One of the better pieces of news for Italian shooters last year was the release of 9mm Luger for sale to civilians. Until then, civilian gun owners had to be content with the commercial 9×21 mm caliber instead.
The changed situation naturally raised the question whether this would have a major impact on
shooters and firearms manufacturers in Italy.

There is arguably no company that can answer that question better than Beretta, whose
representative at Enforcer Tac, Jarno Antonelli, commented: “The development is a great success for Beretta. We and the Italian gun owners worked hard to allow the use of 9 mm Luger.”

It goes without saying, that economical concerns influenced Beretta’s actions. In the past, it was
always necessary to keep an extra set of machinery just for the Italian market, while the rest of
the world received the essential same guns in 9mm Luger. It is a positive effect for the company,
that these redundancies can end and a significant amount of cost will be saved. The negative side was mainly felt by the arms sellers and old users, yet according to Mr. Antonelli, the protest is very muted.

Beretta at Enforce Tac 2022 (Alexander Straube)

“We got no specific complaints from sales or customers, although Dealers asked for help with the
old stock. But this is not a big problem, because buy by order was normal. Over all, the change
was a very good thing, even if it may take 1-2 years to sort it all out.”
He is convinced that the old 9×21mm round will fade away and disappear. Whether this poses a concern for its manufacturer, Israel Military Industries, he could not say.

Regarding the Italian shooters and the model range of Beretta, he was convinced that the impact
would be very small: “We are not planning any new model for this specific reason. The Buyers
will simply get the same types as before, but in 9mm Luger instead, like the rest of the world.”

Alexander Straube is a German freelance writer, chief editor of FIPS and author of the book on the German gun debate.