The Newtown Action Alliance and the Campaign to Unload held a rally on Monday morning outside the offices of Newtown-based National Shooting Sports Foundation.
The rally was organized a the day before the National Shooting Sports Foundation's big gun industry trade show in Las Vegas. The Newtown Action Alliance said the gun industry continues to profit from the sale of military-style assault weapons, while opposing any measure aimed at curbing gun violence.
In a statement, the NSSF said its members do not sell assault weapons, and that referring to semiautomatic weapons as military weapons, even if they resemble military weapons, is purposely misleading.
But David Stowe of the Newtown Action Alliance pointed to a new study by the Violence Policy Center that says the gun industry has increasingly used military symbols in the marketing of guns. "If you actually look at the colors and graphics in everything they use," he said, "it's almost like some of the 'Call to Duty' video games. It actually almost blurs the line between selling real weapons and video games, and it sends the complete wrong message."
In a statement, the National Shooting Sports Foundation said the Newtown Action Alliance is wrong in their characterization of the gun industry, and that their organization is committed to public safety.
