Gunmakers take in $1 billion on AR-15-style guns

The total reflects five major gunmakers’ revenue on the weapons from the past decade, as reported by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Mass shootings during that time have increased. The committee said that some gun manufacturers’ ads have mimicked first-person shooter video games and questioned the messaging of the marketing materials for the guns. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., accused the gunmakers of profiting off mass shootings. 

How did gunmakers respond? Gun manufacturers say responsibility for any homicides goes to the killers. Marty Daniels, the CEO of Daniel Defense, the company that made the weapon used in the Uvalde, Texas, shooting said at the hearing that the cruelty of such mass murderers disturbed him, his employees, family, and millions of other Americans. Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., a ranking member of the Oversight Committee, said, “What did the American firearm industry do wrong? Their customers are allowed to lawfully buy guns, their customers are allowed to exercise their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for their protection and other lawful purposes.”

Dig deeper: Read Mark Hemingway’s column in WORLD Opinions about how more than political solutions are needed for gun violence.