We estimate that almost 70 million American consumers have made the choice not to buy a gun, support gun reform policies, and are more likely to increase spending on brands with good social practices. As a group, these consumers are more educated and have higher-than-average household incomes. We call them the Guns-Down Consumer — they like to shop at Trader Joe’s and Panera Bread.
It’s no surprise that Trader Joe’s and Panera Bread are national leaders when it comes to corporate action to end the gun violence epidemic. According to Edelman’s 2024 report on brands and politics, by understanding the politics of the consumer, these brands have found a way to say, “You’re safe in our stores,” and signal their commitment to community safety. Trader Joe’s and Panera Bread have publicly stated that weapons aren’t welcome in their stores, and neither has donated to the National Rifle Association’s million-dollar members. Both are growing and thriving businesses — despite criticism from the arch-Second Amendment crowd. More than brand loyalty, this exemplifies brand solidarity.
Businesses can gain customers from competitors by creating safe spaces where guns are not welcome. They can establish brand solidarity by affirmatively rejecting gun culture and denying campaign contributions to politicians who act like community safety and security are anathema to an absolutist and unqualified understanding of “gun rights.” That’s just business in an era when people are not only concerned about gun violence but are also changing their preferences and their plans to be in gun-free environments.
I am reminded of the Frederick Douglass quote: “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will.” This issue of The Hollow Point explores gun violence and gun culture through the lens of brand and consumer choice because every dollar we spend reflects our demand for goods and services. It only takes one small step further to show that your dollars demand that guns are not welcome where you shop.
This month’s essayists explore how the gun industry successfully created a consumer identity around gun ownership that it exploits at our expense. Brett Burkhardt, Associate Professor of Sociology in the College of Liberal Arts at Oregon State University, states it plainly in an interview: “If gun marketing is effective, such that more people have guns, and policies allow them to carry guns in more places, this will very likely translate into a larger raw number of gun deaths and injuries.” Firmin DeBrabander, a professor of political philosophy at the Maryland Institute College of Art, challenges us to answer how long we can survive as an armed country in a standoff against each other.
Our holiday gift is a guide to how you can demand a gun-free experience in the stores you visit for everyday items and on special occasions.
As always, remember that the gun industry’s survival depends on the hollow point that our survival depends on them. That’s false. Thriving means embracing each other.
Happy holidays, fam.
