Chairwoman Maloney Launches Investigation Into Manufacturers of Assault Weapons Used in Mass Shootings

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  May 27, 2022 CONTACT:  Nelly Decker, (202) 226-5181  Chairwoman Maloney Launches Investigation Into Manufacturers of Assault Weapons Used in Mass Shootings Following Mass Shootings in Texas, New York, and California, Committee Demands Information on Sales and Marketing of AR-15-Style Rifles and Similar Firearms

Washington, D.C. (May 27, 2022)—Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, sent letters to gun manufacturers Bushmaster Firearms Industries, Inc., Daniel Defense, LLC, Sig Sauer, Inc., Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc., and Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc., requesting information regarding their manufacture, marketing, and sales of firearms used in mass shootings, ahead of the Committee’s upcoming hearing on gun violence on June 8, 2022. “Our country faces an epidemic of gun violence, which is now the leading cause of death for children in the United States,” wrote Chairwoman Maloney.  “I am deeply concerned that gun manufacturers continue to profit from the sale of weapons of war, including the AR-15- style assault rifle that a white supremacist used to murder ten people last week in Buffalo, New York, and the AR-15-style assault rifle that was reportedly used this week in the massacre of at least 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas. Despite decades of rising gun deaths and mass murders using assault weapons, your company has continued to market assault weapons to civilians, reaping a profit from the deaths of innocent Americans.”  On Tuesday afternoon, an 18-year-old gunman entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and opened fire on young school children.  While information is still being gathered, initial reports indicate that the shooter possessed a handgun and at least one AR-15-style rifle manufactured by Daniel Defense.  He reportedly used these weapons to kill at least 19 children and two teachers, and to injure multiple law enforcement officers. This horrific attack followed a mass shooting just 10 days earlier, when a gunman wearing military gear opened fire on shoppers and workers at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York.  The shooter’s attack was racially motivated and meticulously planned to target a predominately Black community.   Using a Bushmaster XM-15, a semiautomatic rifle, the shooter murdered ten innocent people—including an armed security guard—and seriously wounded three others.   The mass murders in Uvalde and Buffalo are just the latest examples of AR-15-style semiautomatic weapons sold by these companies being used to perpetrate mass shootings of innocent people.  In the past two decades, weapons of war manufactured by Bushmaster, Daniel Defense, Smith & Wesson Brands, Sig Sauer, and Ruger have been repeatedly used to carry out horrific and deadly attacks. “Despite strong public support for an assault-weapon ban in light of the horrific violence perpetrated with assault-style rifles, your company continues to manufacture large quantities of assault weapons and aggressively market them to the public,” wrote Chairwoman Maloney.  “The Committee respects the rights of law-abiding Americans under the Second Amendment, but that does not excuse irresponsible corporate conduct that fuels deadly gun violence and endangers our children.  The Committee is investigating the sale and marketing of your company’s AR-15-style semiautomatic rifles and similar firearms to inform legislative efforts to achieve common-sense gun safety reform to save Americans’ lives.” The Committee requested that the companies provide information regarding the manufacturing, sales, and marketing of semiautomatic rifles based on the AR platform and similar variants by June 2, 2022, and related documents by June 6, 2022. Click here to read the letter to Bushmaster Firearms Industries, Inc. Click here to read the letter to Daniel Defense, LLC. Click here to read the letter to Sig Sauer, Inc. Click here to read the letter to Smith &Wesson Brands, Inc. Click here to read the letter to Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc.

 

Schumer tells colleagues not to expect a gun control vote anytime soon

Story by the Hill

Written BY ALEXANDER BOLTON

SHARETWEET

Greg Nash

Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) speaks during a press event on Tuesday, May 3, 2022 to discuss the leaked opinion from Justice Alito striking down Roe vs. Wade.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told colleagues on the Senate floor Wednesday that he will not immediately bring gun control measures to the floor in the wake of two mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, because he doesn’t expect them to muster enough Republican votes to pass.  

Instead, the Democratic leader said he will wait for Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and other members of his caucus to try to negotiate a bipartisan compromise with Republicans on a measure that has a better chance of securing 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.  

“There are some who want this body to quickly vote on sensible gun safety legislation, legislation supported by the vast majority of Americans,” he said. “They want to see this body vote quickly so the American people can know which side each senator is on …. I’m sympathetic to that, and I believe that accountability votes are important.”  

But Schumer said he thought that bringing gun-control legislation in the immediate aftermath of Buffalo and Uvalde, where two lone shooters left a total of 31 people dead in the span of 10 days, would be fruitless because of staunch Republican opposition to such reforms.  

He noted that Republicans opposed proposals to expand background checks, ban assault-style weapons and prohibit high-capacity magazines after a gunman killed 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in 2012.  

“If the slaughter of schoolchildren can’t convince Republicans to buck the NRA, what can we do?” he said, referring to the National Rifle Association.  

“Sadly, this isn’t a case of the American people now knowing where their senators stand. They know. They know because my Republican colleagues are perfectly clear on this issue. Crystal clear.”

“Republicans don’t pretend that they support sensible gun safety legislation. They don’t pretend to be moved by the fact that 90 percent of Americans, regardless of party, support something as common sense as background checks, that the vast majority of gun owners support the background checks bill,” he said.  

Schumer said he would hold legislation from the floor to give Murphy and other colleagues a chance to negotiate bipartisan legislation that has a better chance of passing.  

“Americans can cast their vote in November for senators or members of Congress that reflect how he or she stands with guns,” he said. “In the meantime, my Republican colleagues can work with us now. I know this is a slim prospect, very slim, all too slim. We’ve been burnt so many times before. But this is so important.”  

One promising candidate for action is “red flags” legislation crafted by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that would authorize and establish procedures for removing firearms from people judged a danger to themselves or others. 

Graham and centrist Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) co-sponsored Blumenthal’s Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act in the last Congress.  

Schumer held out hope that Republicans will come around to supporting gun violence measures at some point in the future, even if he doesn’t see a chance of passing reform proposals anytime soon.  

“I have such a firm belief, taught to me by my late father … that if you do the right thing and persist, justice will eventually prevail.  But you got to keep persisting, and we will,” he said.  

He offered the slim hope that Murphy and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who negotiated a narrowly crafted bill to expand background checks with Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) in 2013, would be able to reach some kind of agreement with Republicans in the next several weeks or months.  

“Democrats have been trying to work hard with Republicans, Sen. Murphy, Sen. Manchin, on legislation that will eventually pass and become law,” he said. “The other side has refused. There are so many options available to us. So many ideas. We just need some brave Republicans to stand before history and yell stop.” 

Format Report Card: Classic Hits, Urban AC, Adult Hits Show Across-The-Board Demo Growth

Story by Inside Radio

Four months into 2022, clear radio format trends emerge when comparing Nielsen PPM shares to both the January-April period a year and two years ago – the latter including the start of the COVID lockdown – and comparing April 2022's PPM shares to those from a year and month ago.

Inside Radio's analysis of PPM cross-market average quarter-hour share data for Monday-Sunday 6am-midnight, averaging each format's AQH shares for January-April in 2020, 2021 and 2022, still shows news/talk and adult contemporary as the most popular formats among persons 6+. News/talk's 11.3 share is even with where it was two years ago while down year-over-year, given the format's ratings bump during January 2021's Capitol insurrection. AC, meanwhile, has broken the 8-share barrier in 2022 so far, up a tenth of a point from two years ago and 0.3 year-over-year.

Four formats have gained steadily in 6+ share year-over-year, from Jan-Apr 2020 to Jan-Apr 2022: classic hits (5.4-5.5-5.8), urban adult contemporary (4.6-4.9-5.1), sports (3.7-3.8-4.1) and adult hits (2.2-2.4-2.6). Adult hits has also steadily gained from January through April 2022 (2.4-2.5-2.6-2.7).

Looking at key demographics, classic hits, urban AC and adult hits are all up from 2020 to 2022 among persons 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54. Also up steadily among 18-34 listeners are AC (7.4-7.5-8.0) and adult alternative (0.8-0.9-1.2), while that's also the case for the Spanish adult hits format among 25-54s.

Meanwhile, steadily downtrending over the past two years based on 6+ share are country (6.4-6.2-5.8), classic rock (5.2-5.1-5.0), CHR (5.7-5.1-5.0), modern/alternative rock (2.7-2.6-2.3) and rhythmic-CHR (2.2-1.9-1.8). While country ranked third among all formats for the Jan-Apr 2020 and Jan-Apr 2021 periods, comfortably ahead of classic hits, both are now tied for third for 2022 to date. The encouraging news for three of these formats is they've been in bounce-back mode since the first of the year, with country's monthly share gaining steadily since January (5.6-5.7-5.9-6.1) and shares headed back up for both classic rock (4.7-4.7-5.2-5.2) and modern/alternative rock (2.2-2.3-2.4-2.4).

As for other monthly trends, gainers of 0.3 or more from last to this April in 6+ include adult contemporary (7.4-7.9), sports (4.0-4.4), classic hits (5.7-6.0), urban contemporary (2.7-3.0) and news (2.2-2.5). AC and urban contemporary also show year-over-year growth across all three key demos, while among 18-34s, classic rock and urban AC are also up.

In terms of format growth from March to April, up 0.3 or more 6+ are classic hits (5.7-6.0) and sports (3.9-4.4), with sports up in all demos while classic hits gains among 18-49s and 25-54s. Also notable is a bump up for hot AC (5.2-5.5) 18-34.

'This is an assault on all of us,' Sharpton says as families share grief and outrage - Story by Buffalo News

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'This is an assault on all of us,' Sharpton says as families share grief and outrage

Story by

Rev. Al Sharpton, Founder and President of the National Action Network, speaks as he is joined by civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump at the Antioch Baptist Church on Thursday, May 19, 2022.

Written by Harry Scull Jr. and Maki BeckerStory by Buffalo News

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Maki Becker

The last time Marcus Talley heard from his mother, Geraldine, was Mother's Day.

He sent her a text wishing her a Happy Mother's Day. She wrote back: "Thank you."

Faces in the Community: 'We come together every time. And we stay together'

Those who live in the neighborhood that adjoins Tops have been trying to fathom why a gunman would target them. But in interviews, they talked as much about pride in their neighborhood than the pain they are enduring.

"I never would have thought it would be the last time I would speak to her or hear from her," he said. "I never would have thought my mother would be shot dead – have a bullet go through her right temple on her head."

One by one, on the steps of Antioch Baptist Church on Fillmore Avenue, the families of four of the victims of the May 14 massacre at the Tops Markets store on Jefferson Avenue stepped before reporters and let their grief flow.

"How dare you!" cried out Robin Harris, the eldest daughter of another victim, Ruth Whitfield, stomping her foot on the sidewalk. 

Buffalo Equity Coalition, community leaders gather for healing and action

A meeting originally scheduled to discuss action plans for education equality in Buffalo on Thursday was recast in light of Saturday’s white supremacist mass shooting at the Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue. Community partners and education activists instead gathered to talk about racial and economic justice and held a “healing circle” to spread comfort for a traumatized East Side community.

The heartbroken families were joined by civil rights leader, the Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Action Network, attorney Ben Crump, who has represented the families of the victims of the nation's most heinous hate crimes, and Buffalo attorney Terry Connors. Crump and Connors are representing the families in taking legal action against the gun manufacturers that made the weapons that the killer used in Buffalo's worst mass shooting. They're also being joined in the lawsuit by The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

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• The Editorial Board: Horror in Buffalo – A terrible day will leave scars for many. They need the comfort this city can offer.

"It's easy for America to forget about Black people who are killed wrongfully," Crump told reporters. "It happens all the time. If we let a week go by, they won't even know their names. But we are going to know their names. We are going to continue to say their names."

Thursday afternoon, ahead of a vigil in the families' honor, the loved ones of Geraldine Talley, Andre Mackniel, Heyward Patterson and Ruth Whitfield tried to give words to their grief.

Marcus Talley was the first to step up to the microphones.

He held up a portrait of his mother, who was 62-years-old when she was killed.

Rev. Al Sharpton, Founder and President of the National Action Network listens as Marcus Talley and his wife Rosh speak about his mother Geraldine at the Antioch Baptist Church on Thursday, May 19, 2022. Geraldine was one of the ten killed in a shooting a Tops supermarket. (Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News)

Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News

"It's like Groundhog's Day," he said. "We've seen this over and over and over. Honestly speaking, I wouldn't be surprised if another event like this happens down the line."

Talley never thought such a horrible thing would happen in his hometown of Buffalo.

Son of Tops massacre victim speaks

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"It's hard for me to imagine the city in which I grew up, in the neighborhood in which grew up, the Tops on Jefferson which I went to many times growing up, that that would be the place of the next terrorist attack," he said.

Veronica White, Mackniel's aunt, sobbed as Sharpton and Crump held her.

Mackniel was from Buffalo and was living in Auburn, but was back in town to celebrate his son Andre Jr.'s third birthday.

He went to Tops to buy him a birthday cake and car, White said.

"He went to the store," White said, "and he was shot in the head."

Jaques Patterson, son of Heyward Patterson, covers his face as his mom speaks at the Antioch Baptist Church on Thursday, May 19, 2022. Heyward Patterson was one of the 10 killed in a mass shooting at Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue.

Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News

Twelve-year-old Jaques Patterson planned to speak, too.

But when he approached the microphones, he put his hands to his face and didn't move.

His mother, Tirzah Patterson, wrapped her arms around her son.

"This is his son," she said. "They took his father. He will grow up fatherless. He has to live after this. I have to pray that God gives me the strength to raise him to the best of my ability."

She said that she was no longer married to Heyward Patterson, who worked as a driver, taking shoppers to and from Tops, but they were still friends and the father remained close to his son.

Tops worker tells of hiding in barricaded room from gunman during mass shooting

It was the most harrowing experience of his life, but Tops Markets employee Jerome Bridges can’t stop himself from returning to the Jefferson Avenue grocery store where 10 people were massacred and he narrowly escaped harm last weekend.

 

"He was in his life. He took care of him. He didn't lack for anything. Anything he asked for, he got," she said.

Several of Ruth Whitfield's family, including former Buffalo Fire Commissioner Garnell Whitfield, shared their heartbreak, as well.

"What am I going to do?" Harris said. "What am I supposed to do now. I keep seeing her face coming up everywhere I look. But I can't get to her."

Watch now: A memorial for the 10 killed outside Tops

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Sharpton said he came to Buffalo to assist the families in any way his organization could, but also to do everything in his power to prevent another act of violence.

"This is an assault on all of us," Sharpton said. "They did not shoot these victims because of who they were. They shot them because of what they were. They were guilty of being Black, which meant that gun was shot at all of us. That's why all of us needs to be here."

He called on President Biden to hold a summit on "how to deal with hate crimes."

"I'm glad the president came. Now he has to do more than come. He's got to stop this."

Watch now: Rev. Al Sharpton on Jefferson Ave. in Buffalo

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Sharpton said he was impressed by Buffalo's embrace of the victims.

"Buffalo rose to the occasion," he said. "There's been no violence. There's been no riots. Buffalo stood up with love to answer to hate. Buffalo stood up with dignity to answer an atrocity."

The service, called "Healing the East Side," drew about 300 worshippers.

News Staff Reporter Harold McNeil contributed to this story.