Gun Campaign Dropped

Soon after last month’s Colorado high school slayings, a gun industry trade group dropped a magazine advertising campaign aimed at changing perceptions about firearms. The National Shooting Sports Foundation had launched the campaign in late March with plans to spend $1 million a year to run it for three years. But the foundation’s executive director, Doug Painter, said Thursday that the campaign was pulled a few days after the April 20 shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., that left 15 people dead. The firm had prepared three ads. One showed a handgun and a target. “Ever shoot a wad of paper into a wastebasket? Then you already understand target shooting,” it said.