Every time another mass shooter unleashes a torrent of bullets in a school or theater, the world puzzles over America's permissive approach to gun ownership. A story following up on the Sandy Hook massacre in Austria's largest daily, Krone, noted the apparent link between "lax weapons laws" in the United States and our "high rate of gun killings, compared to other western nations." But the newspaper didn't mention how Austrian gun makers profit from and help perpetuate those lax weapons laws. In 2009, a whopping 67 percent of Austria's gun exports went to the United States. Here's the breakdown for our top 10 foreign suppliers.



The National Rifle Association benefits handsomely from these relationships. In 2012, for instance, the Austrian pistol maker Glock funneled $115,000 to the group—a donation that isn't reflected in the chart below. Based on available figures, we estimated that nearly half of the group's gun company donations come from foreign manufacturers—the proportion rises substantially if you include donations from Springfield Armory, an American company whose top-selling XD pistol, one of the nation's most popular handguns, is a relabeled Croatian weapon.