Military ammo showing up at crime scenes across the country

Ammunition made for the Pentagon is showing up at crime scenes across the country, but military officials are not responding to calls for action.

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).

More than 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.”

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Alex Padilla, and Mazie Hirono, along with Reps. Jamie Raskin and Robert Garcia have called out this reckless policy and requested more details on its impacts from the Secretaries of Defense and the Army.

These lawmakers are urging Department of Defense officials to stop their practice of contracting with companies that sell military-grade ammunition to civilians, sometimes using government facilities and equipment to do so.

“The gun industry has made billions in revenue from selling weapons of war and military-grade ammunition to civilians. Many of those companies are the U.S. military’s own contractors,” wrote the lawmakers. “DoD must ensure that public tax dollars no longer subsidize the production of military-grade ammunition that finds its way onto our streets and fuels mass shootings.”

One of these contractors, Olin Winchester LLC, operates the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant (Lake City plant) in Independence, Missouri, which is owned by the federal government.

However, reports suggest that the majority of military-grade ammunition produced at the Lake City plant is potentially being sold commercially rather than to the federal government.

“Shooters have made clear that the ammunition’s lethal design intended for the battlefield is part of its appeal,” wrote the lawmakers. “Olin Winchester leans into this appeal, promising buyers the opportunity to shoot the same ammunition the military uses.”

The lethal design of Lake City’s military-grade ammunition has made it a top choice for mass shooters. Ammunition from the plant has been used in at least 12 high-profile mass shootings since 2012, including those in Parkland and Uvalde.