New Everytown Report Details Firearms and Ammunition Recovered in Arrests Over Capitol Insurrection, Gun Lobby Role in the Rise of Armed Extremism in the U.S.

Everytown Analysis Shows Police Recovered At Least 3,071 Rounds of Ammunition During Arrests Tied to the Attempted Coup

NEW YORK — Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund (“Everytown Support Fund”) today released a new detailed report on the Capitol insurrection, and the role that firearms and the gun lobby played.  The report: 

• Details the presence of firearms at the Capitol insurrection
• Explains how hateful gun lobby rhetoric motivated the insurrectionists and other extremists elsewhere in the country in recent years 
• Tracks the presence of extreme right actors and links them to other armed “protests” throughout 2020
• Provides policy solutions for disrupting extremists’ use of firearms to undercut democracy.

“In the weeks since the Capitol insurrection, it’s become clear just how easily the situation could have devolved even further,” said Nick Suplina, managing director of law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety. “The threat of far-right violence continues to this day, and this is a critical time for policymakers to act. The nexus of extremism and guns poses a serious threat that demands action.”

Among other findings, the report details:

• Everytown’s analysis of arrest records related to the events in or around the Capitol, which found that police seized at least 3,071 rounds of ammunition during the course of nine arrests on firearms charges 
• Everytown’s review and analysis of open source materials that link several of those arrested to gun extremism, violence, the NRA, and extreme right groups such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
• Communication from the NRA and other gun lobby groups spreading radicalizing far right conspiracy theories about mass civilian disarmament and looming authoritarianism to everyday Americans, including an NRA fundraising letter sent weeks before the insurrection warning of “gun confiscation” and telling its members that “only the NRA has the strength to win knock-down brawls on Capitol Hill.”
• Specific extremist groups and individuals that rioted in the Capitol, including gun rights activists and leaders of the Proud Boys.
• Symbols of hate displayed during the Capitol insurrection, from Confederate flags to Pepe the Frog.

Its recommendations include:

• Enacting common-sense measures that stop prohibited individuals from obtaining guns—like background checks on all gun sales and regulations on ghost guns. 
• Prohibiting the carrying of firearms at and around sensitive government facilities.
• Prohibiting guns at demonstrations on public property
• Holding armed extremists accountable under existing laws for their criminal conduct.

The report follows Everytown Support Fund’s October 2020 report on the gun lobby’s role enabling armed, far-right extremism, which detailed the gun lobby’s decades-long amplification of far-right rhetoric and advocacy for laws that enable right-wing extremists in the United States to arm themselves. The report examined the toxic mix of conspiracy theories, the common denominator of guns, and far-right extremism in America.

To speak with a policy expert, please do not hesitate to reach out.