Major weapons manufacturer Beretta USA is vowing to close shop and leave Maryland if the state passes new gun-control measures.

The multimillion dollar, centuries-old manufacturer provides hundreds of jobs in the state, the Blaze reports. It was considering an expansion to its existing Prince George County plant — until Maryland lawmakers introduced a bill to ban so-called assault weapons.

The law also would ban the company’s 9 mm pistol, a staple of the U.S. military and civilian police departments.

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“Why expand in a place where the people who built the gun couldn’t buy it?” asked Jeffrey Reh, general counsel for Beretta, in the Blaze.

Mr. Reh warned legislators a couple weeks ago not to pass the ban. He reminded them that when Maryland ramped up gun control in the 1990s, the company moved its warehouse down the road to Virginia, according to The Blaze.

Beretta’s plans were first reported in The Washington Post.

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