Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
AR-15 Style Guns Have Brought in Over $1 Billion in 10 Years
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 3 years ago on
July 27, 2022

Share

 

Gun manufacturers have made more than $1 billion from selling AR-15-style guns over the past decade, and for two companies those revenues have tripled over the past three years, according to a House investigation unveiled Wednesday.

Those profits have come as the weapons have been used in mass shootings that have horrified the nation, including one that left 10 people dead at a grocery store in Buffalo and another where 19 children were shot to death in Uvalde, Texas.

Those guns are often marketed to young men as a way to prove their masculinity, the Committee on Oversight and Reform said. Some ads mimic popular first-person shooter video games, while others claim the weapons will put buyers “at the top of the testosterone food chain.”

Those sales tactics are “deeply disturbing, exploitative and reckless,” said Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York. “In short, the gun industry is profiting off the blood of innocent Americans.”

The committee she chairs focused its investigation on five major gunmakers, and found they took in a combined total of more than $1 billion in revenue over the past 10 years from the sale of AR-15-style firearms, which mimic the look of military-style weapons. The revenue numbers were released ahead of a committee hearing examining the marketing and sales of the firearms that have gained notoriety because of their use in the mass killings.

Two of those companies tripled their revenue from the weapons over the past three years, the committee found. Daniel Defense, the company that made the gun used in Uvalde, raised its revenue from $40 million in 2019 to more than $120 million last year. The company sells weapons like the one used in that shooting on credit and advertises that financing can be approved “in seconds.”

Sturm, Ruger & Co.’s gross earnings, meanwhile, have gone from $39 million to over $103 million since 2019, and Smith and Wesson reported that its revenues from all long guns doubled from 2019 to 2021.

Those increases are against a backdrop of a record-setting overall increase in gun sales that began around the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Gun manufacturers, the committee said, don’t gather or analyze safety data related to firearms.

The hearing comes amid a push by House Democrats to get legislation passed that would ban certain semi-automatic weapons. It’s the lawmakers’ most far-reaching response yet to this summer’s mass shootings.

It also comes a time when such violence appears to be on the rise.

There have been 15 mass killings this year, according to the Associated Press/USA TODAY/Northeastern University Mass Killing Database. According to that research, those incidents have left 86 dead and 63 injured. Guns were used in all of them. Mass killings are defined as incidents where at least four people were killed.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

One Person Killed in Explosion Outside Fertility Clinic; Police Say Act Was ‘Intentional’

DON'T MISS

Trump Wants a Deal With Iran, but It May Be Weaker Than His Supporters Demand

DON'T MISS

Duffy Blamed Biden for Air Traffic Woes. It’s a Decades-Old Problem.

DON'T MISS

The Day Grok Lost Its Mind

DON'T MISS

Police and Firefighters Respond to an Explosion Rocking the California City of Palm Springs

DON'T MISS

Clovis Goes Full Throttle With Biggest Old Town Motorama Yet

DON'T MISS

Israel Launches a New Military Operation in Gaza a Day After Trump Leaves the Middle East

DON'T MISS

Kristen Stewart Was Always Ready to Direct

DON'T MISS

Walz Calls Trump a ‘Tyrant’ Who Is Trampling Americans’ Rights and Violating the Rule of Law

DON'T MISS

Severe Weather Leaves at Least 23 Dead, Including 14 in Storm-Battered Kentucky

UP NEXT

Mexican Cartel Leader AKA ‘Hummer’ Pleads Guilty to Drug Trafficking

UP NEXT

Conservative Pundit, ex-Secret Service Agent Dan Bongino Picked as FBI Deputy Director

UP NEXT

Judge Blocks Trump’s Immigration Policy Allowing Church Arrests

UP NEXT

Trump Backs Musk as He Hits Federal Workers With Demands and Threats

UP NEXT

53% Approve of Trump’s Job Performance Amid Economic Concerns

UP NEXT

Protests Planned in All 50 States for Presidents’ Day Against Trump Administration

UP NEXT

This Isn’t the Donald Trump America Elected

UP NEXT

Where Will Californians Rally During Nationwide Protest Against Trump Administration?

UP NEXT

Protests in All 50 States Against Trump’s Administration on Wednesday

UP NEXT

Elon Musk’s DOGE Gains Access to Social Security, Medicare Payments

The Day Grok Lost Its Mind

16 hours ago

Police and Firefighters Respond to an Explosion Rocking the California City of Palm Springs

16 hours ago

Clovis Goes Full Throttle With Biggest Old Town Motorama Yet

17 hours ago

Israel Launches a New Military Operation in Gaza a Day After Trump Leaves the Middle East

17 hours ago

Kristen Stewart Was Always Ready to Direct

18 hours ago

Walz Calls Trump a ‘Tyrant’ Who Is Trampling Americans’ Rights and Violating the Rule of Law

18 hours ago

Severe Weather Leaves at Least 23 Dead, Including 14 in Storm-Battered Kentucky

19 hours ago

Trump Says He Will Call Putin, Then Zelenskyy, on Monday to Push for Ukraine Ceasefire

20 hours ago

‘Eat the Tariffs!’: Trump Warns Walmart Not to Pass Costs to Customers

21 hours ago

Biden Audio Release Pressures Democrats Who Would Rather Talk About Trump

21 hours ago

One Person Killed in Explosion Outside Fertility Clinic; Police Say Act Was ‘Intentional’

An explosion that heavily damaged a fertility clinic in the upscale California city of Palm Springs appears to have been intentional, local ...

15 hours ago

15 hours ago

One Person Killed in Explosion Outside Fertility Clinic; Police Say Act Was ‘Intentional’

15 hours ago

Trump Wants a Deal With Iran, but It May Be Weaker Than His Supporters Demand

15 hours ago

Duffy Blamed Biden for Air Traffic Woes. It’s a Decades-Old Problem.

16 hours ago

The Day Grok Lost Its Mind

16 hours ago

Police and Firefighters Respond to an Explosion Rocking the California City of Palm Springs

The Old Town Motorama in Clovis is expected to draw up to 35,000 people Saturday for its biggest classic car show yet.
17 hours ago

Clovis Goes Full Throttle With Biggest Old Town Motorama Yet

17 hours ago

Israel Launches a New Military Operation in Gaza a Day After Trump Leaves the Middle East

18 hours ago

Kristen Stewart Was Always Ready to Direct

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend