Army ammunition factory linked to mass shootings in US
Mass shootings, mass sales
In June 2012, Colorado graduate student James E. Holmes ordered 1,500 rounds of Lake City ammunition through the website BulkAmmo.com, which offered discounts on boxes of the 5.56. He had them delivered to a FedEx shipping center near his home.
The following month, Mr. Holmes entered a 16th century movie theater in Aurora, carrying an AR-15-style rifle loaded with ammunition and wearing an “urban assault vest” sold by an ATK subsidiary. He killed 12 people and injured 70 in what was the deadliest mass shooting to date involving an AR-15-style weapon, according to a database maintained by the Violence Project. The count includes shootings in a public place that left four or more people, not including the attacker, dead.
Later that year, another gunman armed with an AR-15-style rifle killed 26 students, teachers and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. He didn’t use bullets from Lake City, but the tragedy spurred new impetus for gun reform — and a reflexive spike in ammunition sales.
In 2014, Lake City’s production reached an all-time high of nearly two billion rounds. Less than half went to the military, Army data show. Much of the rest ended up on the shelves of big-box retailers, delivering a $300 million annual sales boost for ATK, according to earnings statements. Black Friday at Walmart and other stores set the stage for the Thanksgiving holiday, one of the busiest and most stressful times at the plant, according to two people familiar with its operations.
When ATK merged with the aerospace company Orbital the following year, ATK’s sports division was spun off as Vista Outdoor. Under Mr. DeYoung’s leadership, Vista received a three-year exclusive contract to sell Lake City’s commercial products.
Firearms were a good thing, Mr. DeYoung told investors, but as new customers were drawn to the market by first-person-shooter video games like Call of Duty, ammunition was where the real money was.
“You go to the range and watch people shoot,” he said, “and they shoot at boxes and boxes and boxes and boxes and boxes and boxes of shells in the ranges.”
Lake City played a major role in these new sales, as demand for its products, once determined by the needs of war, increasingly followed the events driving the nation’s rancorous debate over weapons.
Mr. DeYoung did not respond to requests for comment. Vista Outdoor issued a statement attributed to Federal Cartridge, one of several brands, saying it was proud of its ammunition production. “We are committed to complying with all applicable laws and strongly condemn any criminal misuse of our products,” the statement said.
In early 2015, the national gun debate first came into Lake City’s face when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives took action to limit the civilian availability of one of the plant’s products, a series of 5.56 rounds which are known as ‘green tips’. ”
The bullets had been adopted by U.S. forces for their ability to punch through steel helmets and light body armor at long ranges, but in 2010 the military began replacing them with a deadlier bullet that was not available to the general public.
The ATF announced it is considering limiting the availability of green tips under a law intended to protect law enforcement officers. It caused a firestorm. The agency received more than 80,000 public comments opposing the idea, as well as harsh criticism from the gun industry and members of Congress who said it violated the Second Amendment.
The ATF withdrew and within a year, Lake City’s green tips were linked to the shootings of five police officers and a sheriff’s deputy.