Brutal PSA aimed at hunting community calls for ‘common sense’ action on guns

Warning: The video above contains violent imagery and may be upsetting to some viewers.

Another school shooting, another PSA calling for sensible gun laws.

The video above, however, differs from the standard playbook in a few respects—first, in its simple and brutal vision, and second, in targeting an audience of hunters who might actually have some sway in pushing forward some sort of legislative action on guns.

The film was created for advocacy group United Sense of America by Smuggler and American Haiku and written by the latter’s executive creative director, Thom Glover. It was directed by the duo rubberband. Austin agency Preacher is handling some strategy work on the campaign. The message is as resonant as ever following the recent events in Georgia.

Also read—Gun violence ads reference Trump shooting: ‘Not everyone is that lucky’

Many gun violence campaigns preach to the choir and thus fail to make an impact. There are exceptions, such as last year’s “Aim for Change” campaign, which also targeted gun owners.

“Weapons of war are designed for a battlefield, not our children’s schools,” United Sense of America said in a statement.

“The people who are going to make the difference in legislation are hunters who think of themselves pretty moderate, common sense people,” Patrick Milling-Smith, founder of Smuggler, told Ad Age in an interview. “If we make everybody who owns a gun feel like a piece of shit, then they’re just not going to give an inch on anything.”

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