On July 12, 2024, the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund (Everytown) released a new report, “Paranoia and Profit: Armed Extremism and the Gun Industry’s Role in Fostering It.” This report builds on Everytown’s existing research on this important topic. It provides new insights and data about the current threat of armed extremism. It also outlines the connections between the gun lobby, the gun industry, and far-right extremist movements.
In recent years, political extremism and extremist violence in the United States have risen at an alarming rate. Many extremists see guns as the most effective tools for their violent aims. And lax gun laws in the U.S. often enable these extremists to access firearms.
What Is Armed Extremism?
Everytown references “armed extremism” when exploring the intersection of extremist ideologies and guns. Armed extremism is the use of firearms, most often by groups on the extreme right, to intimidate, silence, or injure others in the name of ideology.
Gun Industry and Gun Lobby Rhetoric Feeds Into Extremist Narratives
The firearms industry is profiting from the sale of firearms to political extremists intent on violence. Even worse, the firearms industry and its associated lobbying groups are aggravating the political climate that inspires violent extremism.
The NRA is infamous for its embrace of far-right rhetoric and extreme positions. For decades, the NRA has touted the “fringe insurrectionary theory of the Second Amendment.” This theory claims that individuals have the right to overthrow the government by force.
Other conspiracy theories pushed by the gun lobby and gun industry claim that people with different political opinions are actually “tyrants-in-waiting.” These theories played a large role in the kind of political violence seen on January 6, 2021.
The industry and its lobbying apparatus:
- Deploy advertising that appeals to extremists
- Spread conspiracy theories popular with extremists
- Support political leaders who give cover to extremists
The industry does all of these things while opposing policies that would make it harder for extremists to purchase firearms.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the industry’s official trade group, has invoked “Nazi Germany” to falsely claim that the ultimate “goal” of those who support gun safety laws “is confiscation of law-abiding owners’ firearms.”
Many leaders in the gun lobby and industry seem to oppose any and all regulation of firearms. Gun lobby groups like the NRA, the Firearms Policy Coalition, and Gun Owners of America have even called all gun laws unconstitutional.
These same groups have advocated for the elimination of the ATF, the federal law enforcement agency responsible for enforcing gun laws. For decades, members of the gun industry and lobby have caricatured the ATF as an authoritarian force out to eliminate all rights.
The firearms industry and its political allies use rhetoric that can create an escalating feedback loop. It’s a feedback loop of conspiracy, distrust in institutions, and a perpetual need for more and more guns that risks pushing a small but alarming number of Americans to see violence as a solution to perceived political and cultural problems.
Guns Are the Weapon of Choice for the Extreme Right
The gun industry and its lobbying apparatus warn their target audiences of unhinged existential threats all around them. These range from “criminals attacking their homes” to “tyrannical bureaucrats threatening their rights.”
These “threats” leave the gun industry’s audience feeling constantly at risk. They can also draw the attention of people who see violence as inevitable or justifiable. The firearms industry offers a single solution: guns, and the deadly violence they can achieve.
Guns are not ancillary tools to extremist movements in America. Instead, guns undergird many of the movements’ organizational, philosophical, and tactical foundations.
Everytown has identified more than 200 extremists charged with a crime in recent years whose violence, or threats of it, allegedly included a gun in some way. That is an average of one case charged every nine days between 2017 and 2021 (the period the study covered).
Guns and related conspiracy theories have been central to the ideology and strategies of extreme right groups like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys. Many of their leaders have been convicted for felonies relating to the far-right riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
Everytown and the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) partnered on a first-of-its-kind data project to track armed demonstrations in the United States. These armed demonstrations, where civilians appear carrying firearms, are seven times more likely to be violent or destructive than unarmed demonstrations.
The number of armed demonstrations has fallen from its relative peak in 2020. But the circumstances and conditions that enabled that peak in armed civilians at demonstrations are still at play in 2024.
Given the current political environment, the threat of escalating far-right violence in America is real. Political leaders continue to leverage far-right propaganda and radicalizing conspiracy theories. This messaging fueled the political violence on January 6th, 2021. These leaders are now using this messaging to convince their supporters that the stakes today are even more dire for those opposed to any and all gun safety laws.
Democracies similarly situated to the U.S. also face issues with violent extremists. However, the U.S. is the only such country that makes it easy for extremists to arm themselves with arsenals of military-style and even untraceable guns. Often, purchasers can access these guns without a background check.
Stronger gun safety laws will not end hate or extremism, but policies can be effective in making extremists less deadly. Such reforms face steep resistance from America’s gun lobby and gun industry. However, the majority of the American public supports common-sense gun policies. And these policies could significantly reduce the risk of armed extremism in America.
These policies include:
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Implementing Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPO)
These laws are sometimes known as “red flag laws.” They can be used to temporarily disarm individuals who may be a danger to themselves or others. If properly implemented and funded, these laws can be powerful tools in disarming violent extremists.
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Banning Assault Weapons and High-Capacity Magazines
Some of the most infamous extremist mass shootings involved assault weapons and the use of high-capacity magazines. These weapons demonstrate the gun industry’s innovations toward even more dangerous products. They give would-be shooters the ability to inflict maximum damage in an attack.
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Stopping the Proliferation of “Ghost Guns”
A ghost gun is a do-it-yourself, homemade gun made from easy-to-get building blocks. It can be purchased with no background checks. Because of these features, ghost guns appeal to people with criminal records, who are underage, or who otherwise cannot pass a background check. Ghost guns have become one of the fastest-growing gun safety problems in the US. In 2022, the ATF issued an administrative rule to address much of the ghost gun market. But work remains to be done on this issue.
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Prohibit the Carrying of Firearms in and Around Sensitive Government Facilities
The carrying of firearms by members of the public intimidates citizens and emboldens extremists. Firearms can morph a protest into an insurrection or escalate it into a gunfight. Federal law already prohibits firearms at the U.S. Capitol and on Capitol grounds. Federal and state lawmakers should extend the prohibition on gun carrying to all state capitols and their grounds. This safety measure should also extend to other buildings essential to the functioning of government and the electoral process. These include polling locations and vote-counting facilities.
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Prohibiting the Carrying of Firearms at Demonstrations on Public Property
An armed demonstration is seven times more likely to result in violence or destruction. With this risk in mind, states and localities should take steps to prohibit guns at protests or demonstrations.
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Preventing Those Convicted of Hate Crimes from Purchasing Weapons
Hate crime misdemeanors can be serious, violent acts. But under current federal law, a violent or threatening hate crime misdemeanor conviction does not prohibit gun possession. That means a person convicted of a violent hate crime could legally pass a background check.
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