The chairman of a congressional committee is asking the CEO of a Georgia firearms manufacturer to testify at an upcoming hearing on the industry’s role in the spike in gun violence in America.
“I am deeply troubled that gun manufacturers continue to profit from the sale of weapons of war, including AR-15-style assault rifles that were used by a white supremacist to murder 10 people in Buffalo, New York, and in the massacre of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas,” U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, wrote July 6 in a letter to Marty Daniel, CEO of Bryan County-based Daniel Defense.
“Products sold by your company have been used for decades to carry out homicides and even mass murders, yet your company has continued to market assault weapons to civilians.”
Maloney’s letter also cited the July 4 mass shooting at an Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Ill., that left seven people dead and wounded dozens more.
The House committee launched an investigation into firearms manufacturers in late May following the shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde. Media reports have indicated Daniel Defense made the AR-15 used in the Uvalde killings.
The panel’s first hearing last month included gruesome testimony from survivors of the recent mass shootings and law enforcement officials who investigated the crimes.
Shortly after the June hearing, Congress passed the first federal gun restrictions in decades, legislation requiring enhanced background checks for buyers under the age of 21, providing federal grants for states willing to enact “red flag” laws that better screen would-be gun purchasers, and increasing penalties for gun traffickers.
“This law is an important step, but it does not ban assault weapons or implement other safety solutions that the gun industry has lobbied aggressively to prevent,” Maloney wrote.
Maloney also sent letters inviting the CEOs of Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger & Company to testify at the next hearing, set for July 20.
It was unclear Friday whether Daniel would testify. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
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