SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

Team Beretta Adds New Pistol Athlete - Fabio Spinella

Accokeek, MD -- Beretta is pleased to announce the signing of a new athlete to our professional pistol competition team - Fabio Spinella. Spinella will compete with the 92X Carry Optic in USPSA Carry Optic matches and the 92X Performance Defensive in IDPA competitions.

Spinella is a Master in USPSA and IDPA events and an experienced firearms instructor with expertise in the use of red dot pistols and the deployment of appendix carry pistols. As a firm believer that people are their own first line of defense, Spinella founded My Own Defender LLC, whose mission is to equip busy people with the necessary skills to defend themselves, protect their loved ones, and survive trauma or disaster. Through his company, Spinella has helped thousands of gun owners acquire the appropriate knowledge and skills to learn when and how to deploy a force multiplier such as a firearm.

“I am excited and honored to join the elite group of shooters that is Team Beretta. As an Italian, born and raised, I have been around the Beretta brand since I was a child,” Spinella said, regarding his personal history with the Beretta brand. “My father, who served in the Italian army, shot Berettas for over three decades, and now I am grateful to join the Beretta family as a professional shooter and instructor. I cannot wait to share Beretta's extensive line of pistols with fellow competitors and students around the globe.”

In addition, Spinella is a Krav Maga black belt, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner, and teaches self-defense to everyday people who understand the need for empty-hand skills. Spinella is a USCCA, NRA, and DOJ-certified instructor with 2 Master’s degrees and is endorsed by many high-level shooters as an authority in the pistol instruction space.

“We’re honored to welcome Fabio to Team Beretta. As an experienced and certified firearms instructor, content creator, and competitive shooter, Fabio’s reach online and through in-person training provides a valuable new customer connection for Beretta,” Amanda Popp, Sports Marketing Manager, said. “I can’t think of a better partner than Fabio to showcase Beretta handguns for those interested in self-defense or competition.”

The new 92X Performance Carry Optic model retains the same ergonomics and features of the popular 92X Performance platform with a red dot optic-ready slide, included optic plates, and improved trigger performance. Compliant with the USPSA (United States Pistol Shooting Association) Carry Optic division regulations, the 92X Performance Carry Optic provides an uncompromising performance aimed at earning you a spot at the top of the podium with power, speed, and accuracy.

Specifically designed for those consumers who participate in IDPA competitions, the 92X Performance Defensive maintains the same ergonomic design and controls as the popular 92X Performance Production platform with new enhanced features such as a lightened steel frame and slide, a red-dot optic ready slide, and aggressively textured 92X-style thin grips for instinctive control.

For his classroom instruction, Spinella will instruct with the new 92XI SAO. The new 92XI SAO brings the long-awaited frame-mounted safety to the standard 92 family of products, as well as a single action-only variant and various ergonomic enhancements. The frame-mounted safety offers an ambidextrous solution, bringing the safety lever more in reach with natural ergonomics.

Spinella will join his fellow Team Beretta athletes at the 2023 IDPA World Championship held at CMP Marksmanship Park in Talladega, AL, from October 12-14, 2023.

About Team Beretta:

Team Beretta, founded in the early 1980s, is a team of professional shooters of various ages and experiences that compete as Brand Ambassadors for Beretta USA in the fields of trap, skeet, sporting clay, pistol, 3-gun, and precision long-range competitive shooting. Since 1977, Beretta has led the way in all forms of competitive shooting sports and continues to strive for excellence. During the 2016 Olympic Games, Team Beretta shooters took ten out of the possible fifteen podiums in trap, double trap, and skeet shooting events. Team Beretta competes not only at the highest professional levels as well as national and regional competitions, but our shooters also mentor and train future competitors. Team Beretta athletes brought home five out of the six possible medals in the men's and women's skeet events at the recent 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, with one gold (Vincent Hancock), two silvers (Diana Bacosi and Jesper Hansen), and two bronzes (Wei Meng and Abdullah Al-Rashidi).

Beretta, established in 1526, is the longest-standing industrial dynasty in the world, tracing its roots through 15 generations of continuous family ownership. Firearms bearing the Beretta name have been sold for almost 500 years. Beretta USA Corp. was founded in 1977 and provided the most widely deployed sidearm throughout the U.S. Armed Forces. Today, Beretta manufactures, distributes, and markets a complete line of firearms, accessories, and apparel. Beretta also owns and operates six retail Beretta Gallery stores worldwide. For additional information, visit www.Beretta.com.