All of us at Bushmaster are dismayed that a well-financed anti-gun group has chosen to take advantage of the brutal acts of the Washington, D.C. snipers and file a lawsuit on behalf of the families of the victims to advance its anti-gun agenda. We grieve ourselves for what these families have endured.
We sincerely appreciate the overwhelming support that we are receiving from individuals all over the country, who are angry at this latest attempt to erode the gun rights of law-abiding citizens. Many of you who have contacted us since hearing news of the lawsuit have offered moral and financial support, which is truly appreciated. We do not seek donations at this time, but you can be assured that we will vigorously defend ourselves against this new anti-gun effort.
We sold the rifle legally to a firearms dealer licensed by the Federal Government, from whom it was allegedly stolen. Very disturbed people acquired it illegally, then used it in a heinous crime. We are required to have on file a signed Federal Firearms License of each dealer we do business with, but we go an extra step and also re-verify the dealers FFL with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms prior to every shipment to insure that it is still current and valid. BATF’s internal audits of licensed dealers will result in a loss of license if they determine that any violations warrant it. Our experience is that BATF’s system works very well.
The Brady Center’s attorneys are very loose with the facts in an attempt to conform them to their anti-gun theories. For example, they state we would know the results of BATF’s audits, knowing full well that we would not have access to that information. They mischaracterize the rifle. The military version and the civilian version of our rifle are quite different. All rifles are designed to be accurate, and there are many, many rifles with a larger caliber than ours. The military version is a full-automatic rifle, normally with a collapsible stock. The civilian version is a semi-automatic, which only shoots once per trigger pull, and is used in competitive shooting, target shooting, and small varmint hunting. Our rifle is a smaller caliber than most hunting rifles on the market, and in most states it is illegal to hunt deer with such a small caliber.
This anti-gun group is the same group that tried to push ballistic fingerprinting onto manufacturers. It has since been discredited by many law enforcement agencies all across the country for not being effective or workable. Unfortunately the press did very little to verify and check out this anti-gun group’s representations on this issue and report the true status of ballistic fingerprinting.
Bushmaster Firearms, Inc.