Hold Gun Makers Responsible for Marketing Dangerous Weapons to Young People!

  • by: Care2 Team
  • recipient: Federal Trade Commission

The United States has witnessed the horror of repeated, tragic mass shootings and gun violence recently -- from Buffalo, to Uvalde, to Highland Park, and beyond. While we must keep pushing Congress to pass strong gun reform, we can also challenge the people who make guns. Sadly, mass shootings in the U.S. often show a similar pattern: the shooters are often teen and young adult males. This group is prone to impulsive, reckless behavior, making them easy targets for gun manufacturers and their marketing strategies. By marketing military-style weapons to young people, gun manufacturers share a huge portion of the responsibility for gun violence in America.

Sign the petition to tell the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Smith & Wesson, and all large gun manufacturers in the U.S. for marketing to children and young adults.

The United States is one of the only countries in the world where mass shootings happen regularly. Two researchers from Hamline University and Metropolitan State University in MN have found that attacks are overwhelmingly carried out by two kinds of people: "Workplace attacks have been mostly carried out by men in middle age. School shootings, on the other hand, involve perpetrators mostly in their late teens or early 20s."

The Buffalo and Uvalde shooters were 18-year-old men. The shooters of Parkland, Newtown, Virginia Tech, and Columbine were also young men. No other industry can market dangerous products to young people – children's toy makers are required to put age limits on products, warn consumers of choking hazards, ensure that their products are not flammable or sharp, and so on. So why are gun manufacturers allowed to market the deadliest personal weapons in the world as attractive and available to a demographic of people who are literally less able to make responsible decisions? Some gun manufacturers have even used images of toddlers to promote gun ownership.

We have seen a similar fight in the ethics of marketing when it comes to tobacco products. We as a nation recognize that by making things like cigarettes, vapes, and other dangerous items available and enticing for young, impressionable folks, we are directly endangering them and their health. We must see that same energy put into regulating the marketing of deadly weapons!

Sign the petition to tell the Federal Trade Commission to investigate gun manufacturers in the U.S. for marketing to children and young adults!

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