Inside the Army factory that makes AR-15 ammo: 4 takeaways
The Lake City Army Ammunition Plant, built during World War II, has long been operated by private contractors for the federal government. A New York Times investigation found that the site has produced increasing numbers of rounds for the commercial market over the past decade as military demand has declined.
The military says the commercial activities are intended to keep the plant in good condition so it can quickly ramp up military production while lowering the cost of ammunition. The current contractor, Olin Winchester, did not respond to questions from The Times.
More than a million pages of search warrants, police records, ballistics reports, forfeitures and legal proceedings compiled by The Times provide a comprehensive account of how Lake City munitions, once intended for war, have sometimes fallen into the hands of criminals. Here are four takeaways.
Lake City is one of the largest manufacturers of commercial bullets for AR-15 style rifles.
By reviewing annual reports, earnings call transcripts and government documents, and interviewing more than forty former employees and others with knowledge of Lake City’s operations, The Times was able to determine that the Independence, Missouri, site had produced hundreds of millions. of rounds for the commercial market every year since at least 2011.
During most of that period, commercial activities exceeded military activities. Commercial production — which includes retail sales and purchases by law enforcement agencies and foreign governments — was more than twice military production in 2021, according to a military historical review.
Just as these guns have appeared in crimes, so too have the factory’s ammunition.
The vast majority of Lake City rounds sold by retailers have gone to law-abiding citizens, including hunters, farmers and target shooters. Some are attracted to them because they are made from the same materials and often to the same specifications as those of the military, while others see them as an authentic accessory for their tactical weapons and equipment.
But some Lake City rounds have been seized by drug dealers, violent criminals, anti-government groups, rioters at the U.S. Capitol and Mexican cartel smugglers. They were seized from a man in Massachusetts who threatened to kill President Barack Obama and from a man at Los Angeles International Airport after he shot at a civilian and three TSA agents, killing one.
Lake City rounds have been linked to at least a dozen mass shootings involving AR-15 style weapons.
The list includes filming at the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, in 2012; a social services center in San Bernardino, California, in 2015; a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip in 2017; the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, the following month; Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018; the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh that same year; the streets of Midland and Odessa, Texas, in 2019; a FedEx warehouse in Indianapolis in 2021; tattoo studios in the Denver area later that year; a Tops supermarket in Buffalo in 2022; Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, days later; and a nightclub in Colorado Springs, also last year.
Payton Gendron, sentenced to life in prison for killing 10 and injuring three at the Buffalo supermarket, had mentioned Lake City in his manifesto and online diary. He planned to shoot at a guard through a window, he wrote, and the rounds at Lake City were “the best ammunition I can get to penetrate the barrier.”
A link to high-profile crimes was a concern for the plant’s contractors.
Secrecy surrounding its commercial production has helped conceal its size, and the military has routinely downplayed the plant’s role in producing ammunition for civilians. But four former employees, who were not authorized to speak publicly, said contractors were concerned about the potential for Lake City munitions to appear in violent crimes. Especially after mass shootings, managers were “terrified” that journalists would discover a connection, one of them said.