Beretta is standing up

[Dolomite_supafly]

Not as good as some other gun companies but at least Maryland will feel the affects of their decision to restrict gun ownership. 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/berettas-future-in-maryland-tied-to-states-gun-control-debate/2013/02/23/bcc56c62-7776-11e2-95e4-6148e45d7adb_story.html

 

Beretta’s future in Maryland tied to state’s gun-control debate
 
On the production floor of Beretta USA sits a hulking new barrel-making machine ready to churn out the next object of obsession in America’s love-hate relationship with guns: a civilian version of a machine gun designed for special operations forces and popularized in the video game Call of Duty.
 
Beretta, the nearly 500-year-old family-owned company that made one of James Bond’s firearms, has already invested more than $1 million in the machine and has planned to expand its plant further in Prince George’s County to ramp up production.
 
But under an assault-weapons ban that advanced late last week in the Maryland General Assembly, experts say the gun would be illegal in the state where it is produced.
 


Now Beretta is weighing whether the rifle line, and perhaps the company itself, should stay in a place increasingly hostile toward its products. Its iconic 9mm pistol — carried by every U.S. soldier and scores of police departments — would also be banned with its high capacity, 13-bullet magazine.
 
“Why expand in a place where the people who built the gun couldn’t buy it?” said Jeffrey Reh, general counsel for Beretta.
Concern that the company will leave, and take its 300 jobs with it, is palpable among state lawmakers who worry it could be collateral damage from Gov. Martin O’Malley’s proposed gun-control bill.
 
Among other restrictions, O’Malley’s bill would ban assault rifles, magazines with more than 10 bullets and any new guns with two or more “military-like” features. Gun experts said it’s a near-certainty that Beretta’s semiautomatic version of the ARX-160, now only a prototype, would be banned under O’Malley’s bill.
 
“I’m concerned. I think they’re going to move,” said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert). “They sell guns across the world and in every state in the union — to places a lot more friendly to the company than this state.”
 
In Beretta’s low-slung factory along the Potomac River in Accokeek, where walls are lined with trophy heads of caribou, wild boars and black bears shot by employees, the legislation proposed by O’Malley (D) feels like an affront.
 
In testimony this month in Annapolis, Reh, who oversees the plant, warned lawmakers to consider carefully the company’s future. Reh pointed to the last time Maryland ratcheted up gun restrictions in the 1990s: Beretta responded by moving its warehouse operation to Virginia.
 
“I think they thought we were bluffing” in the 1990s, Reh said. “But Berettas don’t bluff.”
 
Growth of a company
The small U.S. division that Beretta started 35 years ago in Prince George’s has added substantial swagger to a company that already billed itself as the “World’s Oldest Industrial Dynasty.”
 
From behind the modest brick facade of an abandoned gun plant it purchased in 1977 on Indian Head Highway, Beretta won a landmark contract to become the standard sidearm of all U.S. military personnel in 1985. To the chagrin of American competitors, it soon replaced the venerable Colt 45.
 
More than a half-million of the company’s guns have been shipped to the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines, each stamped as made in Accokeek.

Edited February 25, 2013 by Dolomite_supafly

[TMF]

Move to Tennessee please.... and open an outlet store while you're here.

[TN_Hiker]

Let them come! Glad to see another company taking a stand.

[Caster]

This thing is starting to snowball.  Companies are standing up.  I want to see states stand up too.  Let the country become polarized and the manufacturing move to where it's wanted.  Guns aren't the end all tell all of the manufacturing world but it COULD start a chain reaction.  What if ALL of the gun companies moved south where they are welcomed with arms wide open.  As the dust settles people's eyes are opened by the fact that more jobs are here and they say, "hmmmmm  Instead of that detroit pile of crap, I think I'll buy a kentucky made Camry or a nashville made Nissan. "  "I ain't buyin salsa made in New York city!  I'll buy the one made in texas!"   Okay, I'm funnin' but seriously.  Screw buying made in america just because it's made in america.  Buy made in USA products made by people you want to see prosper because be honest; Would any of us really shed a tear if Chicago was starving to death?  No.

[KaNuckles]

This is grerat. Hopefully supporting companies will move with some of these companies. Small parts manufacturers and such....I would really like to see a major ammo manufacturer make a stand. 

[Jonnin]

“I think they thought we were bluffing” in the 1990s, Reh said. “But Berettas don’t bluff.”

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
grammar aside, it makes the point. 

Edited February 25, 2013 by Jonnin

[Randall53]

....I would really like to see a major ammo manufacturer make a stand. 

 

AND move to Tennessee AND open an outlet store next to the Beretta outlet store that TMJ suggested..!!!!!!! :up: :up: :up: :up: :up:

[Wingshooter]

This thing is starting to snowball.  Companies are standing up.  I want to see states stand up too.  Let the country become polarized and the manufacturing move to where it's wanted.  Guns aren't the end all tell all of the manufacturing world but it COULD start a chain reaction.  What if ALL of the gun companies moved south where they are welcomed with arms wide open.  As the dust settles people's eyes are opened by the fact that more jobs are here and they say, "hmmmmm  Instead of that detroit pile of crap, I think I'll buy a kentucky made Camry or a nashville made Nissan. "  "I ain't buyin salsa made in New York city!  I'll buy the one made in texas!"   Okay, I'm funnin' but seriously.  Screw buying made in america just because it's made in america.  Buy made in USA products made by people you want to see prosper because be honest; Would any of us really shed a tear if Chicago was starving to death?  No.

I love the idea, I just hope that the a bunch of liberal voters wouldn't follow those companies for jobs and start stinking up the balance of power in otherwise conservative-leaning states. The thought of profitable companies leaving oppressive states is awesome, though.

[mikegideon]

“I think they thought we were bluffing” in the 1990s, Reh said. “But Berettas don’t bluff.”

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
grammar aside, it makes the point. 

 

I thought that when I first read it. It's a family owned company, and the family name is...

[LagerHead]

I love the idea, I just hope that the a bunch of liberal voters wouldn't follow those companies for jobs and start stinking up the balance of power in otherwise conservative-leaning states. The thought of profitable companies leaving oppressive states is awesome, though.

 

You know, the worst part about this scenario is that they won't even recognize what ran them out of the state in the first place. They'll just take a "rinse and repeat" approach wherever they move.

[Guest nra37922]

Lots of room here in TN

[runco]

Beretta is a major player, this may get some real traction. Lets hope so.

[DaveTN]

I met someone from Beretta today. I invited them to move their company to Tennessee.

[Jonnin]

I thought that when I first read it. It's a family owned company, and the family name is...

good point!  It makes a lot more sense now. 

[monkeylizard]

Beretta is a major player, this may get some real traction. Lets hope so.

 

This. Gun-people know "Magpul". Non-gun-people know "Beretta". SNOWBAAAAAAAALLLLL!

Edited February 26, 2013 by monkeylizard

[Parrothead]

Good news. I hope they move to a state that appreciates their business! 

[Trekbike]

This thing is starting to snowball.  Companies are standing up.  I want to see states stand up too.  Let the country become polarized and the manufacturing move to where it's wanted.  Guns aren't the end all tell all of the manufacturing world but it COULD start a chain reaction.  What if ALL of the gun companies moved south where they are welcomed with arms wide open.  As the dust settles people's eyes are opened by the fact that more jobs are here and they say, "hmmmmm  Instead of that detroit pile of crap, I think I'll buy a kentucky made Camry or a nashville made Nissan. "  "I ain't buyin salsa made in New York city!  I'll buy the one made in texas!"   Okay, I'm funnin' but seriously.  Screw buying made in america just because it's made in america.  Buy made in USA products made by people you want to see prosper because be honest; Would any of us really shed a tear if Chicago was starving to death?  No.

 

There has also been talk that it would be good to start a "favored state trading coalition".   States within the group could offer some type of discount or other incentives to do business with other like minded states in the group.  The other states get left out in the cold.     

[S&WForty]

AND move to Tennessee AND open an outlet store next to the Beretta outlet store that TMJ suggested..!!!!!!! :up: :up: :up: :up: :up:

 

The start of a shopping mall we all would love!!!  For the car guys, we would need a Jegs/Summit showroom there, too!  Shooting range in the basement.  Skeet shooting off the roof top.  Oh yeah!

!

[Caster]

There has also been talk that it would be good to start a "favored state trading coalition".   States within the group could offer some type of discount or other incentives to do business with other like minded states in the group.  The other states get left out in the cold.     

I like that!