by John Hawkins | May 21, 2013 5:11 am
Maryland’s new Draconian gun laws may make liberals happy, but it may also cost them a lot of jobs and tax revenue if and when Beretta leaves the state. Granted, the company hasn’t beaten the dust of Maryland off its feet yet, but judging by this post on Beretta’s blog, it’s awfully close to hitting the road[1].
[2]
Through the Companies’ legislative efforts and with assistance led by Delegate Joe Vallario and others provisions were stripped out of the final Bill that would have required an immediate move of certain operations out of Maryland. The parts of the legislation that remained, though – and that were not deleted notwithstanding the Beretta Holding companies efforts to do so -remain offensive not only to our companies as firearm manufacturers, importers and distributors and as investors in jobs, taxes and income within the State of Maryland, but also to those of us who, as Maryland citizens, will now be encumbered with obstacles to our exercise of our Constitutional rights, such as a requirement we now be fingerprinted like a criminal before we can buy a handgun, without providing a commensurate benefit in reducing crime.
The resulting law that passed is not acceptable, even with the improvements we were able to obtain. In short, the law that finally passed went from being atrocious to simply being bad.
The question now facing the Beretta Holding companies in Maryland is this: What effect will the passage of this law–and the efforts of Maryland government officials to support its passage–have on our willingness to remain in this State?
In that respect we are mindful of two objectives: We will not let passage of this legislation prevent us from providing on-time delivery of our products to our U.S. Armed Forces and other important customers. We also will not go forward in a way that compounds the insult made to our Maryland employees by their Governor and by the legislators who supported his efforts.
Prior to introduction of this legislation the three Beretta Holding companies located in Maryland were experiencing growth in revenues and jobs and had begun expansion plans in factory and other operations. The idea now of investing additional funds in Maryl and thus rewarding a Government that has insulted our customers and our products is offensive to us so we will take steps to evaluate such investments in other States. At the same time, we will continue our current necessary operations within Maryland and we are thankful for and welcome the continued support of our employees as we do so.”
Just in case you’re wondering, there are plenty of other states that would love to host Beretta. Just yesterday, a state senator in Utah made a public pitch to Beretta[3].
Utah Sen. Howard Stephenson just messed with Texas.
The Draper Republican, president of the Utah Taxpayers Association, opened a bill file at the Legislature to lure Beretta and other gun manufacturers to Utah through tax incentives after the iconic gun maker announced that strict gun-control laws just passed in Maryland will force Beretta to bolt that state.
…So far, roughly a dozen lawmakers from both houses have verbally agreed to co-sponsor the bill, the Senator said, adding, “everybody I’ve talked to says, ‘Sign me up.’?”
“It could mean thousand of new jobs and considerably more tax base. These types of manufacturers are not going away,” he said.
Beretta has paid $31 million in Maryland taxes, employs 400 people and has invested $73 million, according to the company’s general counsel Jeff Reh.
Maryland’s stupidity could be Utah’s gain and if Maryland does lose all those jobs and revenue, well, it couldn’t happen to a more deserving group of gun-grabbing liberals.
Source URL: https://rightwingnews.com/guns/beretta-it-looks-like-well-have-to-leave-maryland-over-new-gun-control-laws/
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