Using video games offers several advantages over other youth marketing strategies employed by the gun industry. Despite the fact that children can't purchase guns from dealers, in many cases they can legally possess them. A 1998 poll conducted by The New York Times and CBS News found that 15 percent of American youths owned their own gun. Well, yes and no. It's true that most students from kindergarten through high school can't purchase firearms on their own.
Pop picks up the tab.
11 Video games featuring shooting have been played for as long as video games have existed. Typically, these games featured traditional hunting rifles or shotguns. Recently, as gun companies have lent their brand names to video games, the products featured have become decidedly more lethal. The industry sees these games as a means to introduce children to guns and the shooting sports, as well as an opportunity to engender brand loyalty. As the guns have changed, so have the targets.