By Jamiles Lartey, Photo: Erik McGregor/Lightrocket/Getty Images, The Marshall Project, August 27, 2022
Odds are it’s been a while — tobacco ads on television, radio, billboards, transit and event sponsorships have all been banned by federal law for decades. It’s an approach that some gun control groups and lawmakers are now seeking to deploy in response to the nation’s mass shooting crisis.
“The gun industry at some point recognized there was money to be made by appealing to and encouraging the anti-government and increasingly extremist fringe,” New Jersey Rep. Tom Malinowski told USA Today, arguing for legislation he’s introduced that would push the FTC to restrict gun ads.
California banned gun ads targeting minors in July, a move youth sport shooting organizations are challenging on First Amendment grounds. A ruling is expected this week. One columnist argues the law is mere political grandstanding that misses more important factors, like the “unmatched cultural influence” of video games, movies and television “to foment violence in our culture.”
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