van Schalkwyk May C I, Hawkins Benjamin, Maani Nason, Petticrew Mark
Global Health Policy Unit, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9LD, UK.
Centre for Pesticide Suicide Prevention, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH16 4TJ, UK.
Global Health. 2025 May 9;21(1):27. doi: 10.1186/s12992-025-01106-7.
Injuries represent a major threat to child health globally. In the US, firearm injuries are the leading cause of death among children and adolescents. Despite limited evidence of their effectiveness industry-funded bodies promote the delivery of their youth education programs while lobbying against firearm control policies. This article analyzes how the National Rifle Association (NRA) frames issues of gun ownership, safety and the role of the Eddie Eagle GunSafe program as an effective firearm safety intervention and examines how the design, promotion and delivery of the program serves the corporate political interests of the firearm industry at the expense of public health.
We conducted an analysis of Eddie Eagle Gunsafe program-related materials and the NRA's practices to promote the program's legitimacy and effectiveness, by applying published taxonomies of corporate framing and action strategies. Data were collected from the program-specific websites and other NRA outlets to capture the breadth of strategies used by the NRA.
The NRA's education-related practices support the firearm industry's political agenda. The NRA adopts framing and action strategies that present the presence of firearms in homes and communities as inevitable and normal, and the education of children through the delivery of their "lifesaving" program as the common-sense and effective way of keeping children safe from firearm injuries. They make misleading claims about the effectiveness of the Eddie Eagle Gunsafe program while undermining the credibility of those who advocate for child safety, including mothers and public health actors.
The delivery of the Eddie Eagle GunSafe program needs critical scrutiny as is increasingly applied to other industry-funded initiatives. Policies based on a recognition that children and adolescents are safest when their homes and communities are free of firearms are needed. Findings from this analysis are relevant beyond the US and can be used to inform the governance of child safety and injury prevention globally. Analysis of the firearm industry extends the literature on the commercial determinants of health to an important new sector with significant impacts on global health.
伤害是全球儿童健康面临的主要威胁。在美国，枪支伤害是儿童和青少年死亡的首要原因。尽管行业资助机构的项目有效性证据有限，但它们仍在推广其青少年教育项目，同时游说反对枪支管制政策。本文分析了美国全国步枪协会（NRA）如何将枪支拥有、安全问题以及“埃迪·伊格尔枪支安全”项目的作用构建为一种有效的枪支安全干预措施，并审视该项目的设计、推广和实施如何以牺牲公众健康为代价服务于枪支行业的企业政治利益。
我们通过应用已发表的企业框架和行动策略分类法，对与“埃迪·伊格尔枪支安全”项目相关的材料以及NRA为提升该项目的合法性和有效性所采取的做法进行了分析。数据收集自该项目的特定网站和NRA的其他渠道，以全面了解NRA所采用的策略。
NRA与教育相关的做法支持了枪支行业的政治议程。NRA采用框架构建和行动策略，将家庭和社区中枪支的存在描述为不可避免且正常的现象，并将通过开展其“拯救生命”项目对儿童进行教育视为保护儿童免受枪支伤害的常识性且有效的方式。他们对“埃迪·伊格尔枪支安全”项目的有效性提出误导性主张，同时损害了包括母亲和公共卫生工作者在内的倡导儿童安全者的可信度。
“埃迪·伊格尔枪支安全”项目的实施需要像对其他行业资助的倡议那样进行严格审查。需要制定基于这样一种认识的政策，即当儿童的家庭和社区没有枪支时，他们是最安全的。该分析的结果在美国之外也具有相关性，可用于为全球儿童安全和伤害预防的治理提供参考。对枪支行业的分析将关于健康商业决定因素的文献扩展到了一个对全球健康有重大影响的重要新领域。
