Ammunition made for the Pentagon is showing up at crime scenes across the country. A New York Times investigation conducted last year found that shooters have used bullets from the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in at least 12 high-profile mass shootings, including at a supermarket in Buffalo (2022), a movie theater in Aurora (2012), a concert venue in Las Vegas (2017), and schools in Parkland (2018) and Uvalde (2022).
Over a year after these troubling revelations came to light, the Pentagon is STILL allowing Lake City to pump “billions of rounds of military-grade ammunition into the commercial market.”
Here's the grim backstory: The Pentagon contracts with Olin Winchester to operate the Lake City plant which is now one of the country’s biggest manufacturers of commercial rounds for AR-15 guns. Any ammunition not purchased by the military can be sold commercially to anyone.
That includes people like the Buffalo supermarket shooter, who murdered ten people in 2022. He described Lake City’s ammunition as “the best barrier penetration ammo I can get.”
Lawmakers, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Alex Padilla, Mazie Hirono, along with Reps. Jamie Raskin and Robert Garcia, have recently called out this reckless policy and requested more details on its impacts from the Secretaries of Defense and the Army, but we haven't seen the changes necessary to keep us safe.
You know what CAN help speed an end to this dangerous practice? If thousands of people across the country start talking about the Pentagon’s failures — and take action — today. Add your name to tell Secretary Austin: Stop contracting with companies that sell military-grade ammunition to civilians.