Georgia Congressman Jody Hice, the 10th District Republican who represents Athens in the US House, questioned the CEO of Georgia-based gun manufacturer Wednesday in Washington in hearings held in the aftermath of this summer’s deadly school shooting in Uvalde Texas.
From WSB TV…
The heads of two major gun manufacturers faced questions on Capitol Hill Wednesday about assault rifle sales and their business practices in the wake of mass shootings around the country.
Democrats on the House Oversight and Reform Committee released new findings showing that five major gun manufacturers made more than $1 billion from assault rifle sales in the last decade.
Their investigation also pointed to manipulative marketing tactics, including ones that targeted young people.
“The gun industry has flooded our neighborhoods, our schools and even our churches and synagogues with these deadly weapons and has gotten rich doing it,” said Committee Chairwoman Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY).
Lawmakers questioned the head of Daniel Defense, LLC., the company that made the rifle used in the Uvalde, TX elementary school shooting.
“How many more American children need to die before your company will stop selling assault weapons to civilians and young men?” asked Maloney.
“These murders are local problems that have to be solved locally,” responded Marty Daniel, CEO of Daniel Defense, LLC.
“Will you accept personal responsibility for your company’s role in this tragedy and apologize to the families of Uvalde?” Maloney continued.
“These acts are committed by murderers,” said Daniel. “The murderers are responsible.”
Republicans, meanwhile, expressed outrage over Democrats placing blame on the gun companies.
“This is like the old saying of we’re going to blame the manufacturers of forks and spoons for obesity,” said Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA).
Gun manufacturers and Republicans argued the focus should instead be on cracking down on criminals who use guns illegally.
“It is wrong to deprive citizens of their constitutional right to purchase a lawful firearm they desire because of the criminal acts of wicked people,” said Christopher Killoy, President and CEO of Sturm, Ruger & Company Inc.
Many Democrats and gun safety advocates are calling for the return of the assault weapons ban.
“Gun violence is a public health problem, and it requires public policy solutions,” said Kelly Sampson, Senior Counsel and Director of Racial Justice for the Brady Campaign.
An assault weapons ban proposal passed in a key House committee, but it is not expected to pass in the Senate.
Lawmakers also noted who was not part of Wednesday’s discussion – the CEO of Smith & Wesson, another popular gun manufacturer.
The committee invited Mark Smith, President and CEO of Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc., but he did not attend.
Maloney said she plans to subpoena Smith & Wesson for documents about assault rifle sales.
We reached out to Smith & Wesson Brands Inc. for comment, but we have not heard back.
Transcript provided by the office of 10th District Congressman Jody Hice…
Thank you. I want to thank each of our witnesses for being here for your testimony. I also want to thank Chairwoman Maloney for holding this hearing so that the American people can see the disturbing trend in this committee of going after both private citizens and the constitutional rights of American citizens. Just the other day this committee went after those in the energy sector, and now going after firearm manufacturers all for political purposes. And just to go with chairwoman’s comments, I want to know when are you Chairwoman Maloney going to apologize to the American citizens for not dealing with the real issue and showing responsibility and accountability? When are we going to have hearings in this committee, holding people responsible in cities, municipalities, states, and right here in our own Congress for being soft on crime? When are we going to have hearings to do away with the ridiculous outrageous policies of defunding the police? And do we really think that that is a good idea when it comes to dealing with crime?
Would anyone in their right mind think that crime would go down when we attack and defund the police when we’re soft on crime, and here we have a southern border that remains open, allowing gang members to come in we’ve not had one hearing about that. We’re not dealt with one thing of the of the issue. This is like the old saying that we’re going to blame the manufacturers of forks and spoons for obesity. I guess you’re going to subpoena some of them as well, to deal with obesity in this country. It is absolutely absurd, that we’re not dealing with the issues. And I want to know, when are you going to apologize for the lack of leadership and this committee of dealing with the issues that this country is facing?
This committee should have jurisdiction over government oversight, and federal issues not going after private citizens and private companies like we’re doing here today. Yes, violent crime is on the increase. That’s a concern for all of us. But to go after the manufacturers of gun, while at the same time remaining soft on crime, defunding the police, supporting those policies, and keeping our southern border open for all sorts of criminals is absolutely disgusting to me and unthinkable the height of irresponsibility and lack of accountability. My colleagues seem to forget that the American people have a right to own guns. It’s a constitutional right to defend themselves. And yet, we have a perpetual barrage of politicized buzz words like I’ve already been used here this morning, like assault weapons and weapons of war to support arbitrary gun grabs, not from criminals, but from law abiding American citizens. And it’s time that we see some changes. Mr. Daniel, I’d like to go to you. There were approximately eight and a half million Americans purchased a firearm for the first time in 2020. And this is a trend has continued to go up for the last several years does your company make or produce any illegal product?
WITN#1, MARTY DANIEL: We don’t make any illegal products; we abide by all the laws. We have a very, very professional compliance department. We focus on always doing the right thing we focus on. We tell our employees every month in our monthly meetings that we need to be 100% compliant 100% of the time. And we and we have we are known to have a great a great system of making sure that we’re everything is legal.
HICE: I’ve been to your company. I’ve toured it. It’s an amazing place. Why do you
believe so many Americans are choosing to exercise their constitutional rights for firearms and purchase firearms, particularly things like the AR 15, which seems to be under attack this morning.
WITN #1: Congressman, our data ship agrees with what you’ve stated that there were 8
million plus new gun owners and in 2020 That number has it has continued those types of numbers have continued through today. A killing 16 million plus new gun owners our internal data shows us, sir, that less than 20% of those new gun owners who have never owned a gun before are Republicans and that people who have who have made a decision in the past and never own a gun have changed their minds and are buying guns in unprecedented quantities.
HICE: And I’m sure that’s primarily to defend themselves because we’re soft on crime we’re not dealing with the real issue is Miss Okafor. Let me go to you here – lawful gun ownership is an integral part of a citizen’s right to defend themselves. That is interesting. And Chairwoman. I have two articles here.
But in 1982, the city of Kennesaw Georgia passed an ordinance requiring heads of households to maintain working firearms and ammunition. And interestingly, Kennesaw, which is a metro Atlanta city, certainly not a depopulated rural area. They have incredibly low crime rates, particularly violent crime, in fact, between 2012 and 2020, only two homicides in that city. And I have a couple of articles I’d like to submit to the record, please without objection, thank you Miss Okafor, in your opinion, is private gun ownership. one of if not the most effective means of self-defense.
WITN#2, ANTONIA OKAFOR: Thank you, Congressman. Yes, absolutely. That is one of the most impactful ways of deterring any criminal from wanting to go to the places that are most vulnerable and defenseless.
Like I said in my testimony, 94% of mass shootings occur in gun free zones. So, a criminal is going to go where they can do the most amount of harm in the least amount of time. And so those places that they know that they’re not going to be able to do that, they’re going to be a deterrent.
HICE: Is that answer databased?
WITN#2: Yes, that’s absolutely database.
HICE: Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate the chairwoman allowing us to go a
little bit over our time, but with that, I’ll yield back now.