UVALDE, Texas — On Friday, the second anniversary of the shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School, Uvalde families filed a lawsuit accusing Meta, Activision and Daniel Defense of grooming and enabling the shooter.
The lawsuit alleges that over the last 15 years, Instagram and Activision, partnering with Daniel Defense, enacted a scheme that preys upon insecure, adolescent boys. Utilizing the marketing of Instagram, Daniel Defense is said to have used that social media platform to glorify the use of its weapons.
According to the complaints, Meta and Activision have given firearm manufacturers unprecedented access to children through their widely used products.
The California Superior Court in Los Angeles received the case against Meta and Activision, while the Uvalde District Court received the case against Daniel Defense.
Josh Koskoff, attorney for the Uvalde families, said, “There is a direct line between the conduct of these companies and the Uvalde shooting. Just 23 minutes after midnight on his 18th birthday, the Uvalde shooter bought an AR-15 made by a company with a market share of less than one percent. Why? Because, well before he was old enough to purchase it, he was targeted and cultivated online by Instagram, Activision and Daniel Defense.”
In Nov. 2021, the Robb Elementary School shooter downloaded ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.’ In the game, the DDM4V7 was featured. This is the same gun that was used in the Robb Elementary School shooting.
In a matter of weeks after installing ‘Modern Warfare,’ the shooter started researching guns on his phone and browsing Daniel Defense’s website.
On April 27, 2022, 19 days before he turned eighteen, he created an account with Daniel Defense and put the DDM4V7 in his cart.
He purchased the gun minutes before his 18th birthday on May 16, and eight days after purchasing it, used the gun to commit the shooting.