World’s Oldest Firearms Manufacturer Picks Tennessee to Locate New jobs
Lawmakers joined Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and Beretta USA officials this week to announce the company will expand its U.S. operations by building a new firearms manufacturing plant in Tennessee. Beretta, global manufacturer of high-quality sporting and military firearms, will invest $45 million in a state-of-the-art manufacturing and R&D facility and create 300 new Tennessee jobs.
Company official Jeff Reh attributed the selection to Tennessee’s reputation as a strong supporter of Second Amendment rights, along with state’s business-friendly climate, low tax rates and cost of living, and education efforts. “We started our search by looking only at those states that we felt had a consistent history and likely future history of respecting Second Amendment rights,” he said.
Beretta is the world’s oldest manufacturing dynasty, operating since 1526 in Italy. The company manufactures the U.S. Armed Forces M-9 pistol, the standard sidearm of U.S. soldiers since 1985. The company is expected to complete construction on the facility, which will be located in Gallatin, this year and will make firearms for both their sporting and tactical product lines.
“We are convinced we could find no better place than Tennessee to establish our new manufacturing enterprise,” said Franco Gussalli Beretta, Executive Vice-President and Director of Beretta U.S.A. Corp. “We look forward to building operations here and being part of your community for many years to come.”
Over the past several years, the General Assembly has passed a number of initiatives to create and grow jobs including tort reform to provide predictability to business and workers’ compensation reform to create a streamlined system for employees and employers. As a result of these and other efforts, the state ranks first in the Southeast and 10th in the nation for personal income growth, and first in the Southeast and 5th in the nation for job growth.