Wieden & Kennedy Employees Shame Pro-Gun Politicians for Meaningless Tweets

Image: Wieden & Kennedy
147.
That’s the number of mass shootings this year alone, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
1,002.
That’s the number of mass shootings since the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012, in which 20 children and six adults were killed before the shooter turned the gun on himself.
49.
That’s the number of people—mostly Latino LGBT individuals—who died at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando on June 12, 2016.
0.
That’s the number of federal gun control laws that have been passed by either chamber of Congress since Sandy Hook—despite a historic Senate filibuster and a House of Representatives sit-in.
Well, several Wieden & Kennedy employees decided they’ve had enough with inaction, so they put together a book that jabs at the meaninglessness of hashtag activism and tweeted condolences. Proceeds will benefit a gun control advocacy group.
#ThoughtsandPrayers: Comforting Tweets from Powerful Hypocrites attempts to turn the echo chamber into action. A $25 donation—which goes directly to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence—will get you a bound collection of tweets from “pro-gun politicians who have the power to do something about gun violence, but choose hollow words instead.”
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence is a nonprofit whose aim is to reduce gun violence by passing comprehensive background check laws. (They were behind the passage of 1993’s Brady Bill, which imposes a waiting period on handgun purchases by unlicensed individuals and has prevented 2.6 million handgun purchases to date.)
Even if you don’t want to read what is surely an infuriating collection of tweets, we encourage you to donate anyway: only 60 percent of gun sales are covered by the Brady Bill, so the Brady Campaign is currently working on closing the background check loophole.