Posted on 02/25/2013 1:28:39 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Earlier today, I linked to a Christian Science Monitor report that the firearms industry had begun to organize in opposition to the recent push for increased gun control, but that the major manufacturers had not yet committed themselves. That situation has changed, reports the Washington Post, at least in Maryland, where Beretta makes it home --- at least for now. The company has begun considering a relocation of its headquarters to a state where its product hasn't been made illegal, and may take hundreds of jobs with them:
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.
On the line: at least 300 jobs in Maryland’s Prince George County. That’s enough to worry even Governor Martin O’Malley’s Democratic allies in the state legislature. The Post’s Aaron Davis gets the president of the state Senate, Thomas Miller, to admit that he’s “concerned” about a possible move to “places a lot more friendly to the company than this state.” In the lower chamber, the Democrat representing the district, Del. Joseph Vallario, told the Post that “we want to keep those jobs.” Vallario’s chairing the chamber’s Judiciary Committee, so he has some influence on that outcome, but so far the bill doesn’t seem to be slowing down.
Beretta general counsel Jeffrey Reh reminded the legislature that Beretta once moved a significant facility to Virginia the last time the state tried this, and that the next time might be the last:
“I think they thought we were bluffing” in the 1990s, Reh said. “But Berettas don’t bluff.”
For obvious reasons, Beretta would like to stay put. Moving any kind of business costs money, and manufacturing more than most, and the disruption to production will be considerable. Given the history of hostility toward guns and gun manufacturing by the state’s political class, though, it might end up being costlier to stay than to leave. Reh told the Post that the Italian owner recently visited the facility, and when briefed on the law, told Reh, “There always seems to be a problem with Maryland.”
No company will put up with that forever, and few would stay in a state where most of their product line couldn’t be sold.
come to Texas where you’d be appreciated
You’ll be appreciated more in Alabama. :)
MD better get working on their exit taxes.
Open up a factory in Ashdod, and employ only American expatriates. You’ll never want for workers.
Unfortunately state legislators that want stricter gun laws and bans don’t give a flying crap about jobs.
...and we're already recruiting manufacturers - for the exact same reasoning: see this link.
I saw that a couple of days ago. Thanks for the reminder.
300 jobs is nothing in their scheme of things. The Fed probably hires and fires that many in a day.
Lots of Right to Work options out there to be sure.
Michigan is a great place to make firearms, come on over!!!!
I just sent a note to our Ag. commish: figured if he sent one letter, he’d probably be okay sending a second one!
HA! Good job. :)
All Jill Biden needs is a double-barreled shotgun....and six or eight Secret Servicemen to keep her safe in MD 24/7.
Texas welcomes any and all gun manufacturers. Y’all come!
With our history of guns, gunfights, concealed carry-friendly towns, gun clubs, shooting sights, NRA and GOA members, soon to become tax-free on incomes.
We have lots of women who support guns and gun ownership, participate in fire arms proficiency contests.
We've already invited other gun manufacturers here to sample our fair state.
It’s difficult to import small arms into the USA of certain kinds. Basically the parts can be made abroad, but a certain amount of USA labor has to go into the process.
I work for a military contractor, and been told of the repeated issues trying to get the Tavor into the USA, despite massive demand.
>>Michigan is a great place to make firearms, come on over!!!!
I thought they changed the name to Michiganistan?
“You’ll be appreciated more in Alabama. :)”
I’ll bet Perry already has his flight booked to try to get them to move to Texas. Good luck, but if you want it, you gotta go get it.
GO TEXAS
13 bullet magazine?
Does he really mean 15 round magazine?
We have not, we’re thinking about making the state mascot the “jackpine savage”.
Come on down south to Virginia.
No, he doesn't know the difference. And anyone who doesn't know the difference shouldn't be posting on this forum. Bullets are to cartridges as flour is to bread as cement is to concrete, etceteras. They may not have the capability of learning the language.
All they have to do is move to the other side of the river and their employees can commute.
"Get in the cage, bird, we're outta here.
Another yes, come to Texas.
Open letter from the Texas Attorney General:
Here in Texas, you will have the liberty and the opportunity to achieve your dreams. On top of that, we have no income tax, yet still manage to have a multi-billion dollar budget surplus.
We have right to work laws and a reasonable regulatory environment. Texas has created more than 275,000 jobs in the last year alone! And we’ll fight like hell to protect your rights.
You’ll also get to keep more of what you earn and use some of that extra money to buy more ammo.
I hope to see you soon in Texas. In the meantime, sign up to show your support for our second amendment rights.
Sincerely,Attorney General of Texas
We would welcome the fine folks at Beretta with open arms (pun intended) plus Georgia’s a right to work state . . . a win win for sure.
Would this “exit tax” be exempt if you were staying in the state?
Get out of Marxist Maryland, run by Marxists O’Malley and Miller, two betrayers of a once great state.
Come to Virginia where we are still free, though most black, Hispanic and white liberals voted into office Tim Kaine (as governor and now senator), Jim Webb, Mark Warner, Jim Moran, his brother Brian, red-green state senator Addam Ebin, now Rep. Gerald Connelly (who missed his real place in history by a couple decades, Nazi Germany), and a couple loud-mouthed jerks down in the Tidewater region.
Illegal Hispanic immigrants have more power in ultra-liberal Montgomery County through their tax-payer funded Casa de Maryland than does the average working man or woman of any group. Casa gave us the far-left Dept. of Justice thug Perez, head of the Civil Rights Division, a man who never met a white middle-class person he didn’t hate.
Get out of Maryland and let it sink deeper into the economic and political cesspool it is now in. Maybe in the future, when the people realize that they have hit bottom, some will wake up and throw off the marxists and their political cronies.
I was born and raised in Baltimore. Used to know honest politicians back in the old days. Now I wouldn’t know where to find one. We used to call Maryland “The Free State”. Not anymore.
Just try to protect yourself against the rising tide of criminals and you’ll learn why you are no longer “free”. Try to live a safe life in Prince Georges County. It ain’t gonna happen. Their unofficial slogan to potential newcomers is, “Come to PG County and die!”
Here in Virginia, we don’t put up with that shit despite the liberals wanting to import it.
As Shania Twain would sing, “Come on over, come on in”.
They can come to Florida!
We want them!
Especially up in the Panhandle. Eglin AFB is where the Beretta was first chosen and beat out all the other brands.
The Army insisted that they should do the testing and eventually came up with the same results.
Kind of an odd thought. Wonder if history will write that the gun manufacturers moving to red states will be part of how sides were drawn in CWII.
Being a life long flyover red state resident, I’d damn sure rather have them move here and keep making product.
The Panhandle might be perfect!
Close to Alabama and Mississippi.
Better late than never.
RE: Here in Virginia, we don’t put up with that shit despite the liberals wanting to import it.
Then why did Virginia vote for gun grabbing Obama last November?
Hires yes, but does not fire.
If FR were solely a firearms forum, I'd agree with you, but it's not. There are over three hundred thousand people with Freeper accounts, and not all of them have basic firearms education.
Why not give them a hand up, and help them to raise their knowledge level on firearms? We're all in this together.
I agree. The Texas Panhandle would be PERFECT!
I like the Texas panhandle except for two things: The wind and the feed lots.
We have a lot of fools when it comes to electing the president. Factors: Race, ethnic race and white guilt, plus a heaping serving of Dumb as Dogshit.
We have a Republican-light governor and if Ken Cuccinelli wins in the future, watch out. It’s cleanout the leftist cesspool of the Democrats with dynamite time.
C’mon down to Texas!!!
I do not concur with your position. People with less than average knowledge about a subject should not post opinions or erroneous facts about that subject on any forum. They should lurk and learn rather than add confusion and misinformation.
To let misinformation on this forum to go uncorrected is akin to not correcting your children's grammar or language.
Smith and Wesson collapsed into a pile of compromise to the Clinton Administration...and they paid for it.
I guess gun makers learned their lesson about selling out the second amendment for some radical leftist approval. I only wish the other limo-liberal American CEO’s would learn the lesson of compromising with the commies. Share holders should wake up. Unless they are in the business of gay sex, their CEO’s are way too invested in radical craziness.
LOL!
We can’t all crowd ourselves into Texas!
Best to start with a sustainable broad base...
You might be surprised.
A study was once done, where it was calculated that the entire population of the planet could comfortably fit inside the borders of Texas, divided into units of no more than three people, each living in standard three bedroom houses.
Trust me, we've got plenty of room :-)
Gee, maybe you can get JimRob to craft a new rule to that effect. Why, he oughta just ban people for having the audacity to comment on subjects in which they're not expert!
Why stop at the grammar, punctuation, and spelling police? We need to have the terminology police, and they need to be deputized with their own zot guns, dadgumit!!
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