Everytown Applauds and Echoes Mayor Adams’ Calls for Reporters to Name Manufacturers of Crime Guns

At Mayors Against Illegal Guns Summit, Mayor Adams and 11 Other Mayors Against Illegal Guns Members Released Data on the Manufacturers of Crime Guns in Their Cities

NEW YORK – Everytown for Gun Safety, the nation’s largest gun violence prevention organization, released the following statement applauding Mayor Eric Adams, a co-chair of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, for calling on reporters to name the manufacturers of guns recovered in crimes in a speech to the National Press Club today. Mayor Adams’ remarks are available here, as prepared for delivery.

“Gun manufacturers play a significant role in our nation’s gun violence epidemic, but too often, they’re allowed to operate in the shadows,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “Reporters can help shine a light on this billion-dollar industry by naming the manufacturers of crime guns in their reporting. As a New Yorker myself, I’m personally grateful for Mayor Adams’ leadership.”

“The guns that are flooding our communities and fueling our gun violence epidemic come from somewhere, and we must call that out and hold all those involved accountable,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action. “We must not allow the gun industry to continue profiting off violence unnamed and in the shadows. It’s time to name the guns and it’s incumbent on the press to join us in this work.”

Crime reporting often talks about shootings in the abstract, but gun manufacturers play a critical role in our nation’s gun violence epidemic. Instead of naming the perpetrators of these atrocities and giving them a media spotlight, reporting should focus on which gun was used and who made it. Everytown is calling on reporters covering gun crimes to explicitly name the gun and gun manufacturer used in the crime.   

In July, ahead of a groundbreaking mayoral summit on gun violence prevention and holding the gun industry accountable, 12 cities, including New York City, published data on the manufacturers of crime guns in their cities. The top manufacturer of recovered crime guns was Glock in nine of the 12 reporting cities. On average, over 1.5x more Glocks were recovered than the second leading manufacturer in each of those nine cities. Five gun manufacturers accounted for over half of the recovered crime guns: Glock (16.6%), Taurus (12.4%), Smith & Wesson (11.8%), Ruger (6.5%), and Polymer80 (3.8%). Collectively across this sample of 12 cities, these five manufacturers accounted for nearly 10,000 recovered crime guns in 2021.