He knows the firearms industry inside out. Ryan Busse was a senior Kimber official, an arms manufacturer, before quitting because he disagreed with their positions. He is today one of the most ardent critics of this industry, which he fights in particular within the organization Giffords which campaigns for the prevention of firearm violence. Former adviser for Joe Biden’s campaign, Ryan Busse has written a book about his experience (1). L’Express interviewed him at the very moment when a new massacre had just taken place in Philadelphia.
L’Express: 15 years ago, what was the firearms industry like?
Ryan Busse: She was very different from today. At first she was much smaller. In 2010, it sold 10 million weapons per year. It has almost tripled since. It was also an aging industry with stagnating sales. Manufacturers were worried and one of the constant topics of conversation was how to change our marketing to attract new enthusiasts and rejuvenate the graying clientele. Another big difference, it was focused on hunting, self-defense, sports shooting and not at all on combat equipment, military culture and AR 15s. [fusil semi-automatique utilisé dans les tueries de masse, NDLR].
What changed ?
After the Columbine shootings in April 1999, the NRA held secret meetings with its management and its advertising agency, which came to light later. The discussion was about how to position yourself. There were two approaches. One was to play the conciliation, to participate in possible solutions. The other was to say “no way”, to oppose everything, to use Columbine to increase the number of adherents and to play on fears based on the idea that we were going to take them their weapons. The NRA chose the second. In the end, she was able to convince the engineering industry of this approach.
Then, in 2004-2005, President George Bush let the ban on assault rifles expire. And he signed The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act [qui empêche les fabricants et les distributeurs d’être poursuivis en justice si un crime est opéré avec un de leurs produits]. Finally, there is the election of Barack Obama in 2007, the first black president. Fear, hatred, racism, conspiracy theories have served to boost arms sales.
All this also coincides with wars and the emergence of video games…
We are at the same time in the midst of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Americans saw on the news every night soldiers decked out in combat gear who were portrayed as heroes. As for video games, it is difficult to know exactly their importance. But they certainly have a role because young people in particular have become familiar on screen with the use of these weapons of war that the games have normalized.
Is Daniel Defense, the manufacturer who sold a gun to Salvador Ramos, the Ulvade school killer and four guns to the Las Vegas concert killer in 2017 representative of the radicalization of the industry?
Daniel Defense is truly emblematic of all these changes. In 2008, there were maybe one or two companies selling AR-15s and they were marginal. Today, there are 500 offering roughly the same products. To increase its sales and its market shares, Daniel Defense resorted to incendiary marketing which mixes in its advertising campaigns militarism, patriotism, verses of the Bible… In 2004, the company was tiny. Today, it is one of the leaders in the AR-15 category. And Marty Daniel, the founder, sits with the corporate organization, the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
The AR-15 has become much more than a weapon of war.
It has become for the majority of the American right no longer an inanimate object but a symbol which aims to infuriate the left. Buying a potentially dangerous weapon that the government constantly talks about banning is a way of flipping people you disagree with. That’s why the AR-15 was on dozens of flags on January 6 during the uprising. There were no barbecues, Nike sneakers, Chevrolets or other symbols of America. And for good reason. If you display this imagery, it means: ‘I am stronger than you’.
In a recent essay, you say that this violence is the consequence of the concerted strategy of the firearms industry which has only one goal: to increase its profits. You have this terrible sentence: “Unfortunately, the system we live in is not faulty. It works exactly as it was designed.”
I don’t know how anyone can be surprised by this violence. We sold almost no AR-15s in 2004 and now we sell 5 to 8 million a year. In the industry, 15 years ago, we knew everything that was going to happen in the years to come.
Is there still a way to solve this crisis when there are more guns in circulation than Americans?
I don’t think there is a way to “solve” the crisis. But I think we can start to slightly improve the situation with some legislative measures. Extend criminal background checks, establish “red flag laws” [qui permettent à la famille ou à la police de demander la saisie temporaire des armes d’une personne jugée dangereuse] and prohibit the practice of open carry, [le fait de pouvoir porter une arme visible sur soi dans les lieux publics] which is a means of intimidation and goes against democracy.
But is there a chance it will be passed by Congress?
I don’t have much hope because the entire identity of the right wing of the Republican Party is totally woven around this gun policy. It is therefore not simply a matter of passing one or two reforms. It is a question of completely unraveling the DNA of the party. Even among Republicans there are people who are genuinely concerned and want to get things done. I don’t know if they will be able to extricate the NRA doctrine from their political nature. I’m hopeful, but I wouldn’t bet big on it.
For you, we are heading towards “an absolute crisis”.
We have 450 million firearms in the United States. Some 2.5 million more are injected each month. Marketing campaigns like those of Daniel Defense have not slowed down. The state of the psychiatric system is not going to be resolved overnight. The same elements that led [aux massacres] Buffalo and Uvalde continue to exist in our society. One would therefore have to be an idiot not to expect other catastrophes.
(1) “Gunfight: My battle against the industry that radicalized America”, not translated