SAN ANTONIO — In the wake of two major mass shootings over the past two weeks, one at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde and the other at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform is launching an investigation into assault weapons used in mass shootings.
Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), chairperson of the committee, announced on Friday that letters have been sent to five gun manufacturers regarding information about the manufacturing, marketing and sale of the weapons used in mass shootings.
The manufacturers Maloney sent letters to are Bushmaster Firearms Industries, Inc., Daniel Defense, LLC, Sig Sauer, Inc., Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc., and Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc.
“Our country faces an epidemic of gun violence, which is now the leading cause of death for children in the United States,” wrote Chairwoman Maloney. “I am deeply concerned that gun manufacturers continue to profit from the sale of weapons of war, including the AR-15- style assault rifle that a white supremacist used to murder ten people last week in Buffalo, New York, and the AR-15-style assault rifle that was reportedly used this week in the massacre of at least 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas. Despite decades of rising gun deaths and mass murders using assault weapons, your company has continued to market assault weapons to civilians, reaping a profit from the deaths of innocent Americans.”
An AR-15 was used by the alleged shooter in Uvalde and a Bushmaster XM-15 was used in Buffalo. Maloney said in her letter that these are just the latest examples of AR-15 style weapons being used in mass shootings. Weapons produced by by Bushmaster, Daniel Defense, Smith & Wesson Brands, Sig Sauer, and Ruger have been used in these attacks.
“Despite strong public support for an assault-weapon ban in light of the horrific violence perpetrated with assault-style rifles, your company continues to manufacture large quantities of assault weapons and aggressively market them to the public,” wrote Chairwoman Maloney. “The Committee respects the rights of law-abiding Americans under the Second Amendment, but that does not excuse irresponsible corporate conduct that fuels deadly gun violence and endangers our children. The Committee is investigating the sale and marketing of your company’s AR-15-style semiautomatic rifles and similar firearms to inform legislative efforts to achieve common-sense gun safety reform to save Americans’ lives.”
Maloney asked for information she requested from the manufacturers be provided to the committee by Thursday, June 2, ahead of a committee hearing on gun violence scheduled for the following Wednesday.
Read the full letter blow: