Probe reveals gunmakers’ profits
Assault rifles marketed as a way for young men to ‘‘prove their manliness’’ have made US$1 billion (NZ$1.6b) for leading gun manufacturers over the past decade, according to a congressional committee.
Some of the advertising made veiled references to white supremacy groups, a report for the House Committee on Oversight and Reform said.
Democrats on the committee want to remove protections from gunmakers so they can be sued more readily when their products are marketed or used recklessly; Republicans want to defend the industry from further regulation.
The committee requested details of sales and marketing strategies from the country’s top five manufacturers, along with data of how they track the use of their products. ‘‘The business practices of these gun manufacturers are deeply disturbing, exploitative and reckless,’’ said Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat from New York who chairs the committee. ‘‘They use aggressive marketing tactics to target young people, especially young men, and some even evoke symbols of white supremacy. We found that none of these companies bothers to keep track of the death and destruction caused by their products.’’
The investigation into the gun manufacturing industry was opened in May after the school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, that claimed the lives of 19 pupils and two teachers, and a mass shooting by an alleged white supremacist in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, that killed 10 black people.
The Democrat-controlled House is expected to vote tomorrow on an assault weapons ban for the first time since 1994, although it has no chance of passing the evenly-divided Senate to become law.
James Comer, from Kentucky, the leading Republican on the committee, accused Democrats of being ‘‘quick to point fingers at American industry’’. He added: ‘‘Republicans want to target criminals, Democrats want to target lawful owners and take away their guns. Gun manufacturers don’t cause violent crime; criminals cause violent crime.’’
Several executives appeared before the committee yesterday but Maloney criticised Mark Smith, head of Smith & Wesson,
America’s second-largest rifle manufacturer, for failing to attend.
‘‘Mr Smith promised he would testify but went back on his word,’’ she said.
Marty Daniel, the founder and chief executive of Daniel Defence, manufacturer of the AR-15-style rifle used by the 18-year-old Uvalde gunman, told the committee that he feared it wanted to ‘‘vilify, blame and try to ban more than 24 million sporting rifles already in circulation that are lawfully possessed and commonly used by millions of Americans to protect their homes and loved ones, to safely sport-shoot with family and friends, and to put food on the table as licensed hunters.’’
He said that the murders in Uvalde and Buffalo were ‘‘pure evil’’ but that government should address ‘‘the erosion of personal responsibility’’ in America.
–The Times