Firearms Industry Research

The question that popped into my head after the points of yesterday's presentation wondered if there were any public accounts or statements made by firearm company owners on the gun control debate. I wanted to know if the owners of these companies supported the restriction of their product or vehemently opposed it, and for what reasons? Did money matter more than lives? Do they feel any responsibility for manufacturing a product designed to harm people as well as animals?
Turns out, I didn't quite find what I was looking for but I did stumble across statements made by actors such as Liam Neeson, who has starred in movies playing characters who use guns regularly.

"Neeson, who has starred as ex-CIA operative Bryan Mills in all three Taken films, said the gun problem was unconnected to violent action movies.
“I grew up watching cowboy movies, loved doing that [gun gesture] with my fingers, ‘Bang, bang, you’re dead!’ I didn’t end up a killer ...,” he said. “A character like Bryan Mills going out with guns and taking revenge: it’s fantasy.”" The Hollywood Reporter

Neeson is pro gun control and his statements imply that he thinks the line between fantasy and real life is easily distinguishable for the audiences of movies involving guns. Either way, whether it influences violence in the real world is less easy to find the answer to than the second question that came to me: is the link between hollywood and the gun industry part of the reason why the numbers of guns are so high? For this answer I turned to the Hollywood Reporter which has interviewed several big names in the gun industry.

"Ramey says companies get approached a few times a year with deals. "[A big deal] would be awesome, but I haven't had that opportunity yet," says Gordon Bond of Bond Arms, which makes a derringer that has appeared, without paid placement, in scores of productions. "We've been in probably 20 different TV shows, and 80 percent of those we didn't know happened," says Bond. "It's free advertising.""

Obviously, the two industries are closely linked, but with what consequences? Are films more or less graphic that video games? Have other studies been done to make sure that we aren't subliminally  normalizing the use of guns to solve our problems in our forms of entertainment?


"“PARA USA regrets its decision to provide firearms for use in the film Taken 3,” said the company in a statement in its Facebook page seen by the Washington Times. “While the film itself is entertaining, comments made by its Irish-born star during press junkets reflect a cultural and factual ignorance that undermines support of the Second Amendment and American liberties." The Guardian