Dylan Bettencourt
Assault rifles sold to American youngsters as a way to allegedly prove their manliness has made leading gun manufacturers over R16 billion in the last decade, a congressional committee revealed.
The marketing of the guns makes specific reference to white supremacy groups in an attempt to target youth, a report for the House Committee on Oversight and Reform showed.
The back and forth debate among political factions in America over gun laws continued as Democrats called for less protection on gunmakers when its products are marketed in a dangerous manner.
Republicans on the other hand continue to advocate for further protection for gunmakers.
The committee asked for details into the marketing strategies of the top five gunmakers in the country as well as the data into how they track the use of the guns.
“The business practices of these gun manufacturers are deeply disturbing, exploitative and reckless,” said Democrat Carolyn Maloney from New York who chairs the committee, as per The Times.
“They use aggressive marketing tactics to target young people, especially young men, and some even evoke symbols of white supremacy. We found that none of these companies bothered to keep track of the death and destruction caused by their products.”
The gun manufacturing investigation began in May following the shooting in Texas that took the lives of 19 children and two adults.
The House is set to vote on a ban for all assault weapons for the first time since 1994 but there remains little possibility the vote will be passed into law.
Republican James Comer said the Democratic Party was targeting the wrong group when it comes to guns in America.
“Republicans want to target criminals, Democrats want to target lawful owners and take away their guns. Gun manufacturers don’t cause violent crime, criminals cause violent crime,” he said.
A leading gun manufacturer present in the House refused to take responsibility for a mass shooting where a gun they produced was used.
“These acts are committed by murderers. The murderers are responsible,” the company said.
Image source: @Mashable
