Gun Maker Supports Assault-Weapons Ban

Bushmaster Firearms, the Windham, Maine gun manufacturer that made the weapon used in the sniper shootings around Washington, D.C., last fall, said it supports the proposed extension of the semiautomatic assault-weapons ban, the Portland Press Herald reported May 14.

This is an outright lie. Bushmaster was misquoted in the story, and published a statement on their webpage to that effect. I've included the full text of that statement in the full article.Bushmaster Firearms has always been a proud and strong supporter of the Second Amendment and an individuals right to access, own and use firearms. Bushmaster has fought the anti-gun movement continually in their constant efforts to eliminate firearms from our society. We have committed a great deal of our resources to support this effort and will continue to do so. Unfortunately, the anti-gun movement finds a great deal of favor in much of the press with their bias and slanted reporting. Bushmaster has always tried to be open and honest with the press in an effort to help them see the other side and to educate them on the real issues. Often the real story is left out or slanted in an attempt to feed the anti-gun agenda. In a May 14th article in a local newspaper, regarding the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban and its sunset provision, the reporter took totally out of context what Mr. Faraday said and slanted the article in a way that made it appear that Bushmaster was in support of extending the Ban. One of the quotes that was taken out of context and was incomplete was "From our point of view, extending the ban is probably OK, in terms of affecting our sales, but we have always supported legislation protecting gun rights, including the Assault Weapons Ban sunset provision." The reporter asked how Bushmaster dealt with the ban in the first place and how we were able to continue our business. The quote that we would consider supporting the bill that would strengthen the current Assault Weapons Ban law was totally mischaracterized. The discussion was about how far apart the pro-gun groups and the anti-gun groups are in trying to understand each other, and that if the anti-gun groups would propose ideas or suggestions that made sense, then we would consider them, but instead their entire effort is to shutdown the industry. The firearms industry's ongoing battle with the well-financed anti-gun groups creates an atmosphere of absolute non-understanding and non-compromise on both sides. From the point of view of the firearms industry, it has become an issue of survival. As long as the press continues to distort and slant the issues, and the anti-gun groups are determined to destroy the industry, then there never will be any meaningful discussion of the issues.