Stop Marketing Militarized Weapons to Civilians
The Violence Policy Center continues to expose the public safety threat assault weapons represent as well as the need to ban their sale to civilians.
“Our nation is being held hostage by the gun industry, and until the industry is held fully accountable for the direct role it plays in these massacres, communities across the nation will continue to live in fear of the next horrendous attack.”
Following the mass shooting at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York, reportedly committed with a Bushmaster XM-15 assault rifle equipped with a high-capacity ammunition magazine that left 10 dead, including the store’s armed security guard, and three injured, Violence Policy Center Executive Director Josh Sugarmann issued the following statement:
“Once again, a military-bred assault rifle equipped with a high-capacity ammunition magazine was used for the exact purpose for which it was designed: to kill and injure as many people as quickly and efficiently as possible. This latest mass shooting, fueled by racial hate, is the direct result of the gun industry’s embrace of militarization and heightened lethality in the products it markets to civilians. In a nation where anyone with a fairly clean record, a credit card, and a self-defined ‘mission’ can outfit themselves for war, including body armor and other tactical gear, these horrific attacks will continue.”
Militarization dominates the public face of today’s gun industry, whether in magazine ads, manufacturer catalogs and websites, or the content of firearm magazines that cater to gun owners. In these outlets, three themes are consistently found: language and images that equate military-bred weaponry as the virtual embodiment of freedom; the use of the term “hero” along with images extolling the virtues of the potential gun buyer; and, language and images touting that the guns being sold are identical, or virtually identical, to weapons carried and used by law enforcement or the military.
There is no reason for assault rifles, assault pistols, and assault shotguns to be sold on the civilian market. In 1988, the Violence Policy Center first warned of the threat posed by assault weapons. Their research continues to expose the public safety threat assault weapons represent as well as the need to ban their sale to civilians.
The Violence Policy Center is a national educational organization working to stop gun death and injury. To learn more, visit vpc.org.
