Regardless of the holiday, it's normal for companies to try to leverage that to some degree in their marketing. It's normal and accepted, even if it's mocked. How many people roll their eyes at new cars for Christmas or Valentine's Day?
But the firearm industry, as noted earlier today, is different. It doesn't have the same avenues for marketing as companies that make microwaves and other household goods.
But for the Violence Police Center and their Campaign for Gun Industry Accountability, there's literally nothing the firearm industry can do that isn't a problem.
Love how their complaint is about "the gun industry’s tendency to take any holiday and try to twist it into a marketing opportunity on social media", which is obviously unique to guns and not every consumer product in existence https://t.co/THomvSoW9F
— Rob Romano (@2Aupdates) November 5, 2025
Also pretty funny how they argue Halloween is especially bad for gun companies to advertise on, when they make the same (similarly-worded) complaint about every other holiday pic.twitter.com/ngnFANX9Cb
— Rob Romano (@2Aupdates) November 5, 2025
Yep. Every single time the gun industry does anything to market itself, the Violence Policy Center absolutely loses its mind. They went off on the NRA annual meeting, even, because there were gun companies there and they weren't checking IDs at the door to make sure everyone was over the age of 35 or something.
See, again, every industry uses the holiday to try and get a bit more market share. There's no reason why the firearm industry should approach them any differently. As it stands, they don't sell new products directly to individuals; even if the customer goes to the company's website and orders one directly from the company, they don't get it directly. It has to go through a licensed dealer who conducts the NICS check to make sure they're eligible.
So where's the issue? Why is it a bad thing for a gun company to put a little holiday flair on its social media accounts?
No one is forced to view those posts, after all. That's the domain of people who actively want to be marketed to by that particular company, so where is the sin here?
The answer is simple. For the Violence Policy Center, there is nothing the gun companies can do properly other than just not sell guns ever again.
For all the claims of not wanting to prohibit private gun ownership that runs rampant among the anti-gun crowd, the truth is that their actions tell a much different story. The Violence Policy Center attacks everything the firearm industry does simply because they don't like it. They want the availability of new firearms to vanish entirely.
After all, if you can't find a gun to buy, it doesn't matter if you still technically have the right to buy it. That's always been the goal of many anti-gun efforts, including the long legacy of suing firearm companies for what third parties do with the guns they made and sold in good faith.
And it's why there can't be any common ground with these people. They're losing their minds over a pistol painted up to resemble candy corn, for crying out loud. How in the hell are you ever going to reason with these unreasonable people?
You're not.
It's just that simple.
There's nothing the gun industry could do to please the VPC, and so there's absolutely no reason for them to even try. I'm thankful for that, because the truth is that appeasement would likely result in more issues for people like you and me.
Look at what happened with Glock. They took a stand that could be considered appeasement, and now Everytown is demanding Ruger bend the knee as well.
So keep doing what you're doing, firearm industry. Market to me with every holiday, up to and including things like National Donut Day, if you want. Hoist the middle finger to the VPC and let them know what we all really think of them.
