Washington, D.C., June 1, 2020 — Today, Team ENOUGH joins with Brady, Everytown for Gun Safety, and Fred Guttenberg, father of Jaime Guttenberg who was murdered in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in calling on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Smith & Wesson’s marketing practices for M&P assault rifles, such as the assault rifle used at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The complaint filed contends that Smith & Wesson purposefully marketed these rifles to civilians by associating them with the military and targeted teens and young adults. The complaint asks for the FTC to investigate Smith & Wesson’s marketing practice as it “attracts, encourages, and facilitates mass shooters.”
Team ENOUGH joins Brady, Everytown for Gun Safety, and Fred Guttenberg’s call for an investigation and an end to this dangerous marketing practice.
Team ENOUGH Executive Council shared:
“As we’ve seen time and again, assault-style rifles are tools of mass carnage. Smith & Wesson have continued to market their Military & Police (M & P) rifles despite this reality and they have done so to young people, particularly young men, who have committed a disproportionate number of mass shootings and are prone to risky or violent behavior and have a heightened susceptibility to advertising practices. Smith & Wesson’s marketing practices also feed into the idea that violence is an indicator of power and that owning a firearm will give the owner the “toughness” that the Military and Police portray.
Our generation has seen the results of these tactics. Since 2009, five of the 10 mass shootings with the highest counts of gunshot injuries and deaths were committed by young people between the ages of 19 and 26. Four of those shootings involved an AR-15-style rifle, one of which was the shooting in Parkland, Florida. We will not be silent in the face of the continued gun violence that affects our country. We join the call for the FTC to investigate Smith & Wesson’s marketing practices and hold them accountable for their role in that violence.”
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