Last year Beretta USA announced that it would be moving some of its manufacturing facilities to Virginia due to stricter gun control laws being passed by the State of Maryland where it has been based for almost three decades. Those plans changed when executives realized that Virginia’s new governor campaigned on a promise that he would push for stricter firearms legislation in the “Old Dominion State.”

In January 2014 Beretta announced that Gallatin, Tennessee, (a suburb of Nashville) would be the new location of its United States manufacturing plant and the company will spend close to $45 million towards its new facilities in the “Volunteer State.” The company is currently in negotiations with Gallatin officials to purchase a site at an industrial center close to 100 acres in size where their manufacturing and research and development facility will be built. Construction is slated to start in May 2014, with production to commence in the first quarter of 2015.

Franco Gussalli Beretta, Beretta USA’s executive vice president stated via press release: “We’re convinced we could find no better place than Tennessee to establish our new manufacturing enterprise. We look forward to building operations here and being part of the community for many years to come.”

The city of Gallatin’s Mayor Jo Ann Graves seemed grateful of the news saying at a press conference, “This is a platinum project. It’s an international company. It’s well-known, it has an excellent reputation and we’re very excited that they’ve chosen (us) over eight other states.”

Beretta USA is the U.S. division of the nearly 500 year-old Italian manufacturer and is privately owned and operated by members of the 15th and 16th generations of the Beretta family. One of the oldest firearms companies in existence, Beretta is best known for producing the M9 service pistol for the U.S. Armed Forces for the past three decades. Beretta USA was originally formed to fulfill the obligations of the U.S. government contract by making its pistols in the United States. The new facility in Gallatin will employ at least 300 people to start.

Beretta is not the first and in all likelihood will not be the last to make such a move in light of stricter firearms legislation being passed in its home state. Last month Colorado based Firearms Company MagPul pulled up stakes to relocate to Wyoming and Texas in the wake of similar legislation.

 

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