Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund Launching $500,000 in TV and Digital Ads Airing on National Cable, and in Alaska, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas, Urging Congressional Action on Background Check Legislation — Ads Highlight How Background Checks Aren’t a Partisan Issue, Just Common Sense
WASHINGTON — Today, Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund unveiled new TV and digital ads urging passage of common sense background check legislation. The ads, featuring gun owners, and law enforcement officials, are a part of a new $500,000 ad campaign that will run over the next two weeks, urging Congress to take bipartisan action on background checks.
The ad buy includes national cable ads, which will run on Fox News and CNN, and ads on broadcast television in the Anchorage, AK, Charlotte and Raleigh, NC, Cincinnati, OH, and Austin and Houston, TX media markets. The in-state television ad buys are backed by digital ads, including :30 and :15 spots.
The TV and digital ads include:
- “Public Safety,” featuring Columbia, South Carolina Police Chief Skip Holbrook
- “Just Common Sense,” featuring a lifelong gun owner and hunter
- “Keep Our Children Safe,” featuring a mother and gun owner
- “Loopholes,” featuring Richland County, South Carolina Sheriff Leon Lott, who was named 2021 Sheriff of the Year by the National Sheriff’s Association
“These ads are a reminder that background checks aren’t a partisan issue, and that the vast majority of Americans support common sense steps to keep guns away from dangerous people,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “Whether you’re talking to Republicans, Democrats, gun owners, or law enforcement, there is bipartisan support for strengthening background checks, and we’ll keep reminding Congress of that fact until we see action.”
“Passing common sense, constitutional, and lifesaving background check legislation is a critical step toward ending the heartbreaking gun violence we see every day in America,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action. “Our grassroots volunteers are energized, and with these ads we’re making sure our message is heard – we must pass bipartisan background check legislation now, before more lives are lost.”
While federal law requires background checks for all gun sales by licensed gun dealers, it does not require background checks for the people who buy guns from unlicensed dealers, even in instances when they are strangers who meet online or at gun shows. The loophole has created a large, unregulated marketplace that makes it easy for gun traffickers to buy and sell guns without background checks or scrutiny. Twenty-one states and Washington, D.C. require background checks on all handgun sales, and states that do not are the source of a disproportionate number of trafficked guns. Research shows that state laws requiring background checks for all handgun sales are associated with 29 percent lower rates of gun trafficking across state lines.
Ninety-three percent of Americans, including 89 percent of Republicans and 89 percent of gun owners support background checks, and there’s a good reason why: background checks save lives. In addition to being associated with lower rates of gun trafficking, states that require background checks for all gun sales are associated with 10 percent lower homicide rates, as well as lower rates of firearm suicide.
Federal inaction on gun violence has led to more than 100 Americans being killed every day, and over 200 wounded, costing U.S. taxpayers an average of $35 million each day.
