“This is an extremely lethal weapon, designed to kill enemy soldiers on the battlefield,” said the committee’s chairwoman, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-New York. “Yet the gun industry has flooded our neighborhoods, our schools, and even our churches and synagogues with these deadly weapons and gotten rich doing it.” Maloney said the commission’s investigation found that five of the biggest gun manufacturers made more than a billion dollars over the past decade from selling assault weapons to civilians. He opened the hearing by saying he plans to subpoena gunmaker Smith & Wesson for documents related to the company’s sale and marketing of semi-automatic rifles and similar AR-style firearms. Smith & Wesson CEO Mark P. Smith was invited but did not attend. “His company is the second largest gun manufacturer in the country and is responsible for the weapons used by mass murderers in Highland Park, Parkland and other mass shootings,” Maloney said. CNN has reached out to Smith & Wesson for comment and has not yet heard back. The two company CEOs who attended and testified — Ruger’s Christopher Killoy and Daniel Defense’s Marty Daniel — denied their products are illegal and defended the gun industry’s ability to market and sell assault weapons.
Citing a recent Supreme Court decision expanding the rights of gun owners, Daniel told the committee, “[T]Enshrining constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy options off the table, including those that would curtail the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans, such as banning common and popular weapons.” Republicans on the committee blasted their Democratic counterparts for targeting private companies and tried to deflect blame away from guns and toward progressive policies they say have led to increased violent crime in some cities.
“Ironically, the cities with the worst crime rates are the hardest places to buy guns,” said the committee’s top Republican, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky. “Republicans want to target criminals. Democrats want to target legal gun owners and take away their guns.”
Representative Jody Hice, Republican of Georgia, said that blaming gun manufacturers for gun violence is akin to blaming fork and spoon makers for obesity.
Wednesday’s hearing began with a video montage of gun violence victims demanding reform, including those affected by the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Highland Park, Illinois; Buffalo, New York; and Parkland, Florida. Anna Rodriguez, whose 10-year-old daughter Maite was killed in May at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, described her child’s dream of one day going to college and becoming a marine biologist.
“Maite was robbed of her future by gun violence,” Rodriguez said. Asked by Maloney how many more children in America must die before Daniel Defense stops selling assault weapons, the company’s CEO said, “I think these killings are local problems that need to be solved locally.” “Is there a number of school shootings that would convince you to stop selling weapons of war to civilians?” Maloney asked Ruger’s Christopher Killoy. “With respect, Congressman, I do not consider the modern sporting rifles produced by my company to be weapons of war,” he said, “and like all Americans I am saddened to read of these tragic incidents.”
In a heated exchange among committee members, Republican Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana suggested that any legislation banning assault rifles could lead to gun owners opening fire on FBI agents and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco , Firearms and Explosives if the government tries to confiscate guns from homes. “When these gun battles happen, that blood will be on your hands,” Higgins said, addressing the Democratic members of the committee. Democratic Congressman Jerry Connolly of Virginia blasted Higgins’ proposal, shouting, “We will not be threatened with violence and bloodshed because we want reasonable gun control!” Outside the hearing room, Higgins was confronted by a survivor of the Highland Park shooting, Ashbey Beasley, who was frustrated with Higgin’s argument that the commission’s goal was to take guns away from law-abiding citizens.
Higgins told her that changing the Constitution “is always a bad idea” because “the Founders got it right.” “If you don’t think these guys are in this body … if you don’t think they’re going to come door to door to grab your guns, you’re wrong,” he told her. “Have you ever run from a shooter because you were being shot at?” Beasley asked. Higgins replied that he had been a SWAT officer for 12 years. “So you don’t know what it’s like?” asked.
Higgins did not answer the question. In the audience during Wednesday’s hearing was Jazmin Cazares, whose sister died in the Uvalde shooting. Cazares told CNN it was eye-opening to see members of Congress debate gun safety in person, and it was clear to her which representatives didn’t seem interested in preventing shootings. “You can tell they’re not being honest,” he said of some representatives at the hearing. “They don’t care that children die and if they say so [do care] they lie because you can see it on their face.” This story and headline have been updated with additional developments on Wednesday.