dooooooooooo it.

  12. This is only the first step.

    A company as large and complex as Beretta cannot simply pull up steaks at the drop of a hat. They have to open manufacturing and R&D centers elsewhere first, and then begin slowly moving their production and assets to the new site(s) so as to make as few waves in their distribution channels as Humanly possibly.

    It’s high-time that the major players like Remington, LWRC, Colt, Mossberg, and others still based in States that sponsor and foster the sexist, racist, anti-rights, and anti-Humanist agenda of the civilian disarmament industrial complex to start moving southward and westward. Pronto.

    • Yup. Production shifts take time. It is simply a matter of shifting all new production to the free states and not investing in the slave states. Eventually the old business dies off, and so do operations. Heck, even if the old operations remain in place, the state is missing out on all that new development. Economic stagnation is nearly as bad as economic deflation.

    • Good for Beretta, good for everyone to be honest. Increased capacity means more guns on the market, better availability and hopefully lower street prices.

    • Agreed. Still sad to see my former state get worse and worse … but that’s how it goes.

      I’d much rather see Beretta thrive elsewhere than stay in Maryland.

  14. Sure wish they were coming to Texas. Besides the danger of “cooking off” a round when you leave your rifle in the summer sun, its a nice place.

  15. As a former Marylander, good for them.

    Had I not left MD in 2007 for MI, I might never have joined the gun culture and may have been brainwashed into being another MD FUDD, accepting their expanded background check system, waiting periods, purchase limits, etc. as “common sense.”

    To think of what I might have become…

  16. This might just be the push I needed to get a 92 Inox and write Beretta letting them know why I chose NOW to finally do it (besides the fact it is a cool gun!).

    If only the rest of the gun makers in CT and NY would follow suit.

  17. P.S.: But, now that I’ve thought about it some more, I can’t really justify boycotting a manufacturer for remaining in a Slave State primarily because I would be left with no guns to buy.

    I bought my Smith & Wesson M&P because I wanted a domestically designed and built striker-fired pistol, which ruled out Glock, FN-H, and SiG Sauer (which are pretty much the only other games in town). But Smith & Wesson is still, for some ungodly reason, based in TAXachusettes.

    I bought my Remington 870 Express because 1.) again I wanted something domestic and 2.) ’cause fuck it I wanted one and this is ‘Murica damnit so I shouldn’t have to choose. I also based my purchase on its reputation for reliability, not to mention the enormous selection of after-market accessories. Recently though I’ve been leaning towards selling my 870 and snapping up a Maverick 88, even though Mossberg is still, for whatever asinine reason, based in DISconnected-cut.

    I’m holding off on my next rifle purchase first and foremost because I’m still a poor college student and I’ll be waiting while I’m in school for some manufacturers to also take that fateful first step. Even if they don’t, I’m still going to buy an AR-15 of some flavor.

    • Smith & Wesson is still, for some ungodly reason, based in TAXachusettes.

      And thank god for it. MA would happily out-retard MD except for persuasion by S&W, which is an important source of jobs and income in the Springfield area.

      • Plus you have Savage in Westfield and Troy (lets hire idiots) industries in West Springfield. I bought an M&P when I lived in MA and it has been a great gun. Smith isn’t going anywhere and I am not going to boycott them because they are not going to upend their entire business. I know a lot of people in the area are proud to have them there, even if Beacon hill houses some real idiots winners!

  19. Just up the road from the folks at Barrett Firearms. There is plenty of room in Tennessee for all the gun manufacturers.

  20. BREAKING: I had Fruit Loops for breakfast
    BREAKING: It’s slightly breezy outside
    BREAKING: Water is wet

    The story of the boy who cried wolf comes to mind.

  24. Everyone knows why a “copycat” weapon in the maryland gun law must have an overall length of 29″. ahh the, the irony. ooh the shame.

  25. Dear Governor O’Malley –

    Thanks. It was too crowded here anyway. And all that munufacturing just didn’t fit in with all the high tech jobs that you’re trying to attract. Like warehouses, self-storage facilities and Walmarts. Glad to see your politics is making that work so well.

    All I ask is that you have the last one out please turn out the lights. I can’t afford the electric bill since you instituted the “Rain Tax” to clean up the chicken farmers’ manure that is polluting the Bay.

    Sincerely,
    Accokeek

    P.S. – By the way, PLEASE don’t help us any more. Things are bad enough already.

  27. 2 to 1 they will leave military M-9 production in Maryland and have all commercial production or shotguns rifles, ARX-160, M-92FS, and PX4 to Tennessee now. Since leaving military production near the Pentagon always works in giving quick access to Brass.

    • Yep. Then when the M-9 production contract runs out, I believe all production will leave merryland. VA really screwed the pooch with mcawlful. Looking at 500+ manufacturing jobs gone elsewhere. I’m really not liking my adopted state of VA, since it’s being taken over by the dhimmis. Higher taxes and fees are on the way, with less opportunity.

      • When the Military drops the M9 for a new weapon, Beretta is screwed. How’s their civilian pistol sales? Not too strong. How’s their LEO sales? Certainly not a leader. Their pricey pistol carbines? Don’t see any on any store shelf. Their new assault rifle model? Gonna be pricey.

        They’re in for some trouble when they lose the M9 contract.

        • They may not have a strong sales compared to other companies but I’m pretty sure they would still be just fine. The Italian military is using the ARX and many countries still use the Beretta 92 for their armed forces/police.

  28. Damn, I got excited for a minute and my mind imagined that those were carts full of ARX 100’s (ready to ship to my LGS!). Damn, just 160’s….. ahh maybe one of these years…

  29. Looks like Maryland will be losing some much needed tax revenue , but you can’t have your cake and eat it too ! I am in Mississippi glad to see more jobs coming South of the Mason-Dixon Line . Be prepared and ready.Keep your powder dry.

    • Andy,

      Baretta is already south of the Mason-Dixon line. It’s the PA/MD line. I checking all these
      sites since I just heard about Baretta. My son works at the plant and I’m upset. He works there but we don’t live in PG county, if you know MD at all you would know why. I only answering because it seems no matter what the topic, if the Mason-Dixon line comes up no one ever seems to know where it is. It reminds of an incident a couple of weeks ago when my youngest who is a high school senior, a friend of his (that is at the top of the class) asked if MD was in the mid-west. Anyway we live in rural southern MD and will be sad to see them go.

      Shelley

  30. I’m starting to think Robert doesn’t know what the word “breaking” means, in a news context…

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