Gunmaker Smith & Wesson’s CEO blames politicians for ‘surge in violence and lawlessness’
The CEO of gunmaker Smith & Wesson on Monday blamed politicians “and their lobbying partners in the media” for a “crisis of violence” two weeks after House lawmakers subpoenaed the company for information about the manufacture and sale of its AR-15 style firearms.
“They are the ones to blame for the surge in violence and lawlessness, and they seek to avoid any responsibility for the crisis of violence they have created by attempting to shift the blame to Smith & Wesson, other firearm manufacturers and law-abiding gun owners,” Mark Smith wrote of politicians in a statement shared to Twitter.
Smith recently declined an invitation to testify before the House Oversight and Reform Committee, which is investigating gun violence and the firearm industry in the wake of recent mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, N.Y.
Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) then subpoenaed Smith’s company for documents related to its AR-15-style firearms.
“Your company collects hundreds of millions of dollars selling assault weapons that are used in mass shootings, including the horrific murder of seven Americans and the wounding of dozens more during a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois,” Maloney said in a letter informing Smith of the subpoena.
Maloney noted the subpoena was a reaction to Smith’s “unwillingness to voluntarily comply” with the investigation and his refusal to testify about Smith & Wesson’s “troubling business practices” and provide information about the sale of assault weapons to civilians.
The committee homed in on Smith & Wesson as one of five major U.S. manufacturers whose semi-automatic weapons have been used in mass shootings, with the others being Bushmaster, Daniel Defense, Sig Sauer, and Sturm, Ruger & Co.
A recent report by the committee found that major gun manufacturers earned more than $1 billion from sales of military-style assault weapons to American civilians in the last decade, as hundreds of thousands are purchased annually.
Maloney has called out the gun manufacturers for “deeply disturbing, exploitative and reckless” marketing tactics targeted at young men.
But Smith on Monday accused politicians of preventing “firearm manufacturers and supporters of the 2nd Amendment from advertising products in a manner designed to remind law-abiding citizens that they have a Constitutional right to bear arms in defense of themselves and their families.”
He alleged that politicians and the news media have supported inept prosecutors and “vilified, undermined and defunded law enforcement,” creating a “culture of lawlessness.”
“A Smith & Wesson firearm has never broken into a home; a Smith & Wesson firearm has never assaulted a woman out for a late-night run in the city; a Smith & Wesson firearm has never carjacked an unsuspecting driver stopped at a traffic light,” Smith wrote, countering with the argument that the gunmaker equips victims for self-defense.
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