Press Release  AG CAMPBELL JOINS MULTISTATE COALITION CALLING FOR FEDERAL ACTION TO STOP SALES OF MILITARY-GRADE AMMUNITION USED IN MASS SHOOTINGS

Boston — Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell joined a multistate coalition of 20 attorneys general calling on the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention to investigate recent reports that a federally funded contractor has produced military-grade ammunition for sale to civilians, including to perpetrators of horrific recent mass shootings.  

In the letter, the coalition urged the Office to investigate how a facility overseen by the U.S. Army, Lake City Army Ammunition Plant (Lake City), produced billions of rounds of ammunition that were sold on the commercial market, and asked the Office to ensure that future military production contracts prohibit the sale of military-subsidized weapons and ammunition to civilians. 

“I’m proud to join this coalition of attorneys general committed to ensuring military-grade, taxpayer-subsidized ammunition does not end up in the hands of civilians,” said AG Campbell. “I urge the federal government to immediately investigate how this ammunition ended up in the hands of those committing deadly mass shootings.”    

Lake City is a manufacturing facility operated by a private contractor and overseen by the U.S. Army. It is one of the country’s largest manufacturers of military ammunition, able to produce some 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition per year, much of it for use in AR-15-style rifles. Its commercial operations have sold billions of rounds onto the civilian market products have been used in mass shootings and other crimes.  

The coalition of attorneys general notes that Lake City rounds have become the “ammunition of choice” for use in mass shootings, citing shootings at Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, as recent examples where Lake City rounds were used. The Buffalo mass shooter even praised Lake City ammunition as “the best barrier penetration ammo I can get.”   

The federal government has invested over $860 million to improve production at Lake City, meaning taxpayer funds are subsidizing production of these dangerous rounds sold to civilians. The coalition is calling on the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention to investigate the contracting and manufacturing practices that led to military-grade rounds being sold to civilians, issue a public report with recommendations about how to keep military ammunition out of civilian hands, and take steps over the long term to ensure that future production contracts prohibit the sale of military weapons and ammunition to civilians. 

Attorney General Campbell has made advocating for strong and comprehensive gun legislation a top priority of her administration. In her first year, AG Campbell created the Gun Violence Prevention Unit  and also co-sponsored An Act Relative to Silencers with Senator Michael Moore (D-Millbury), as well as joining a multistate coalition in support of a New York law banning guns in places of worship, defended Massachusetts’ Handgun Safety Regulations and Assault Weapons Ban from legal challenges, co-led a multistate coalition urging credit card companies to use merchant codes for gun sales, led multistate efforts to urge the federal First Circuit Court to recognize that federal gun laws do not shield gun manufacturers and dealers from liability for wrongdoing under state laws, joined a multistate coalition urging the U.S. Supreme Court to prohibit individuals with restraining orders from accessing guns and co-led a multistate amicus brief in support of Delaware’s commonsense gun laws and restrictions on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, co-led a coalition of Attorneys General to support a rule at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to ensure more gun sales have background checks, and co-led an amicus brief supporting California’s assault weapons ban. 

Joining Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell in sending the letter to the White House are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.  

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