‘Macho’ AR-15 ads called ‘reckless’
Military imagery stirs violence, opponents say
When it comes to selling AR-15style semiautomatic rifles, gunmakers have discovered there’s no better endorsement than the American soldier.
“Never a victim. Always the victor,” reads an ad that runs in April’s Guns & Ammo magazine from the Springfield Armory, showing an image of a couple of helmeted gunmen in GIlooking gear. “Patriot,” reads another showing what appears to be a commando wielding the “professional grade weaponry” of Bravo Company Manufacturing.
Military imagery in advertising – a surefire selling point when it comes to high-power weaponry – has cropped up as a trouble spot for the weapons industry.
The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled this month that victims of a mass shooting in 2012 at an elementary school in Newton, Connecticut, could sue the maker of the rifle used in the attack over its advertising.
Among the suit’s claims is that Bushmaster and other gunmaker defendants “promote their AR-15s by advertising that the most elite branches of the military – including Special Forces, SEALs, Green Berets and Army Rangers – have used them.”
Though opponents say plaintiffs face steep odds in pressing such cases, it’s the kind of situation that could put a chilling effect on gun advertisers.
Gun industry officials don’t sound worried. The state court split 4-3 in its
decision, which is likely to be appealed.
Still, the decision is another setback for gun enthusiasts who tried this week to stop the Trump administration from enforcing a ban against bump stocks – devices that can rig semiautomatics to spew bullets like a fully automatic weapon. The U.S. Supreme Court declined a case to block the ban, which took effect Tuesday.
A weapon of choice
Gun control advocates have singled out semiautomatics such as the AR-15 because they have become the weapon of choice in mass shootings such as the one at Sandy Hook Elementary School in which 20 children and six adults were gunned down. Victims sued Remington Arms and related companies, which made the Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle that Adam Lanza used in the attack.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers said young men can be obsessed with the military or succumb to the image of masculinity that the ads promise.
“Consider Your Man Card Reissued,” reads a Bushmaster ad for its AR-15style gun, the kind used in the Sandy Hook shooting. The ad speaks to a “macho hyper-masculinity,” said one of the attorneys, Katie Mesner-Hage.
Another Bushmaster ad reads, “Force of Opposition, Bow Down: You are Single-Handedly Outnumbered.”
“The advertising isn’t misleading. It’s actually extremely accurate,” Mesner-Hage said. “It’s a military weapon. It’s inciteful, reckless advertising.” The AR-15 is meant to serve “one purpose, which is to inflict as many casualties in combat” as possible, she said.
The bow-down ad states the Bushmaster is “the only rifle you need to master the infinite number of extreme scenarios you’ll face in the worlds of law enforcement and personal defense.”
About half of the customers of AR-15style weapons are current or former police officers and members of the military, said Larry Keane, general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a gun industry trade group.
Blaming the semiautomatic rifle for mass shootings is like suing automakers when terrorists use cars to mow down innocent people, Keane said. In the case of Lanza, who took his own life, there is no evidence that he was influenced by gun advertising. The rifle had been given to him by his mother.
As for the masculine nature of the advertisements, men are predominantly the buyers of the AR-15. Advertising directly to them is no different from ads for power tools, which usually show men, Keane said.
He said gunmakers are limited as to where they can advertise their highpowered weapons. Many mainstream publications and online channels, such as Facebook, won’t take them.
Retailer rethinks
Dick’s Sporting Goods announced last year after a school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that it would stop selling assault-style weapons, highcapacity magazines or any guns to anyone under the age of 21.
This month, Dick’s said it will go further, removing all guns, including those for hunting, from 125 stores in response to slow sales.
John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, and author of several books, including “More Guns, Less Crime,” said buyers want the guns for personal protection. They are unlikely to shoot if attacked, knowing that the mere sight of the weapon is enough to deter an assailant, he said.
The industry’s ads don’t depict illegal acts, Lott said. Even in the bowdown ad, he said, “they talk about law enforcement and (using it) for personal defense. They are not going out and killing people in that ad.”