A US manufacturer of firearms and tactical gear. It sells its products to law enforcement, the US military, and foreign militaries, including the Israeli military, which uses Ruger weapons target Palestinian civilians.
Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc., headquartered in Southport, Connecticut, is one of the largest manufacturers of firearms for the U.S. commercial market. It also supplies militaries and law enforcement agencies.
The company designs, manufactures, and sells a wide range of firearms and tactical accessories under its Ruger and Marlin Firearms brands. It markets several militarized configurations of Ruger assault rifles—for example, the AR-556, AR-556 MPR, and PC Carbine—to law enforcement and military agencies.
Since 1987, the Israeli military and police have regularly used Ruger rifles armed with .22-caliber bullets, colloquially known as "Two-Twos," against Palestinian protestors in the occupied Palestinian territory. The Israeli military uses Ruger .22-caliber bullets as if they are "non-lethal crowd control weapons," according to B'Tselem.
While their impact is less severe than that of larger 5.56-caliber bullets, Ruger .22-caliber bullets have caused many deaths and injuries of Palestinians. Between 2008 and 2021, Ruger weapons were documented as the cause of at least 33 deaths and 240 injuries of Palestinians. Among these deaths were construction workers on their way to work, children as young as ten, and Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
In 2018-2019, Israeli military snipers routinely used Ruger rifles to target unarmed Palestinian civilians who participated in weekly protests—during the Great March of Return—at the Gaza-Israel border. The rifles were used specifically to target the kneecaps of Palestinians, including those of young children. According to snipers' testimonies, the Ruger is particularly well-suited for precisely targeting, from a distance, Palestinian protestors and those "organizing and firing up [other protestors]."
In addition to supplying militaries, Ruger provides weapons to U.S. state and federal prison authorities. Between 2008 and 2021, Ruger was awarded at least 60 contracts with the federal Prison System/Bureau of Prisons for 9mm pistols, magazines, gun locks, and related accessories.