Evolve to America: We Need a National Gun Safety Day

New campaign from gun safety group features actor Josh Lucas

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Jun 16, 2015, 09:15 ET

NEW YORK, June 16, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Every day, we read about another preventable gun incident; the man who unintentionally shot someone in the head at a wedding; the tragedy with the 3-year-old who found the "hidden" gun on top of the refrigerator. Most gun owners know proper safety procedures, but too often the distractions of day-to-day life or the "that-will-never-happen-to-me" mentality of some results in careless behavior, injuries, or worse.

To address our country's dumbest problem, Evolve, the organization committed to uniting Americans around personal responsibility, has launched a campaign to remind every gun owner, spouse of a gun owner, child of gun owner, friend of gun owner, and caring gun hater to "Clear It. Check it. Lock it."—three simple and memorable steps for safe gun behavior.

At the heart of the campaign from Evolve, the same organization that produced the wildly-popular "Playthings" and "Don't Be a Dumbass" PSAs, is the new video featuring actor Josh Lucas. In the spot, Lucas reminds America of what it should already know: that gun safety is everyone's issue and that all guns should be kept unloaded, locked and properly stored when not in use.

As part of the campaign, Evolve is asking every American to help make history in the next 30 days by signing a petition at www.evolveusa.com advocating for the official designation of National Gun Safety Day. Evolve hopes that this day will support more ongoing safety efforts by the gun industry, safety organizations, retailers, communities and corporations and create a groundswell of activity around the issue.

"I love that Evolve represents the group of Americans in the middle of the gun conversation: a mix of gun owners and those without who realize that the most important issue is safety," says Lucas. "For me, especially as a father, having the opportunity to work with Evolve to show America that responsible gun behavior should be everyone's priority was a no-brainer."

"We need to make safety aspirational and free of finger-wagging. We need to get to a place where we're talking about gun safety before someone gets hurt, rather than after," says Rebecca Bond, Co-Founder of Evolve. "If we're going to get America talking, we have to talk about it a way that people can hear and that's what this campaign is all about. We've created an ad that could run during the Super Bowl. It talks to America in a way that is apolitical, non-judgmental and entertaining."

Through the campaign, which was created by South Carolina-based creative agency, Erwin Penland, and directed by Simon Cole out of B-Reel Films, Evolve will continue its work with various groups, organizations and partners, including gun owners, non-gun owners, gun industry leaders, moms and dads, professionals, and to promote responsible choices about gun safety behaviors in America.

For more information about Evolve, "Clear it. Check it. Lock it." and National Gun Safety Day, please visit www.evolveusa.com. Follow Evolve online at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube and join the conversation online at #gunsafetyday.

About Evolve
Evolve is a nonprofit organization made up of gun owners and non-gun owners that serves a unique purpose to motivate all Americans to become active gun safety advocates. The organization is consciously apolitical and works with a number of groups, including those on both sides of the gun issue, to help prevent avoidable gun incidents caused by careless gun owners. For more information on Evolve, visit http://www.evolveusa.com.

Video - http://youtu.be/g1YgcHJtGVE
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150616/223351
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150616/223352LOGO

SOURCE Evolve