Biden calls for scrutiny of gun makers marketing weapons to minors

WASHINGTON — Marketing from gun makers aimed at young men inclined to violence may have influenced the accused Highland Park Fourth of July parade shooter. And it’s that kind of marketing that President Joe Biden said needs to be studied by the Federal Trade Commission.

Biden traveled to Southern California on Tuesday to address the families and victims of the Jan. 21 slaughter inside the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, where a shooter killed 11 and injured nine.

At the event, Biden announced a package of measures in a new executive order aimed at reducing gun violence.

One of the provisions Biden unveiled encourages the FTC “to issue a public report analyzing how gun manufacturers market firearms to minors and how such manufacturers market firearms to civilians, including through the use of military imagery.”

In his speech Biden said he is asking the independent FTC to study and expose “how gun manufacturers aggressively market firearms to civilians, especially minors.”

Seven people were killed at the Highland Park parade and at least 48 others injured. The accused killer, Robert Crimo III, 22, is being held in the Lake County jail in Waukegan awaiting trial on criminal charges.

Last September, lawsuits filed by victims and their families against gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson said the company “markets its assault rifles to young, impulsive men by appealing to their propensity for risk and excitement.”

Smith & Wesson did it by maintaining an active presence on social media using violent video games, the lawsuit said. The Sun-Times has reported on violent videos Crimo produced and posted on social media.

The lawsuits also assert that Smith & Wesson fraudulently markets its M&P line as “used or endorsed” by the military, suggesting that the weapon “will allow civilians to act like service members and engage in combat.”

Earlier this year, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and other senators called on the FTC to probe marketing to children the “JR-15” rifle by the Illinois company Wee 1 Tactical.

Duckworth said then that, though children under 18 cannot buy firearms under federal law, the JR-15 is marketed to appeal to children to help familiarize them with this type of tactical weapon. When the gun was initially released by Wee 1 Tactical, its marketing materials featured cartoons of skulls with pacifiers and said that the rifle “looks, feels and operates just like Mom and Dad’s gun.”

The attorney representing many victims in the civil cases, Antonio Romanucci, said he welcomed Biden “directing the Federal Trade Commission to issue a public report analyzing how gun manufacturers market firearms to minors.”

Civil case moved from Lake County to Chicago

The Highland Park cases handled by Romanucci & Blandin and other attorneys were filed in a state court in Lake County. The defendants were able to move the cases to federal court in Chicago.

Lawyers for the Highland Park victims are trying to get the cases back into state court. Among other reasons, a civil trial in a Lake County courthouse — not far from Highland Park — would draw a jury made up of local residents.

“The Highland Park mass shooting litigation was moved by the defendants from state to federal court, as our legal team anticipated,” Romanucci said.

Lawyers for the Highland Park victims are trying to get the cases back into state court.

Crimo’s father Robert E. Crimo Jr. is facing charges in Lake County for signing his then-underage son’s state gun ownership application even though authorities say the elder Crimo knew his son had threatened to kill his family and himself.