Apalachee High School Shooting: Gun Industry Marketing to Children
The school shooting allegedly committed with an AR-15 style assault rifle by a 14-year-old student at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia on September 4, 2024, is just the latest example of a mass shooting by a child armed with a gun supplied by his parents.1
Yet, while the father who purchased the weapon as a Christmas gift for his son last December is now charged alongside his child with murder, little attention has focused on the role played by the firearms industry, which relentlessly markets guns to children ─ directly and through their parents. The industry specifically encourages the gifting of firearms to youth while parents frequently celebrate the possession and use of these weapons by their children. With complete disregard for the obvious hazard of placing the most lethal consumer product on the market in the hands of kids, the gun industry seeks only profit and preys on the bad judgment of parents.
As detailed in the Violence Policy Center’s (VPC) 2016 study “Start Them Young”—How the Firearms Industry and Gun Lobby Are Targeting Your Children, as early as 1993 the gun industry trade association the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) asked and answered the following question:
“Kids can’t buy guns, you say? Well, yes and no. It’s true that most students from kindergarten through high school can’t purchase firearms on their own. But it’s also true that in many parts of the country, youngsters (from preteens on up) are shooting and hunting. Pop picks up the tab.”
The Violence Policy Center has for decades tracked the gun industry’s marketing efforts to children, women, and communities of color. Related research can be found on the VPC’s Campaign for Gun Industry Accountability website.
The gun industry is targeting our children, urging us to put the most lethal weapons into the smallest hands. As a nation, we must demand that gunmakers be named, shamed, and held accountable for their increasingly lethal products and the inevitable death and injury that results when they are used for the exact purpose for which they were designed ─ especially by children against children.
Examples of Gun Industry Marketing Targeting Children
Below are examples from the VPC’s research library of gun industry marketing targeting children.
- News accounts report that the alleged shooter in the Georgia attack received his AR-style assault rifle as a Christmas gift, a theme promoted by gun importer Century International Arms on its Instagram account in 2015 and 2018 in its marketing of AK-47 assault rifles for children.
- In 2022, the VPC focused public attention on a marketing campaign for AR-15 assault rifles designed specifically for children. Manufactured by WEE1 Tactical, and dubbed the JR-15, the company promised that the children’s assault rifle “looks, feels, and operates just like Mom and Dad’s gun.”
At the time, WEE1’s website and related materials (including hats, shirts, patches and stickers) were dominated by cartoons of a skull and crossbones of a boy and a girl (see below). On its website, the company boasted at the time: “The BRAND is meant to be EDGY. We believe its [sic] exciting and will build brand recognition and loyalty!” In a video profiling the gun, WEE1 Tactical’s Eric Schmid explains that the logo, “Keeps the wow factor with the kids.”
Following a public uproar, the company dropped its “edgy” marketing in 2023 and today its website is “under construction.” Publicity surrounding the company’s sales efforts encouraged both California and Illinois to pass laws banning the marketing of guns to children.
- In an Instagram photo from the 2019 gun industry show of new firearms that accompanies the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting, assault rifle manufacturer Anderson Manufacturing says, “It’s been a pleasure hanging out with our loyal customers of all ages.” In the photo, two boys who are “part of the Anderson family” hold AR-15 style assault rifles.
Related Materials
“Start Them Young”—How the Firearms Industry and Gun Lobby Are Targeting Your Children (February 2016, last updated 2023)
Campaign for Gun Industry Accountability online resource center.
For more information, please contact Georgia Seltzer at 202-822-8200 x 104 or gseltzer@vpc.org.
- For example, on November 30, 2021, Ethan Crumbley killed four and wounded seven in a mass shooting at Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan. Crumbley was armed with a Sig Sauer SP 2022 9mm semiautomatic pistol and at least two 15-round ammunition magazines. Ethan Crumbley stated that he gave his father, James Crumbley, money to buy the handgun for him (“Ethan Crumbley says he gave James Crumbley money used to buy gun used in Oxford High School Shooting,” Fox 2 Detroit, October 24, 2022, https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/ethan-crumbley-says-he-gave-james-crumbley-money-to-buy-gun-used-in-oxford-high-school-shooting). On May 21, 1998, Kip Kinkel killed four and wounded 22 in a mass shooting at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon. Kinkel was armed with a 9mm Glock semiautomatic pistol, a 22 caliber Sturm Ruger rifle, and a 22 caliber Sturm Ruger pistol He also possessed a 50-round ammunition magazine. Kip Kinkel had gone with his father, Bill Kinkel, to buy the 9mm Glock pistol in June 1997. The understanding between the father and son was that Kip would do the research on which model gun he wanted and would pay for it with his own money. He was not to use the gun without his father present, and the gun would not become Kip’s until he turned 21 years old. Later that Fall, Bill Kinkel bought his son a 22 caliber semiautomatic rifle under the condition that he would use it only under adult supervision. Again, the gun was purchased with Kip’s money (“Chronology: Kip Kinkel’s life and events leading up to the horror of May 20-21, 1998,” Frontline, January 18, 2000, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/kinkel/kip/cron.html).