One of the wrongful death lawsuits that families of Uvalde elementary school shooting victims filed claims that Activision, maker of Call of Duty, trains “adolescents to become gunmen.”

Breitbart News reported that numerous wrongful death lawsuits were filed on May 24, 2024, by the families against AR-15 maker Daniel Defense, Instagram parent company Meta, and Call of Duty maker Activision.

Attorney Josh Koskoff filed the suits.

The Associated Press noted that Koskoff pointed to Daniel Defense, Meta, and Activision, saying, “There is a direct line between the conduct of these companies and the Uvalde shooting…This three-headed monster knowingly exposed him to the weapon, conditioned him to see it as a tool to solve his problems, and trained him to use it.”

In the complaint against Activision and Meta, plaintiffs claim, “Activision is in the wildly lucrative business of training adolescents to become gunmen.”

The plaintiffs admit that the action in Call of Duty is only “virtual;” however, they claim the weapons depicted in the video game “are authentic.”

The complaint alleges, “The [Uvalde attacker] tracked down items for which he had no need—two different rifle sights, a smoke grenade, an AR-15 ‘weapon skin’—because of their connection to Call of Duty.”

The Texas Tribune reported that the Uvalde attacker bought two rifles “legally” after he became old enough to do so. This means he passed background checks with a Federal Firearms License Holder (FFL) to acquire the guns.

He bought one rifle on May 17, 2022, and the second on May 20, 2022. He had both guns with him as he approached to attack the school on May 24, 2022, but wrecked his truck and left one of the rifles behind in the vehicle. 

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, a pro-staffer for Pulsar Night Vision, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. 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.