Larry Keane, senior vice president and general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the gun industry’s trade association, recently published a blog post repeating several misleading or false claims about gun safety measures. Keane’s comments are in line with other groups that, like the NSSF, are supported by gun makers, including the National Rifle Association and Gun Owners of America.
In his blog post, which was shared across gun media websites, Keane railed against the Biden administration’s “entire failed and horrendous record” related to gun “policies — specifically the Second Amendment.” But to Keane, “Second Amendment” means the gun industry, including “all 384,000 hardworking and proud Americans in it.” (According to the NSSF’s own estimates, 154,611 Americans work directly for firearm and ammunition manufacturers and retailers, while 229,826 others supply goods and services to those companies.)
To learn more about the NSSF, click here.
separating fact from fiction
In his blog post, Keane criticized calls “for the reinstatement of a new so-called ‘assault weapon’ ban, referencing the Modern Sporting Rifle (MSR), or AR-15-style semiautomatic rifles. Just a few days ago, following the failed assassination attempt of former President Trump, President Biden repeated his call to ban America’s most popular semiautomatic rifle, of which there are more than 24 million in circulation.”
Keane failed to mention that Trump’s would-be assassin used an AR-15 made by DPMS — and that AR-15s have been used in the deadliest mass shootings in the United States, including in Las Vegas, Orlando, Aurora, Highland Park, Sutherland Springs, Uvalde, San Bernardino, Parkland, Midland-Odessa, and Newtown, to name just a few examples.
Further, it was the gun industry that began using the term “assault weapon” to help market military-style semi-automatic firearms to gun enthusiasts in the 1980s, a term that lawmakers later adopted to address the rise in crime with such weapons. Only more recently, in 2009, did the NSSF coin the term “modern sporting rifle” as a way to downplay the danger posed by assault weapons like AR-15s.
more on assault weapons
Keane’s claim that there are “over 24 million” AR-15s in circulation doesn’t hold up to scrutiny, either. As discussed here, the NSSF’s estimate is distorted because it includes all semi-automatic rifles produced since 1990 “less exports.” It does not distinguish between military, police, or civilian rifles and appears to include rifles in the hands of prohibited owners, such as criminals and domestic abusers, and those that have been illegally trafficked.
The NSSF states that it arrived at that number using firearm production data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) — which does not separate semi-automatic rifles from non-semi-automatic rifles — and “industry estimates,” a term the NSSF’s research director was unable to explain in court when questioned about the NSSF’s guesswork on how many Americans own high-capacity magazines.
Keane also said that “the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said [the federal assault weapons ban] had no effect on crime when [it] was last in place nearly 20 years ago.” But the CDC publication that the NSSF has repeatedly referenced — published in 2003, before the federal assault weapons ban sunset in 2004 — examined 51 studies related to gun laws and their effect on violence and concluded that the “[r]esults of studies of firearms and ammunition bans were inconsistent.” That is a far cry from saying the ban “had no effect on crime.”
More recent studies have shown that Americans were 70 percent less likely to die in a mass shooting during the federal assault weapons ban, and that firearm fatalities actually decreased among children while the ban was in place.
willful violations of federal law
In his screed, Keane criticized the Biden administration’s “whole-of-government attacks on the lawful firearm industry including their ‘zero tolerance’ policy suffocating federal firearms licensees for minor infractions.” But there is much more to the story.
Announced in June 2021 in an effort to secure the firearm supply chain, the “zero tolerance” policy directed the ATF to revoke the licenses of gun dealers who willfully violate certain federal laws, including transferring a firearm to a prohibited person, failing to run a required background check, falsifying records, failing to respond to an ATF tracing request, or refusing to permit the ATF to conduct an inspection.
These are hardly “minor infractions,” as Keane has repeatedly claimed. The ATF has provided revocation reports that show damning evidence of gun dealers who were cited for multiple violations of federal law, making it harder for the ATF to trace crime guns and prevent trafficking. For example, one gun dealer in Virginia had his license revoked after being cited for 13 violations, including falsifying documents “in an attempt to mislead investigators and conceal missing firearms.” Other license revocations involved gun dealers in Texas and New Mexico who were each cited for 16 and 13 violations, respectively — many of which were repeat violations from previous inspections — including selling firearms without conducting background checks on customers. To learn more about these cases, click here.
KEANE’S OTHER COMMENTS
Keane also criticized “mandatory gun lock storage legislation” that would require gun owners to secure their firearms when they’re not in use — which might seem odd at first given that the NSSF offers free gun locks through its Project ChildSafe program. But the NSSF also lobbies against state and federal laws that would require gun owners to secure their firearms to prevent theft or misuse.
Finally, Keane criticized attempts to undo “the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) that protects the lawful and highly-regulated firearm industry from frivolous lawsuits.” As discussed here, the NSSF and National Rifle Association lobbied for the PLCAA, which has provided such broad legal protections for the gun industry that since it was enacted in 2005, not a single gun manufacturer accused of negligence has gone to trial.
In the end, Keane’s comments add to a long list of NSSF talking points about gun safety measures that require much more context and fact checking.