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GUNS: The American Epidemic, Part II [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-07-12  

Part III tomorrow will focus on mass shootings and the marketing of guns.

President Biden’s new law bi-partisan law, includes $750 million to support states in strengthening red flag laws to keep firearms out of dangerous hands. $250 million is allocated for community intervention programs, as well as $200 million to fund national background checks. Additionally, the legislation will address the loss or theft of firearms during the shipping process. Theft from shipping containers increased by 5,000 guns from 2018 to 2022. In a recent survey of prisoners incarcerated for crimes involving the use of a handgun, 62% reported the gun they used was stolen from another. The Secretary of Transportation and the DOJ will consult on the best course of action to eliminate or reduce the number of firearms stolen. Inspection of licensed firearm dealers will increase as will the transparency in which that information is released to the public.

While this legislation is relevant and historical, it still falls short of what really needs to be done, such as bans on assault rifles, high-capacity magazines, as well as enforcing universal background checks; and reversing the 2005 Bush era law, Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, that protects gun manufacturers and dealers from being held accountable when crimes are committed using their products.

In contrast to President Biden’s legislation and the Democrats fight to hold gun manufacturers accountable, GOP governors like Tennessee Governor Bill Lee pander to them. Weeks after the mass shooting that took the lives of 3 adults and 3 nine-year old children at The Covenant School in Nashville, he signed a bill that will further protect gun manufacturers and dealers in his state from lawsuits. The bill mirrors the PLCAA bill from the Bush era and expands protection from lawsuits initiated in the state but allows the manufacturer to be held liable for defective products and breach of contract, but not for the use of their products during criminal conduct or shootings. 33 states have similar legislation, mostly red states with a few exceptions.

Smith & Wesson recently announced after 172 years it will be leaving its current headquarters in Springfield, Massachusetts, for the more gun friendly Blount County, Tennessee. This will make Tennessee the leader in the gun industry. Coincidence? Not so much. As Mark Wahlberg’s character Bob Lee Swagger says in the movie Shooter, “Welcome to Tennessee, the patron state of shooting stuff.”

On Thursday, June 15, 2023, in Marion County, Tennessee, Gary Barnett shot and killed his estranged wife Regina, her daughter and her two granddaughters, then turned the gun on himself, but not before setting the house on fire. Regina had filed for a restraining order a month ago according to court records. In those records she stated, “My soon to be (ex) husband threatened to shoot me and he verbally abuses me every day.” She continued, “He also has anywhere from 50-60 guns in his room. I am afraid he will get drunk and shoot me.” County Sheriff Bo Burnett said to WTVC News Channel 9, “It’s a domestic situation, evidently that has been going on for a pretty good while.” Ostensibly, local authorities were aware of the domestic violence, but didn’t take any action.

Presently, Tennessee doesn’t have red flag laws. In April, Governor Lee paid lip service to the idea of creating legislation after public outcry following the Covenant School shooting in March. Red flag laws might’ve saved all those lives. As Democratic leaders seek solutions to save lives with sensible gun legislation, that most Americans demand, Republicans continue to undermine those efforts, and fail to hold the gun industry accountable.

President Barack Obama and the Democrats tried in vain to ban assault weapons after the Sandy Hook mass shooting. The bill proposed by California Senator Diane Feinstein was defeated in the Republican controlled Senate. President Obama did have a regulation that made it harder for people with mental illness to purchase a gun. After the 2013 Sandy Hook shooting by Adam Lanza, a severely debilitated individual, it sought to block people with severe mental illness from purchasing a gun. It added people receiving social security benefits for mental illnesses to a national background database. According to officials in the Obama Administration if the rule had fully taken affect it would’ve added about 75,000 names to that database. It was hotly contested by gun advocates on the grounds it would’ve violated the Second Amendment but was championed by gun control advocates.

After the 2016 Presidential Election, the Republican controlled House and Senate defeated the Obama bill, and it was revoked by former President Trump. Trump typically would sign bills with his giant Sharpie, in front of the press corps photographers with much fanfare. This was the first piece of legislation signed by the newly elected Trump and done without all the hoopla associated with the twice impeached and now twice indicted Trump. News that he signed the bill was hidden in the bottom of an email released by his press secretary.

The NRA applauded the signing of the new bill with its Executive Director, Chris Cox saying “this marks a new era for law-abiding gun owners, as we now have a president who respects and supports our arms.” When interviewed by NBC News, Democratic Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy called out the Republican hypocrisy, “Republicans always say we don’t need new gun laws, we just need to enforce the laws already on the books. But the bill signed today undermines enforcement of existing laws that Congress passed to make sure the background check system had complete information.” The NRA and other Second Amendment fanatics continue to influence and, in some instances, create Republican legislation and talking points.

In an act of the tail wagging the dog, the GOP’s stance on armed security in schools is the brainchild of Wayne LaPierre the CEO of the NRA, when he suggested we arm teachers, creating another market for the gun industry. He’s also the one that coined the phrase “the only thing that stops a bad a guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” Sound familiar? It should, these are the talking points of GOP extremists.

GOP policy regarding school safety and gun legislation is being dictated by the individuals that stand to gain financially, the NRA and gun manufacturers. A small minority is drowning out the voice of the majority. The Founding Father’s greatest fear was a country governed by a minority. The gun conglomerate and their lobbyists don’t seek obvious solutions to this crisis, gun control legislation. That would only castrate their cash cow in an act of self-flagellation. They choose to create these catchy phrases and false narratives to distract us from the truth, slogans like, “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.”

The Republican Party prefers to lean into their favorite dog-whistle stance that mental health care is the long-term solution to the gun violence problem. While mental health does add to gun violence deaths and demands solutions, it’s the ease of access to firearms that amplifies the epidemic of gun violence. Texas Governor Greg Abbott is truculent about his support of mental health initiatives and stated that he recently committed $105 million to support his state’s Mental Health and Human Services Commission. He neglected to inform his constituents that one week before the Robb Elementary School mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, he cut $210 million from the HHSC.

GOP members offer their meretricious “thoughts and prayers,” without a vestige of sympathy or empathy. Choosing instead to embrace made up culture wars, and refusing to address issues that Americans face daily, or the violence that robs our children from us in the most despicable and heart wrenching manner imaginable. Their public stance in support of the Second Amendment gives their argument a degree of verisimilitude in their eyes but is just another degree of perfidy.

To access your local Congressional House Representative’s stance on gun policy, click here:

https://www.npr.org/2018/02/19/566731477/chart-how-have-your-members-of-congress-voted-on-gun-bills

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence has compiled a list of Republican senators that oppose gun control legislation and the bans on assault rifles. See the entire list here: https://elections.bradyunited.org/take-action/nra-donations-116th-congress-senators.

In 2019 the NRA spent $3.22 million in Republican campaign donations, in 2020 it was another $2.2 million in donations. Here’s a list of the top ten Republican senators and the gun deaths in their respective states. The Republican’s stance on abortion is incongruous with their pro-gun voting records and obfuscates their position on the sanctity of life.

Mitt Romney (UT) $13,647,676 400 Richard Burr (NC) $ 6,987,380 1,470 Roy Blunt (MO) $ 4,555,722 1,288 Thom Tillis (NC) $ 4,429,333 1,470 Marco Rubio (FL) $ 3,303,355 2,449 Joni Ernst (IA) $ 3,129,723 302 Rob Portman (OH) $ 3,063,327 1,602 Todd C. Young (IN) $ 2,897,582 1,021 Bill Cassidy (LA) $ 2,870,574 1,036 Tom Cotton (AR) $ 1,971,214 596

With the recent news concerning conservative members of the Supreme Court receiving unreported lavish gifts from wealthy donors in the manner of trips and other endowments, we’re left wondering what other politicians have been showered with gifts, money, and other forms of payment in exchange for favorable rulings?

The AR-15 and Stephen Feinberg

With mass shootings occurring on a seemingly daily basis, we need to understand the origin of mass shooters weapon of choice, the assault rifle. A common misconception is the term “AR” in AR-15, refers to assault rifle, but it stands for Armalite Rifle, in reference to Armalite Arms, the original designer of the popular assault rifle.

It has been referred to as “America’s Gun” by far-right gun zealots and has been called an outstanding weapon with “phenomenal lethality”, and as a true “soldiers’ rifle.” After WWII the army commissioned Armalite to develop a lighter, more efficient rifle to replace the current weaponry. A man named Eugene Stoner created a new firing system dubbed “The Stoner Gas Impingement System.” This technology allowed for the gas and inertia to be evenly distributed front to back to ease user fatigue while reducing muzzle rise and allowing for more accurate follow-up shots. After much testing and different variations of the rifle the AR-15 was developed. The military version became the M-16 and M-4.

The rifle was marketed commercially to sportsmen and hunters with little success. The military model allows select fire with multiple firing modes: semi-automatic, fully automatic and burst fire-in which the rifle fires several rounds in succession as the trigger is pulled, the commercial version doesn’t have select-fire. These modern commercial AR-15 type rifles can be altered to automatic firing. It is illegal but still occurs in the aftermarket.

As gun manufacturers tried in vain over the years to market these black rifles to the sportsmen and hunter, it failed to gain traction in the mainstream. At gun shows across the country these rifles were relegated to obscure backrooms. The destruction the weapon caused on its target made it impractical for hunting as it would destroy the meat of the game. The AR-15 continued in obscurity without a market in the commercial world until a man named Stephen Feinberg created the world’s first gun conglomerate, thus setting American society on a collision course with today’s gun epidemic.

Mr. Feinberg’s calculated moves in the creation of the Freedom Group, his political alliances and the questionable marketing decisions by the gun conglomerate coalesced to create one of the deadliest pandemics our country has seen.

Who is Stephen Feinberg and how is he instrumental in the creation of the gun violence epidemic? Stephen Feinberg is a New York based billionaire, and co-founder of Cerberus Capital Management, an equity firm that manages $30 billion in wealth. Part of the equity is firm is an entity known as the Freedom Group.

Forbes puts his personal net worth at $3.5 billion, although Feinberg denies it’s that high. For years Feinberg has shunned the public spotlight opting for anonymity and preferring to operate in the shadows and was described as “secretive” by the New York Times.

He donated $1.5 million to the 2016 Trump campaign Super Pac, he co-hosted a $50,000 per person Republican National Committee and Trump fundraising dinner that year. As a thank you for his donations and commitment to his campaign, ex-President Trump named him to the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board and Chair of the Intelligence Oversight Board in 2018.

He remains active within the Republican party and is a member of The Business Council in Washington, D.C. who meet several times a year to discuss high-level policy such as protecting gun rights and gun manufacturing.

Mr. Feinberg started his career in finance as a hedge fund manager. Ten years later he co-founded Cerberus. His investment strategy used in the company’s equity arm specialized in downtrodden companies that were compromised, struggling, and suffering from bad management or outdated equipment. The faltering gun manufacturers of the late 90’s and early two-thousands, were prime for takeover. A fantastic article Big Gun’s Big Fail, written by Stephen Witt for New York Magazine goes into detail about Mr. Feinberg and his career. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/11/a-billionaires-dreams-of-creating-a-guns-empire.html.

Feinberg graduated from Princeton and trained with the ROTC; he left ROTC before graduation. Feinberg made strategic decisions to develop a network of individuals that would facilitate his goal of creating the first gun conglomerate and eventually become an influential military contractor and policy maker.

One of those relationships was with Marine Corps sniper Stephen Reichert, whom he trained with at the North Carolina Blackwater facility. The two developed a friendship over the years and in 2005 created the Tier 1 group, a military contractor, services include military training in and outside of the United States and includes civilian tactical medicine, military medicine, law enforcement, and long-range marksmanship. A complete list of services provided can be found on the Tier 1 website.

In June 2021, the New York Times reported 4 Saudi operatives involved in the kidnapping, torture, and murder of United States journalist Jamal Khashoggi, trained at the Tier 1 compound. This training was done with the knowledge and approval of the United States Department of State and included marksmanship and counterattack measures. Tier 1 has since stated that the training was protective in nature, and they were unaware of the Saudi’s intentions to murder Mr. Khashoggi. Mr. Reichert eventually left Tier 1 for other endeavors and lamented that the firearms side of Cerberus was a disaster.

Mr. Witt’s story details how Feinberg’s visit to the Blackwater camp preceded Cerberus’ eventual purchase of Bushmaster Firearms for $76 million in 2006. Bushmaster was the gun John Muhammad had stolen and used in the D.C. sniper attacks, as well as other mass shootings.

The victims and survivors sued Bushmaster, with the company eventually settling for $62,500 per victim. This suit opened the door for potential lawsuits unless legislation was enacted to protect the manufacturers. The 2005 Republican-controlled Congress obliged and passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, championed by the NRA lobbyists, it granted immunity to gun manufacturers from victims of gun violence. Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the NRA, called this legislation “the most significant piece of pro-gun legislation in recent memory,” as reported by the New York Times, referring to it as historic. Cerberus wouldn’t stop with Bushmaster; it was just the beginning.

After acquiring DPMS (Defense Procurement Manufacturing Services) in 2007, Cerberus moved to create The Freedom Group. No one ever tried to build a gun conglomerate until Feinberg seized the opportunity, joining the world of other conglomerates such as the auto, pharmaceuticals, and oil industries.

Cerberus would eventually purchase a total of 18-gun manufacturers, including Remington Arms consolidating the market by centralizing management, combining costs, cutting overhead, while improving production with the long-term goal of offering the Freedom Group in an IPO.

The Remington acquisition was key in selling the products in established retail outlets like Walmart. These “black guns,” as they were known in the gun world, were now branded with the known and trusted Remington name targeting hard-core gun collecting enthusiasts and military wannabes. The Freedom Group exploited that market, like Apple with its I-Phone and latest accessories. With high yield accessories such as lasers, rail-mounted flashlights and night vision scopes margins improved tremendously. A continuation to capture more of the market would ensue.

In 2008 to gain a stronger foothold in the commercial market Feinberg rebranded Bushmaster and called it “A Modern Sporting Rifle”, and marketed it to hunters and sportsmen, making it more attractive to the avid outdoorsman. The redesign of the weapon included stocks painted camouflage and constructed with lightweight materials to separate it from the old black rifle appearance. Gun redesign wasn’t just aimed at men, as manufacturers such as Glock created pink handguns for the woman that needs some style in her weaponry. Redesign of the assault rifle continues today, making the rifle appear futuristic and menacing.

Rebranding was just a snippet in the makeover of gun manufacturing. It required strategic personnel moves too. The 1999 hiring of former Vice President Dan Quayle as the Cerberus Chairman of Global Investment seemed peculiar due to Mr. Quayle’s lack of any measurable financial acumen. Ostensibly, this was considered a move to open doors into the gun friendly Republican party.

Feinberg continued to hire upper echelon former Republican leaders to executive positions within Cerberus. In 2006 Feinberg hired former George W. Bush Secretary of Treasury John Snow as Co-Chairman. Were these quid pro quo appointments in exchange for behind the scenes lobbying on behalf of gun manufacturers or obtain future military contracts? One would be foolish and naïve not to believe so. As Feinberg continued to maneuver within the business and political arenas of gun manufacturing, a perfect storm was brewing that would push gun sales to all-time highs.

The 2008 economic collapse due to George W. Bush’s illegal invasion of Iraq, mortgage deregulation, and other failed policies, spurred on the worst stock market collapse since the Great Depression. The banking and auto industries imploded as well as the housing market and caused great political and societal upheaval.

The United States lost its AAA rating, the world was on edge and Barack Obama was elected the first Black President of the United States. The election of President Obama revitalized the gun market with millions of units being sold, because of the unfounded fear that the Democratic President would enact stiffer gun control legislation.

In 2009 Cerberus investors were fleeing due to the heavy loses Cerberus suffered due to investments in Chrysler and General Motors. The Obama Administration’s bailout of the auto industry helped save Cerberus. After the auto bailout, Cerberus sold Chrysler and General Motors to Italian car maker Fiat. The gun market continued to rebound, and Cerberus looked for other investment opportunities.

Cerberus seized an opportunity to invest in another undervalued company that was having internal problems. This one was the military contractor, DynCorp. Cerberus purchased it for $30 million after The New York Times reported Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction investigated DynCorp’s misconduct on a $188 million job to buy weapons and train the Iraqi police. Auditors discovered the serious mismanagement of funds and in 2011 DynCorp agreed to pay $7.7 million to the US Government to settle claims that it inflated the costs for construction.

President Dwight Eisenhower warned us about the military industrial complex, referring to it as “nefarious.” The Pentagon has a bloated $858 billion budget and has failed 5 consecutive audits in a row, unable to account for 61% of the funds. Is there a better use for some of those funds? Like healthcare, education and affordable housing. Damn right there is.

DynCorp started as an aviation company and morphed into a private military contractor providing flight operations, training and support, contingency operations, security, and operations. They provided services for the US government in several theaters including Bolivia, Bosnia, Somalia, Angola, Haiti, Colombia, Kosovo, and Kuwait. It also provided security for Afghan president Hamid Karzai’s presidential guard and trained much of the police force in Iraq and Afghanistan. Cerberus sold DynCorp in 2020 for $1 billion dollars, to Maryland based Amentum.

Why is it important to mention Feinberg’s decision to develop Tier 1 and buy DynCorp? Well, for one, as a military contractor it allowed for more access to politicians, and the ability to influence policy on weapons and broker deals for military operations and weaponry. Was he trying to build a military contractor conglomerate with Tier 1 and DynCorp as he did with gun manufacturing? Or was he trying to get in on the money train and grossly overcharge the United States military? We can only speculate.

The US withdrew more troops from the Middle East, independent contractors replaced them at a steep cost to the government and higher profits for the contractors. Groups like Tier 1, DynCorp and Blackwater serve as a 7-Eleven one stop shopping as a supplement to US military operations. If they aren’t fighting or protecting assets, they’re training foreign military and police personnel. As United States military action wound down in the Middle East and weapon sales to the military decreased, Cerberus and The Freedom Group’s desperation to capture more of the civilian gun market increased. The additional 56-million-gun sales over the last 3 years is attestation of those efforts.

One could call Mr. Feinberg a man of great vision. Others would call him an opportunistic money grubber, who would sell his soul and that of his mother to the devil for money and power. Creating the Freedom Group saved struggling gun manufacturers that were on the brink of collapse. By consolidating these companies with corporate restructuring, targeting marketing of weapons to weak-minded individuals, flooding the market with guns, designed to cause catastrophic damage, his intentions must be questioned. His creation of the Freedom Group, quest for wealth and power, and his calculated alliance with politicians such as George W. Bush, Dan Quayle, John Snow and Donald Trump, and countless others, precipitated the gun epidemic in our country today.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/12/2180729/-GUNS-The-American-Epidemic-Part-II

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