Ruger Shareholders Hold Annual Meeting to Discuss Profits From Gun Violence Epidemic

May 30, 2024

In shootings targeting schools, supermarkets, places of worship, and music festivals, Ruger guns have taken the lives of over 300 victims in at least fifteen mass shootings.

WASHINGTON — Today, American gun manufacturer Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (Ruger), will hold their annual shareholder meeting amid a nationwide gun violence epidemic. Ruger is the second-largest gun maker in the country, producing lethal weapons like the AR-10 traced to the Lewiston mass shooting and the AR-556 traced to the Boulder grocery store shooting.

“Ruger’s unrelenting disregard for public safety has ensured that we are not safe in America—not when we’re dropping off a package at FedEx, when we’re grocery shopping, or attending Sunday service,” said Guns Down America Executive Director Hudson Munoz. “In each of these mass shootings—Indianapolis, Boulder, Fort Worth, and many more—these were real people living their everyday lives only for them to be cut short. Packages that were never delivered, groceries that never made it to the fridge, church hymns that would be sung for a different reason. Each gun, in each of these shootings, was made by Ruger and marketed for consumption—sales that generate profits for their shareholders at the cost of life. The business of gun violence in America is shameful. If not guided by a moral compass, but only their own bank accounts, shareholders should nonetheless be concerned with the price of public health risks associated with Ruger’s products.”

Josh Sugarmann, executive director of the Violence Policy Center adds, "The mass shooting mayhem caused by Ruger firearms is not confined to the United States. Violence Policy Center research confirms that Ruger assault weapons were used in at least two horrific mass shootings abroad."

Mass Shootings Using Ruger Firearms in the United States:
According to the Violence Policy Center 

Bar and bowling alley, Lewiston, ME (Oct. 25, 2023)

• 19 dead, 13 wounded
• Ruger SFAR assault rifle, large capacity magazine

FedEx Facility, Indianapolis, IN (April 15, 2021)

• 8 dead, 4 wounded
• Ruger AR-556 assault rifle, HM Defense HM15F assault rifle, 60-round magazine

Grocery store King Soopers, Boulder, CO (March 22, 2021)

• 10 dead
• Ruger AR-556 assault pistol, Large capacity magazine, at least 16 rounds

First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, TX (Nov. 5, 2017)

• 27 dead, 20 wounded
• Ruger AR-556 assault rifle, 15 30-round magazines

Music festival, Route 91 Harvest Concert, Las Vegas, NV (Oct. 1, 2017)

• 58 dead, 489 injured
• Ruger AR-10 assault rifle, 12 additional firearms, 12 100-round magazines Multiple 25- round magazines Multiple 40- round magazines

Cascade Mall, Burlington, WA (Sept. 23, 2016)

• 5 dead
• Ruger 10/22 rifle, 25-round magazine

House party, Mukilteo, WA (July 30, 2016)

• 3 dead, 1 wounded
• Ruger AR-15 assault rifle, 30-round magazine

Hartford Distributors, Manchester, CT (Aug. 3, 2010)

• 9 dead (including shooter), 2 wounded
• Ruger SR9 semi automatic pistol, 17- and 15- round magazines

Wedgewood Baptist Church, Fort Worth, TX (Sept. 15, 1999)

• 8 dead, 7 wounded
• Ruger P85 9mm semiautomatic pistol, .380 pistol, 3 15-round magazines

Thurston High School, Springfield, OR (May 21, 1998)

• 4 dead, 22 wounded
• 9mm Glock semi automatic pistol, .22 Ruger rifle, .22 Ruger pistol, 50-round magazine

Long Island Railroad, Long Island, NY (Dec. 7, 1993)

• 6 dead, 19 wounded
• Ruger P-89 9mm semiautomatic pistol, 4 15-round magazines

California Employment Development Department, Oxnard, CA (Dec. 2, 1993)

• 5 dead (including shooter)
• Ruger Mini-14 assault rifle, Smith & Wesson .44 revolver, 12 gauge shotgun 30-round magazine

Regional Postal Center, Royal Oak, MI (Nov. 14, 1991)

• 5 dead (including shooter), 4 wounded
• Sawed-off Ruger 10/22 rifle 4 “bananastyle” large capacity ammunition magazines

Luby’s Cafeteria, Killeen, TX (October 16, 1991)

• 24 dead (including shooter), 20 wounded
• Ruger P-89 9mm semiautomatic pistol, Glock 9mm semiautomatic pistol 17- and 15- round magazines

Palm Bay Shopping Center, Palm Bay, FL (April 23, 1987)

• 6 dead
• Ruger Mini-14 assault rifle 5 30-round magazines

Mail plane meeting, McCarthy, AK (March 1, 1983)

• 6 dead, 2 wounded
• Ruger Mini-14 assault rifle, 2 30-round magazines

Mass Shootings Using Ruger Assault Rifles in Foreign Countries:

A legally imported Ruger AR-556 assault rifle was one of the guns used by white supremacist Brenton Tarrant in attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand that left 51 worshippers dead in March 2019.

In July 2011, right-wing extremist Anders Breivik used a legally obtained Ruger Mini-14 assault rifle–known as the "poor man's assault rifle"–in a mass shooting at a Labour party youth camp in Norway that left 69 people, most of whom were teenagers, dead.

To learn more, please refer to the Violence Policy Center’s Ruger backgrounder that offers information on the Ruger SFAR assault rifle and other assault weapons manufactured by the company, additional mass shootings that have been committed with Ruger firearms, firearm production data, voluntary “safety alerts” warning of defects in specific Ruger firearms, the company’s financial support of the National Rifle Association, and links to its social media outlets.