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?

UP NEXT

Exclusive: US Congress Republicans Seek $27 Billion for Golden Dome in Trump Tax Bill

Tulare County Firefighters Battle Haystack Blaze Near Lindsay

49 minutes ago

This Is What’s Inside Trump’s ‘Beautiful’ Spending Package

1 hour ago

Defense Department Accepts Boeing 747 From Qatar for Trump’s Use

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has accepted a gifted Boeing 747 aircraft from Qatar for President Donald Trump to use as Air Fo...

18 seconds ago

18 seconds ago

Defense Department Accepts Boeing 747 From Qatar for Trump’s Use

A trader works during the closing bell, on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., May 19, 2025. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File Photo
24 minutes ago

Wall Street Stocks Slip as Treasury Yields Rise on Worries About Trump Tax Cuts

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at a Department of Defense Commander in Chief farewell ceremony, at Joint Base Myers-Henderson Hall in Fort Myer, Virginia, U.S., January 16, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo
27 minutes ago

US Redirects $365 Million Biden Had Set for Puerto Rico Solar Power

Tulare County firefighters, along with crews from Lindsay City and Cal Fire TUU, are working to contain a haystack fire near Avenue 240 and Road 188 on Wednesday, May 21, 2025. (Tulare County Fire)
49 minutes ago

Tulare County Firefighters Battle Haystack Blaze Near Lindsay

1 hour ago

This Is What’s Inside Trump’s ‘Beautiful’ Spending Package

Porterville fire crews used favorable conditions during a Tuesday, May 20, 2025, grass fire along the Tule River to conduct a controlled burn, reducing future fire hazards before fully extinguishing the blaze. (Porterville FD)
1 hour ago

Porterville Fire Crews Contain Tule River Blaze With Strategic Burn

1 hour ago

Police Arrest Teen Suspect in Threat of School Shooting at Monache High

2 hours ago

The Trump-Supporting Christians Accusing Jews of Antisemitism

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

Search

Send this to a friend