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

Washington D.C., April 7, 2022 — 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.

For over 25 years, the legal experts at Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence have been fighting for a safer America by researching, drafting, and defending the laws, policies, and programs proven to save lives from gun violence.

Brady has one powerful mission — to unite all Americans against gun violence. We work across Congress, the courts, and our communities with over 90 grassroots chapters, bringing together young and old, red and blue, and every shade of color to find common ground in common sense. In the spirit of our namesakes Jim and Sarah Brady, we have fought for over 45 years to take action, not sides, and we will not stop until this epidemic ends. It’s in our hands.

March For Our Lives is a national youth-led movement to end gun violence in America. Its mission is to harness the power of young people across the country to fight for sensible gun violence prevention policies that save lives. Since March 2018, students from all across the United States have called for common-sense reforms that will save the lives of more than 3,000 young people each year. Concurrently, March For Our Lives has established nearly 300 youth-led chapters across the country, continuously growing this chapter network to give young people a local forum to exercise their activism.