American gun makers hit back at Congress, telling them their products do not commit crimes. Instead, these weapons are being used on victims by violent criminals who intend to kill them.
Crimes Blamed on Arms Firms
Regarding mass shootings, which are terrible tragedies, the CEOs of the two largest companies said in a speech to Congress on Wednesday, reported RT.
Marty Daniel, the CEO of Daniel Defense in Georgia, reportedly claimed that the shootings in Uvalde, Buffalo, and Highland Park, Illinois, were unsettling. He testified before the House Oversight and Reform Committee, telling legislators that the regrettable mass shooting was caused by the people using the guns, not the type of rifle, noted KCRA.
Many Americans, he continued, are observing a decline in individual accountability across the nation and in culture. Just a few decades ago, mass shootings were practically unheard of.
Furthermore, it's not the weapons that have changed. They are identical to those created more than a century ago. Instead, American society has changed in a variety of significant ways.
When committee chair Carolyn Maloney (D-New York) questioned whether he would take personal responsibility over his company's alleged involvement in the Uvalde event, in which the gunman used a rifle built by Daniel Defense to commit crimes, Daniel replied, "These acts are done by killers." Murderers are held accountable, then the speaker is interrupted.
Gun Makers Appear Before Congress
Two executives from American gun makers testified during the committee hearing on the impact of arms producers on the rise in mass shootings in the US.
Christopher Killoy, president and CEO of Sturm, Ruger & Co., who refused to take responsibility and asserted that a gun "is a lifeless item," cites CBS News,
Killoy claimed to the legislators that his business produced contemporary sports rifles and that it was an exaggeration to classify them as weapons of war.
Mark Smith, the president of Smith & Wesson, is expected to refuse the Oversight Committee's invitation to participate in the testimony.
Maloney stated that Smith would be served with a subpoena to compel him to appear and answer questions after he refused the request.
The country's five top manufacturers, Daniel Defense, Smith & Wesson, Bushmaster, Sig Sauer, and Sturm, Ruger & Co., sold over $1 billion worth of AR-15-style assault weapons in sales, according to a committee memo published in advance of the hearing.
Numerous lawmakers and media outlets have alluded to the problem of mass shootings in the US as an epidemic. There were 247 mass shootings documented in the US from January until early June, involving 27 school shootings.
In Uvalde, Texas, Robb Elementary School was the scene of a massacre on May 24 that took the lives of 21 individuals, including 19 pupils. On July 4, a 21-year-old gunman opened fire at an Independence Day Parade in Highland Park, Illinois, and ended up killing two people and injuring 48 more, per The Texas Tribune.
American gun makers told lawmakers in Congress that firearms they made did not commit crimes; it was the person holding them. Also, they will not be the fall guy for the Biden administration's fault in the US crimewave.