Beretta Snubs Manchin

T

Tom Servo

Staff
Beretta recently announced they're moving most of their manufacturing to Tennessee. Maryland's gun laws were quoted as the main reason.

Several states courted their business, including West Virginia. Beretta explicitly rejected West Virginia because of Senator Manchin's actions in furthering the "universal" background check law in 2013.

From their statement, courtesy of Sebastian:

Before considering any other location for expansion of any of our facilities we consider first the consistency with which a given state has supported Second Amendment rights. (...) Regrettable [sic], as a consequence of that analysis and especially due to Senator Manchin's recent legislative choices we have decided not to consider your state for future plans of expansion.
Click to expand...

I've said before that Manchin and Toomey need to feel the heat for buckling under pressure, and it looks like someone's holding them to it.
 
Now if Beretta will honor certain states desires and comply al la Ronnie Barrett they will eventually be wed (beholden) to Sig and Glock. They will jack up their prices even further...sole source suppliers have an upper hand doncha know! :cool:
 
The effect of this would be more easy to determine if we had some more recent polling data on Manchin's approval rating. The most recent I could find through a quick Google search was from September of last year. At that point, Manchin had a 46% approval rating which had fallen from a 61% approval rating in 2011. That being said, there isn't enough data to determine how much, if any, effect the gun-control issue had on Manchin's decline in popularity. Afterall, President Obama is very unpopular in W. Virginia and Sen. Manchin has aligned himself with the president on more issues than gun-control.

As to how this might affect Manchin's re-election prospects, I think it would likely be more of an economic issue than a gun-control issue. The people who are going to vote against Manchin over the gun issue probably, by and large, already have their minds made up and most of them aren't likely to forget his support for gun-control. However, if, by the time Manchin is up for reelection in 2018, the economy of West Virginia is poor and unemployment is high, the voters can be reminded that Manchin cost the state jobs, and Manchin's approval ratings are hovering at or below 50%, then this just might be enough to tip the race against him. That being said, those are three very big if's and 2018 is a good while away.

That being said, I still have to applaud Beretta and every other gun maker who has chosen to leave anti-2A states. Even if such decisions don't change the minds of anti-2A politicians, at the very least they shouldn't be able to enjoy the tax revenues of an industry they've tried to destroy. If they want to ban the guns, they should lose the money too.
 
Last edited:
he has made his living for a long time on the voter's taxes.... I don't see this changing considering WVa's voting history.
 
I don't see Beretta's move as a snub against Manchin, directly. Simply an explanation of the kind of thing that is being figured into their plans. Manchin's actions were mentioned as an example of the things that are making them move.

The fact that it is a snub (to us) is icing on the cake. To an anti, its an endorsement that Manchin (or whoever) is "doing a good job".

I do absolutely agree that states where the people in govt work against gun rights should not get the economic benefit of gun makers. Taxes, license fees, and worker's incomes (and their taxes) supporting the state that is trying to put you out of business? I wouldn't do that, if I had a choice.

The saddest thing is the older makers, firms that have been in business in the same place (state) for over a hundred years, literally just minding their own business, while the politics of the state has changed around them, until now, it has become just too overwhelming to continue there. Its not just the loss of the business, its also the loss of generations of tradition.
 
True about the loss of tradition....

But also true,the old manufacturing plants were laid out around a mill wheel in a stream and jack shafts in the ceiling,maybe a rail line for supply.

Sure,they modernize,but that can be patch on top of patch...adaptations

While saying it out loud may be politically incorrect,the workforce that grows around a a 100 year old business may well be entropic.It has not worked out so well in Detroit.I'll let it go at that.


Of course,a move can be done wrong,product can go further downhill.

But a fresh,modern method facility,with talent,and good management can result in lower cost and higher quality.
 
The buffalo hide industrial belting was probably wearing out, anyway.

Probably lots of good reasons to move the plant, not just political. Taxes, unions, workforce, materials sources, prevailing wages, quality of life, housing costs, all kinds of things can matter to a proactive company.
 
I doubt Beretta moving will give any politician pause, to the anti's they'll likely applaud him for finally driving out the "evil gun makers" and their products of "mass destruction".

Probably me just being cynical, but as others have said, I do applaud Beretta for making the decision to move some of their manufacturing to more gun friendly states. Anti gun politicians and the states they are in charge of, I don't believe, deserve to reap the benefits of an industry they're so bent on putting out of business.

More than anything though, I feel sorry for those who are going to be out of a job or are going to be forced to displace due to this, as well as the loss of tradition in the local area.

Such is the way of things I suppose. Now if only Beretta would leave Maryland entirely, that would be pretty amazing as well. Same for Colt and a number of other big names that currently reside in anti-2A states.
 
I doubt Beretta moving will give any politician pause, to the anti's they'll likely applaud him for finally driving out the "evil gun makers" and their products of "mass destruction".
Click to expand...

Exactly! They would rather see a loss of those jobs so they can believe they are now safer that the evil gun makers are gone from their midst!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top