Beretta: Gun Laws Force Jobs to Move Out of Maryland

After 40 years, Beretta will move its entire gun-manufacturing operation to Tennessee in reaction to Maryland’s increasingly restrictive gun laws.

Beretta has made guns for 40 years at its facilities in Accokeek, in Prince George’s County, but those manufacturing jobs will leave the state. WJLA TV reports Baretta hopes to open its new manufacturing plant in Gallatin, TN, by mid-2015.

About 160 workers are employed at Beretta’s Maryland manufacturing plant, reports The Baltimore Sun. About 95 administrative office jobs will remain in Maryland at the corporate headquarters.

The Italian firm initially planned to use a new $45 million Gallatin, TN, facility only to make new products and research and development. Jeff Cooper, the general manager for Beretta USA, said concerns over gun legislation in Maryland led the company to pick a location outside of the state for its new manufacturing plant, reports the Baltimore Business Journal.

“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," Cooper said in a comment to the Business Journal.

The gun-control law enacted last year in Maryland banned many assault weapons and limited gun magazines to 10 bullets.

While lawmakers ultimately discarded some of the provisions Cooper found problematic, company officials said they are concerned such restrictions could be reinstated in the future.

Both Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker, III called Beretta's decision "disappointing."

Baker told WJLA there was nothing the county could do to address Beretta's concerns, while O'Malley defended the state's gun measures.

"The common sense gun safety law we passed, which includes licenses for handgun purchases, is keeping schools, communities, and law enforcement personnel safe," the governor said. 

GOP gubernatorial candidate Larry Hogan cited plans to leave Maryland  as emblematic of O’Malley’s failures as governor.

“I am saddened to learn that the hard-working women and men I met at Beretta’s factory in Accokeek in May will now lose their jobs as a direct result of the O’Malley-Brown administration’s high taxes and punitive regulations,” Hogan said in a statement. “The loss of these several hundred jobs will tear through the local community, as millions of dollars in economic activity and tax revenue evaporate and numerous small businesses that supported this factory and its employees also suffer.”