All 28 Republican state attorneys general criticized their Democratic counterparts for asking President Joe Biden to shut down a major ammunition factory in Missouri, saying the proposal “contains a litany of errors.”
In a letter to the White House sent Wednesday, every GOP attorney general in the United States asked Biden and White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention director Stefanie Feldman to dismiss a request from Democrats to end commercial sales from the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant, one of the nation’s largest ammunition manufacturers.
The plant has made high-powered bullets used by several civilian shooters in mass shootings across the U.S., according to reports from Bloomberg News and the New York Times. The sales generated tens of millions of dollars for the Defense Department each year, Bloomberg reported. A private company runs the plant, selling about half its daily production of four million rounds of ammunition to civilians.
Democratic attorneys general have previously asked the president to investigate the contracting and manufacturing practices of the ammunition plant following reports that the bullets were used in mass shootings. However, the Republicans wrote in their letter that this is one of the Democrats’ many errors.
“Perhaps those States should focus more on prosecuting crime to stop mass shootings—rather than trying to stop lawful Americans’ use of guns and ammunition,” the GOP attorneys general wrote. “Their tactic is an overt attempt to punish Americans’ exercise of their Second Amendment rights.”
Other errors include Democrats alleging that the ammunition manufactured for “military use” does not belong in U.S. communities. The Republicans argue that the ammunition manufactured and sold is “not the primary rifle cartridge” used by the U.S. military. Lake City only sells ammunition that follows the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives requirements and is legally manufactured, according to Missouri’s top prosecutors.
“Second, while the United States military purchases and uses a particular type of ammunition, that is not determinative as to whether it is ‘military ammunition’ that should be banned for public use,” the attorneys general wrote.
“If the United States military using ammunition precluded that ammunition’s use by civilians, then other widely and commonly available ammunition, including 9mm and 12-gauge shotshells, would also be prohibited for public use,” the GOP leaders claimed, adding that Supreme Court precedent “does not support such an openly artificial distinction.”
The Republicans argue that closing Lake City would compromise national security and cost 500-700 jobs in the community.
“Do not be fooled,” they added. “The anti-gun radicals leading this effort are not honest brokers interested in public safety. Gun control advocates want to criminalize making ammunition even while many push back against prosecuting criminals that fire weapons.”
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said he is proud to “stand in the gap” with other attorneys general to “protect Americans’ Second Amendment rights.”
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“I will not let Joe Biden sacrifice the rights of law-abiding gun owners and manufacturers on the altar of appeasement to the Radical Left,” Bailey said in a statement. “Lake City Ammunition did nothing wrong.”
The White House referred the Washington Examiner to the Department of Defense for comment. A White House spokesperson said the White House and the Office of Gun Violence Prevention cannot direct the Department of Defense to investigate any particular entity.
