The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-29)

SUNDAY, MAY 29 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A

BY ISAAC STANLEY-BECKER

The owners of Daniel Defense,
the manufacturer of the rifle ap-
parently used in the massacre of
21 people at an elementary school
in Uvalde, Te x., are deep-pock-
eted Republican donors, giving to
candidates and committees at the
federal and state level aligned
against limits on access to assault
rifles and other semiautomatic
weapons.
The owners of the Georgia-
based company have donated
more than $70,000 directly to
GOP candidates for federal office
this election cycle, according to a
review of filings with the Federal
Election Commission. Daniel De-
fense itself gave $100,000 last
year to a PAC backing incumbent
Republican senators.
The spending by Marvin C.
Daniel and his wife, Cindy D.
Daniel, illustrates the financial
clout of the gun industry, even as
political spending by the flagship
National Rifle Association has
declined in recent years. And it
shows how surging gun sales
during the coronavirus pandemic
have empowered manufacturers
to expand their marketing and
political advocacy, experts said.
Daniel Defense manufactured
about 52,000 firearms in 2020,
compared to about 32,000 in
2019, according to data compiled
by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobac-
co, Firearms and Explosives.
“The ability of the industry to
use money to advance its policy
agenda has increased given the
dramatic rise in firearm sales that
we’ve seen over the last two or
three years,” said Timothy D. Lyt-
ton, a law professor at Georgia
State University. “The industry is
much better equipped to further
its lobbying interests, independ-
ent of the NRA.”

The beneficiaries of the cou-

ple’s political contributions in-

clude at least one candidate who

emerged victorious in Tuesday’s

primary contests, Herschel Walk-

er. The former football star is

running for the U.S. Senate in

Georgia with former president

Donald Trump’s endorsement.

Asked Tuesday night whether he

would support new gun legisla-

tion, Walker said, “What I like to

do is see it and everything and

stuff.”

Recent recipients of spending

by Daniel and his wife also in-

clude Republican Sens. Joni

Ernst (Iowa), Tim Scott (S.C.) and

John Neely Kennedy (La.), as well

as Eric Schmitt, the attorney gen-

eral of Missouri and Republican

candidate for U.S. Senate in that

state.

None of their offices or cam-

paigns responded to requests for

comment. A spokesman for Dan-

iel Defense also did not respond.

A statement posted on the com-

pany’s website says “it is our

understanding that the firearm

used in the attack was manufac-

tured by Daniel Defense. We will

cooperate with all federal, state,

and local law enforcement au-

thorities in their investigations.”

The arms maker, based in

Black Creek, Ga., near the South

Carolina state line, with a second

facility across the border in

Ridgeland, S.C., put $100,

into a super PAC that backed the

Republican incumbents in last

year’s Georgia runoff elections.

And Daniel and his wife have put

$20,000 this cycle into the Na-

tional Shooting Sports Founda-

tion PAC, whose largest benefici-

aries are Reps. Kevin McCarthy

(R-Calif.) and Steve Scalise

(R-La.), the No. 1 and No. 2 House

Republicans.

At the state level, Daniel and

his wife have also given thou-

sands in recent years to candi-

dates in Georgia, where Daniel

founded the company in 2000,

according to its website. That

includes $2, 400 earlier this year

to Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.), the

Trump-backed challenger to

Maker of rifle in Tex.

killings is GOP donor

with deep pockets

Political contributions

from Ga.-based owners

show clout of gun sector

Georgia Secretary of State Brad

Raffensperger. The incumbent

Republican defeated Hice by

nearly 19 points on Tuesday. N one

of the contributions have gone to

Democrats.

Daniel Defense had been

scheduled to feature its wares at

this weekend’s NRA meeting in

Houston, where Trump, along

with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Te x.) and

Te xas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), had

been expected to deliver remarks,

though the governor’s office said

Thursday his would be prerecord-

ed. An online calendar of events

lists appearances by celebrity

shooters at Daniel Defense’s des-

ignated booth. But an exhibitor

list no longer includes the compa-

ny, and a floor plan shows Daniel

Defense’s original location, booth

4839, now belonging to the NRA.

The rifle reportedly used in the

shooting, the DDM4 V7, sells for

about $2,000, according to Dan-

iel Defense’s website. Promotion-

al material on the company’s

Facebook page includes a photo

of the rifle leaning against a

refrigerator and the caption,

“Let’s normalize kitchen Daniels.

What Daniel do you use to protect

your family and home?” Another

post describes the DDM4 V7 mod-

el as a “perfect do all rifle.”

And an image posted on the

company’s Twitter account shows

a child handling a rifle with the

caption, “Train up a child in the

way he should go, and when he is

old, he will not depart from it.”

Shortly after the shooting, the

company locked its Twitter ac-

count.

The company’s advertising

strategy has previously been a

source of controversy. A minute-

long spot it submitted to Fox for

the Super Bowl in 2014 was re-

jected because of the NFL’s rules

against advertisements for “fire-

arms, ammunition or other weap-

ons.” Conservative media took up

the company’s cause, and Daniel

Defense labeled the promotional

material “the best Super Bowl ad

that never was.”

Political contributions by the

gun manufacturer, while modest

in the era of unlimited giving to

super PACs and other causes,

reinforce the identification of the

gun lobby with the Republican

Party and “keeps open the door of

access,” said Robert J. Spitzer, a

political scientist at SUNY Cort-

land and the author of “The

Politics of Gun Control.”

That’s especially important for

manufacturers in light of efforts

to overcome the immunity grant-

ed by Congress to gun companies,

which have traditionally shielded

them from litigation when their

products are used to commit

crimes, said Donald P. Haider-

Markel, a professor of political

science at the University of Kan-

sas. In 2019, the Connecticut Su-

preme Court cleared the way for a

lawsuit brought by families of

victims against companies be-

hind the semiautomatic rifle used

in the massacre at Sandy Hook

Elementary School.

“Since then, there has been a

rush to shore up politicians who

are seen as likely to support the

gun industry on this issue,” Haid-

er-Markel said.

Increasingly, candidates make

clear where they stand in the

bluntest of ways, said Lytton, the

Georgia State professor. He p oint-

ed to a campaign poster for Rep.

Andrew S. Clyde (R-Ga.), one of

the beneficiaries of recent dona-

tions from Daniel and his wife.

The poster includes Clyde’s n ame,

the office he’s seeking and a

silhouette of a rifle. A spokesman

for Clyde, a first-term congress-

man who owns a gun store in

Athens, Ga., declined to com-

ment.

“In north Georgia, the semiau-

tomatic rifle has replaced the flag

as the primary signifier of a

particular congressional candi-

date’s political alignment,” Lytton

said.

DANIEL ACKER/BLOOMBERG NEWS

An attendee inspects a rifle during the 2019 N ational Rifle Association annual meeting in Indianapolis. The owners of Daniel Defense

have donated more than $70,000 directly to GOP candidates for federal office this election cycle, according to a review of filings.

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