Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Edward Markey (D-MA) are urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate marketing practices of gun manufacturers.
Murphy, Blumenthal, and Markey were joined by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Jack Reed (D-RI).
The 12 Democrat Senators sent a letter to the FTC on Monday, urging the commission “to undertake an investigation and consider regulation of the unfair and deceptive advertising practices used by the firearms industry.”
They claim:
The industry regularly and routinely makes false and misleading representations about firearm safety and unfairly exploits children and teenagers through unfair and deceptive marketing practices, including targeting teenagers, particularly young men, with advertising for military-style weapons. Time and again, these practices have had deadly consequences.
The Senators contended:
The FTC has previously investigated and taken strong action against other industries for similar false and misleading safety-related claims, particularly when such claims target and endanger children. The tobacco and e-cigarette industries are perhaps the paradigmatic example. Since the 1940s, the FTC has brought enforcement actions against tobacco companies for unfair and deceptive claims over the health and safety of cigarettes—most prominently with its lawsuit against R.J. Reynolds over the use of the Joe Camel cartoon to market to children. The same should be done here with respect to the firearms industry…
Congress tried to focus on the marketing/advertising strategies of AR-15 manufacturers during a July 27, 2022, House Committee on Oversight hearing, where numerous questions and claims backfired.
For example, committee chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) claimed gun manufacturers “sell the weapons of choice to mass murderers.” But as Breitbart News pointed out, gun makers do not sell guns to individuals. They sell guns to wholesalers/distributers who in turn sell them to federally licensed dealers, who, in turn, sell them to citizens who pass a federal background check.
And Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) asked Sturm, Ruger, & Co. to pledge not to sell ammunition that pierces body armor, only to have Ruger CEO Christopher Killoy inform the congressman that Ruger is not involved in ammunition sales.
House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Raja Krishnamoorthi speaks during a Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, in Washington, DC, on February 3, 2022. (GRAEME JENNINGS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. AWR Hawkins holds a PhD in Military History from Texas Tech University. His PhD is focused on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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