Families of the shooting victims in Uvalde, Texas, sued technology and gun companies on Friday, accusing them of “wrongful death.”
In two separate complaints in California and Texas, the families accused companies including Meta, Activision – the publisher of the Call of Duty video game – and weapons manufacturer Daniel Defense of “grooming a generation of young men who are socially vulnerable and insecure about their masculinity.” . , and eager to show strength and assert dominance” and “indoctrinate a particular target group: adolescents who are vulnerable to marketing that fuels their sense of dissatisfaction and desire for power.”
“To put it even more accurately, Defendants chew up alienated teenage boys and spit out mass shooters,” the California complaint reads.
“Before the Uvalde school shooter, there was the Parkland school shooter, and before him, the Sandy Hook school shooter,” the complaint continues. “These were the three deadliest K-12 school shootings in American history. In both cases, the shooter was between 18 and 21 years old; in each of them the shooter was a dedicated player Duty; and in each attack the shooter conducted his attack in tactical gear, with an assault rifle in hand.”
The double Friday complaints follow the Uvalde families' announcement of a new lawsuit against more than 90 Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) officers earlier this week over their response to the deadly shooting two years ago.
“There is a direct line between the conduct of these companies and the Uvalde shooting,” attorney for the families, Josh Koskoff, said in a news release Friday about the lawsuits against the companies. “Just 23 minutes after midnight on his 18th birthday, the Uvalde shooter purchased an AR-15 made by a company with less than one percent market share.”
In an emailed statement to The Hill, an Activision spokesperson said that “the shooting in Uvalde was horrific and heartbreaking in every way, and we extend our deepest condolences to the families and communities who continue to be affected by this senseless act of violence.”
“Millions of people around the world enjoy video games without turning to heinous acts,” the spokesperson added.
The Hill has reached out to Meta and Daniel Defense.
