Early this year, Beretta USA announced that it had chosen Gallatin, Tennessee, as the location for a new manufacturing and R&D facility. Only new products were going to be manufactured in Gallatin, with existing production remaining in Maryland.

Those plans have changed.

Now, all of Beretta USA’s manufacturing will move to the new facility, which is scheduled to open in mid-2015.

A major reason for the change of plans is Maryland’s Firearm Safety Act of 2013. The version passed by the state’s Senate included regulations that would have prevented Beretta USA from manufacturing, storing, or importing many of the products that it sells across the country and around the world. Many of those restrictions were eventually removed before the bill’s passage, but the company is wary that the reversal could itself be reversed.

“While we were able in the Maryland House of Delegates to reverse some of those obstructive provisions, the possibility that such restrictions might be reinstated in the future leaves us very worried about the wisdom of maintaining a firearm manufacturing factory in the State,” stated Jeff Cooper, General Manager for Beretta U.S.A. Corp.

“While we had originally planned to use the Tennessee facility for new equipment and for production of new product lines only, we have decided that it is more prudent from the point of view of our future welfare to move the Maryland production lines in their entirety to the new Tennessee facility."

The transfer of production will begin next year after the facility opens and will be managed to avoid disruptions. All current production of the M9 9mm pistol will continue at the Accokeek plant in Maryland until all existing orders have been filled.

Beretta USA has no plans to relocate its office, administrative, or executive support functions from Accokeek at this time.