By Mike Stone
WASHINGTON, March 5 (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren will introduce legislation on Thursday to stop a U.S. Army-owned ammunition plant from selling military-grade bullets to civilians, asserting that some are being diverted to arm Mexican drug cartels and have been used in more than a dozen American mass shootings.
The Stop Militarizing Our Streets Act, co-sponsored by Senator Andy Kim and Representatives Robert Garcia and Jamie Raskin, would prohibit Pentagon contractors from selling military-grade assault weapons and ammunition to civilians.
It would also require that military contractors only sell firearms and ammunition to commercial dealers that follow minimum safety practices, such as screening customers and having a low history of gun sales that are later linked to a crime.
The bill takes aim at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Independence, Missouri, a facility built during World War Two to supply the U.S. military and the largest manufacturer of rifle ammunition for the U.S. armed forces.
The facility is run by Olin Winchester, part of Olin Corporation OLN.N. The Army has a deal with Winchester that whatever ammunition is not purchased by the service can be sold commercially on the civilian market.
High-powered .50-caliber cartridges that Mexican authorities have seized from cartels were traced to the Lake City plant, Warren said.
Neither Olin nor its subsidiary immediately responded to a request for comment.
"Americans' tax dollars should not be used to fuel gun violence," Warren said in a statement. "Congress must step in to keep Americans safe, and that means stopping the U.S. military and giant defense contractors from selling weapons of war to cartels, criminal groups, and mass shooters that terrorize our communities."
A New York Times investigation in 2023 found that AR-15 ammunition produced at the Lake City plant had been used in at least a dozen mass shootings since 2012, including the attacks in Aurora, San Bernardino, Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs, Parkland, Buffalo, and Uvalde.
(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Nia Williams)
((mike.stone@thomsonreuters.com;))
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