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Giffords Law Center, Brady, and March For Our Lives File FTC Petition against Gun Industry Advertising Practices

Washington DC — Today the Firearms Accountability Counsel Taskforce (FACT) petitioned the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to take action against the gun industry’s unfair, deceptive, and illegal advertising practices. FACT calls on the FTC to enforce consumer protection and advertising regulations against the gun industry.

The FACT coalition is a joint effort by the country’s premier gun violence prevention organizations that works with lawyers from the nation’s preeminent law firms to reduce gun violence. We’re excited to announce that this month, on the fourth anniversary of their founding, March For Our Lives is joining Giffords Law Center and Brady in this important endeavor. 

“For too long the gun industry has relied on a false message to sell its products: that buying a gun will make you and your family safer. Extensive empirical research shows that the opposite is true: for most people, bringing a gun into the home makes everyone in the home less safe,” said David Pucino, Deputy Chief Counsel of Giffords Law Center. “We’re proud to join with our partners in the Firearms Accountability Counsel Taskforce to call on the Federal Trade Commission to enforce the law against the industry’s deceptive practices.”

“In the almost 30 years since Brady first called on the FTC to investigate the gun industry’s false and misleading advertising, the gun industry has doubled down on its Big Lie that guns in the home enhance safety, has targeted young people with to attract them to military-style assault rifles,” said Jonathan Lowy, Brady Chief Counsel and Vice President of Legal. “Americans, including the children of gun owners, are dying as a result. Guns pushed by the gun industry’s reckless marketing are used in unintentional shootings, suicides, and some of the deadliest mass shootings in recent history. The FTC has a duty to review these tactics and act swiftly to stop them and keep Americans safe.”

“As a movement of young people, we’ve seen up close the gun industry’s disgusting efforts to market their weapons to children. And as the mass-shooting generation, we’ve grown up with the deadly consequences of those deceptive marketing practices,” said Matt Post, Judicial Advocacy Associate of March for Our Lives. “The FTC intervened when these shameful tactics were employed by the tobacco industry, and it is the time for the FTC to act again to protect Americans from a greedy industry’s utter disregard for human life.”

The petition outlines the gun industry’s unfair and deceptive advertising practices. For years gun advertisements have told consumers that having a gun in their home or on their person makes them and their loved ones safer, a message that is contrary to all of the evidence. Using these unfair and deceptive messages, the gun industry has sold more guns than ever before. The petition calls on the FTC to act against the sustained violations of consumer protection law that it is tasked with enforcing.