The man who shot and killed former President Trump on Saturday reportedly used a DPMS-brand AR rifle purchased by his father.
The brand is currently owned by the parent company of South Carolina-based Palmetto State Armory, and Trump himself visited the armory during the 2023 campaign, taking photos with owners and admiring a Glock pistol with his face engraved on the grip.
At the time, a Trump spokesman said the former president’s gun purchases may have been illegal because he had been indicted last fall. Hours later, a spokesman clarified that Trump had not yet completed the gun deal.
A similar DPMS AR, firing 5.56-caliber bullets, was one of the rifles used in the 2015 San Bernardino terror attack, in which an extremist couple targeted a Christmas party at a banquet hall, killing 14 people and wounding 22.
Details about the rifle used Saturday are emerging slowly as the FBI investigates the weapon, officials told Fox News, but the company that made the rifle named has a long history and has been bought and sold several times recently.
DPMS stands for Defense Procurement Manufacturing Services. Founded in 1985, it was a defense contractor started by Randy Luth. Under Luth’s direction, the St. Cloud, Minnesota-based company quickly grew into a manufacturer of AR parts and eventually developed the Panther Arms brand of firearms.
Weapons experts around the world have suggested since Saturday that the AR used on Saturday was a poor choice for effective long-range shooting. The shooter was on a rooftop about 150 yards from the podium where Trump was speaking. It is unclear whether he used an optic to enhance his field of vision.
Brandon Webb, a former Navy SEAL and author, said a well-trained marksman could have done more to aim the weapon.
“At 200 yards, anyone with rifle training can shoot a golf ball multiple times, and a trained marksman, even with iron sights, knows that this is an easy head shot — a tap-in on a golf putt,” Webb said in an “after-action report” on the shooting.
About DPMS AR Rifles
Federal officials investigating the shooting said the AR rifle was “nothing special” because the ubiquitous rifles have standard appearance and shooting characteristics.
The average muzzle velocity is about 2,800 feet per second, nearly three times the speed of sound, making a bullet flying close by sound like a snap or a mini sonic boom.
The rifle is approximately 32 inches long, including the stock, and weighs about 6.8 pounds. Most of the weapons in this series are semi-automatic replicas of the Army’s M4. All are lightweight, gas-operated, air-cooled, magazine-fed weapons.
AR originally stood for “ArmaLite Rifle” and was developed by military companies in the 1950s. Colt purchased the AR-15 patent, but that patent has since expired. Clones of the AR platform are widely available from dozens of brands in a variety of calibers.
The current version of the DPMS AR sells for around $800.
DPMS has taken on various incarnations since the 2000s, and in 2014 moved its manufacturing operations from Minnesota to Alabama.
In 2007, Mr. Luce sold his company to a consortium of other firearms groups known as the Freedom Group, owned by the private equity firm Cerberus. The company merged with Remington Outdoor Co., which later went into bankruptcy and was hit by a massive lawsuit from the families of those killed in the Sandy Hook massacre.
In 2020, DPMS was sold at Remington’s bankruptcy auction to JJE Capital Holdings, owned by Jamin McCollum. JJE Capital’s flagship brand and store is the Palmetto State Armory brand in South Carolina.
JJE Capital Chief Legal Officer John Roberts confirmed that the firm acquired the DPMS name and intellectual property in 2020, noting that the firearms in question were likely manufactured and sold years before the ownership transfer.
“JJE Capital did not manufacture or sell the firearms allegedly used, and neither JJE Capital nor any of its affiliates own or have any direct or indirect ties to the manufacturer of the firearms,” Roberts wrote in USA Today. “Like the rest of the nation, we condemn this senseless act of violence and pray for President Trump, the other victims, and their families.”
Weapons are banned in some states
Colorado Democrats have been trying to ban semi-automatic rifles for years with a bill that lists various variants of AKs and ARs, including the DPMS tactical rifle. Illinois’ assault weapons ban also specifically targets DPMS rifles, and in July the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge to that ban.
Currently, 10 states and the District of Columbia ban certain assault-style weapons, while others restrict the use of high-capacity magazines.
Palmetto State Armory and DPMS recently posted on social media that they had filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court defending the use of bump stocks.
Gun violence prevention groups like the Everytown Group have this week investigated the Trump shooter’s gun’s apparent connection to the Palmetto State Armory.
“When the gun lobby and the gun industry act with impunity, no one is safer, not even a former president,” said Nick Saprina, Everytown’s senior vice president of legal and policy. “We know that ‘guns everywhere’ policies put our communities at risk, as the shooting at a Trump rally last weekend demonstrated, but Palmetto State Armory has acknowledged that making assault weapons commonplace in America is its goal.”
Experts speculate why the shooter missed Trump
Navy SEAL Webb speculated that the 5.56x45mm NATO ammunition used by the gunman was highly susceptible to changes in wind and humidity.
“If the shooter had aimed the rifle in the spring and fired it in the summer, the warmer temperatures and higher bullet velocity could have caused the bullet to land two or three inches higher, lower, or to land sideways,” Webb said. “This may have saved Mr. Trump’s life.”
Army veteran Guy McArdle suggested a combination of poor marksmanship, tension, heat and the prone position likely contributed to the gunman missing his shot at Trump.
“If the bullet had hit the former president near the temple, it probably would have been fatal,” McArdle said. “But snipers don’t tend to aim at the head because it’s a relatively small, moving target. They shoot toward the center of the body, where most of a person’s vital organs are located.”
Nick Penzenstadler is a reporter on USA TODAY’s investigative team, focusing primarily on firearms and consumer financial protection. He can be reached at npenz@usatoday.com or @npenzenstadler or via Signal at (720) 507-5273.
