Gun manufacturers colluded to hide corrupt dealers and protect against liability

Evidence

In an affidavit filed in support of the lawsuit, Robert Ricker, a former gun lobbyist and director of the main gun-trade organization who turned critic, reported that gun manufacturers knew that some corrupt dealers were selling guns to criminals through straw purchases. Gun makers agreed, under pressure from larger gun manufacturers, to maintain collective silence to protect against legal liability (Butterfield, 2003). — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1099

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Collective silence among manufacturers to avoid acknowledging harm echoes the sacrifice piece’s point about how groups collude to obscure systemic violence.
• XREF: This collusion-to-avoid-admitting-harm mirrors the ‘groupthink and diffusion’ mechanisms Bandura unpacks elsewhere in the book.