Accessibility links

Breaking News
USA

US Investor Selling Gun Maker Linked to School Killings


Stuffed animals and a sign calling for prayer rest at the base of a tree near the Newtown Village Cemetery in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 17, 2012.
Stuffed animals and a sign calling for prayer rest at the base of a tree near the Newtown Village Cemetery in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 17, 2012.
A U.S. investment company says it will sell the gun manufacturer that made the weapon used in last week's mass killings at a Connecticut school.

Cerberus Capital Management said Tuesday that it plans to immediately start looking for a buyer for Freedom Group, the country's largest manufacturer of guns and ammunition.

Cerberus also said it is "shocked and deeply saddened" by the assault at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. Gunman Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children who were six and seven years old.

Cerberus said it has no intention of engaging in the U.S. debate over gun ownership rights, which are protected by the U.S. Constitution, or the new calls for a ban on the sale of the semi-automatic weapons, such as the Bushmaster rifle authorities say the gunman used.

But Cerberus added there are "actions that we as a firm can take."

In addition, the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores, has removed the Bushmaster from its Internet list of weapons for sale. Another large U.S. retailer, Dick's Sporting Goods, said it is suspending sale of certain kinds of semi-automatic rifles at its nationwide chain of stores.
  • 16x9 Image

    VOA News

    The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

XS
SM
MD
LG