US Army-owned ammunition plant fuels civilian market amid rising gun violence |
In the weeks leading up to the tragic Uvalde, Texas, school shooting in 2022, a gunman purchased 2,115 rounds of ammunition for his AR-15-style rifle. Every single round came from the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant, a US Army-owned facility located just outside Kansas City, Missouri. Later that same year, another shooter walked into a St. Louis high school carrying over 400 rounds from the same facility, killing a student and a teacher. These bullets, designed for battlefield use, were legally obtained and easily accessible through the civilian market.
The use of Lake City ammunition in crimes is not an isolated phenomenon. New data obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and the New York Times, through public records requests to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), reveals that the facility’s products have become a ubiquitous presence in criminal investigations involving 5.56-millimeter and .223-caliber cartridges – the most commonly used ammunition for AR-15-style rifles.
Between 2017 and 2024, law enforcement agencies conducting criminal investigations reported spent Lake City casings to the ATF at more than twice the rate of any other manufacturer of 5.56 and .223 cartridges. The records, compiled from over 7,400 law enforcement agencies across the United States, cover a wide spectrum of crimes ranging from burglaries to homicides. The analysis provides an unprecedented look into Lake City’s outsized role in the commercial ammunition market, revealing how military-grade cartridges have become a standard feature in civilian crimes.
The AR-15, known to many as “America’s rifle,” mirrors the firepower of an American infantry soldier and has been featured in numerous mass shootings across the country. Yet while the weapon itself has received substantial attention, relatively little has been known about the production sources of its ammunition. Lake City, which began commercial production of its cartridges in earnest in the late 2000s, has played a major role in supplying the market.
Built during World War II to supply the US military, Lake City is operated by a private contractor under Army oversight. It is the largest manufacturer of rifle ammunition for the US armed forces, producing rounds not........