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The Oversight Committee of the United States House of Representatives requested this Thursday, July 7, the executive directors of the main arms manufacturers in the country to testify at a hearing on July 20. The call comes amid investigations into a wave of mass shootings that have rocked the nation, most recently during a Fourth of July parade in Chicago’s Highland Park.
Smith & Wesson Brands SWBI.O, Sturm, Ruger & Co RGR.N, as well as Daniel Defense, privately owned, are the companies whose executive directors will appear before the United States Congress on July 20, amid investigations into mass shootings in the country.
“I am deeply concerned that weapons manufacturers continue to profit from the sale of weapons of war, including AR-15-style assault rifles,” said House Investigative Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat.
Representatives of the gun manufacturers have until Friday, July 8, to respond to the congressional panel about their subpoena.
The House Oversight Committee is ramping up its investigation into gun manufacturers and has requested that CEOs of three major gun manufacturers appear before Congress at the end of the month in the wake of a string of harrowing mass shootings. https://t.co/pXKiF4fDHM
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 7, 2022
The hearing seeks to analyze the sale and marketing of weapons “and the broad civil immunity that has been granted to manufacturers,” added the representative for the state of New York.
“His testimony is crucial to understanding why his companies continue to sell and market these weapons to civilians, what steps his companies plan to take to protect the public, and what additional reforms are needed to prevent more deaths from their products,” Maloney wrote in an email. the letters sent to the cited CEOs.
Arms manufacturers in the crosshairs of Congress, after the latest shootings
For decades, the United States has faced mass shootings at the hands of civilians in schools, shopping malls, and at public events, and with each scene that leaves human losses, a new debate is opened in the country over gun control.
But the violent events recorded in recent weeks appear as the straw that broke the camel’s back, as they lead to this investigation within the Legislature.
During US Independence Day celebrations, a 21-year-old man fired around 70 shots from an AR-15-style weapon into a crowd, leaving seven people dead.
And on May 24, another similar scene at a school in Uvalde, Texas, left 21 people dead, 19 of them children.
Two days later, on May 26, the Committee on Oversight and Reform opened an investigation into the sale of assault rifles to civilians by US arms manufacturers.
The recent wave of deadly attacks leaves more than 200 mass shootings so far this year alone.
Against this background, a modest bipartisan package of gun reforms was signed into law in late June, but on June 23 the US Supreme Court separately expanded gun owners’ rights. A lapo of cold water for those who urge to establish limits to avoid more tragedies.
Following the high court ruling, some US states have independently moved to act on the matter.
Every time a mass shooting is recorded in the United States, it opens the way to a repeated request: legislate gun control. However, Democrats and officials in favor of the measure are tripping over the same rock: the strong resistance of the National Rifle Association and the Republicans who support it.
The Second Amendment to the Constitution protects “the right to keep and bear arms.” And under this legislation, the United States is one of the countries with the fewest limitations to acquire these artifacts.
In a nation where the right to carry fire devices is enshrined in the Magna Carta and sales of these by the millions are rising, it is not yet clear whether the ongoing investigation by the lower house would prompt possible regulations.
With Reuters and EFE
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