On the second anniversary of the Uvalde mass shooting, parents who lost loved ones that day filed suit in Texas court against Georgia-based Daniel Defense, maker of the AR-15 used in the shooting, Meta, owner of Instagram where the company and gun influencers promoted its rifles and Microsoft and its subsidiary Activision, which sells the popular first-person shooter game series "Call of Duty." The suit alleges that the gunmaker promoted its gun to underaged boys, grooming them to buy its guns through direct emails, Instagram, and placement of its guns in "Call of Duty." As Zusha Elinson and Cameron McWhirter have reported, documents obtained in discovery by parents who lost children at Sandy Hook showed Remington officials had agreements to place their guns in video games. Remington settled with the Sandy Hook parents for $73 million. As Elinson and McWhirter show in their book American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15, gun company executives took measures in the 2000s to promote their products with young men through tactics such as product placement in games and provocative advertising. One company executive referred to the tactics as "seed planting."
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AMERICAN GUN
The True Story of the AR-15
“[A] magisterial work of narrative history and original reportage."
—The New York Times Book Review
“A riveting exploration of the cost of the nation’s fascination with an iconic weapon.”
— Kirkus starred review
“[R]iveting history....This book is not to be missed." —Esquire
“An indispensable read.”—THe Guardian
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