Budweiser does a lot to promote responsible drinking.
The gun industry is the opposite of that.
Point is, bars can be sued if they kept serving someone who was obviously impaired.
How does the gun industry do the opposite of that? You don't see billboards about guns, you don't get flyers in the mail, they don't run television or radio commercials, and the only time you see guns even advertised is if you subscribe to a hunting or gun magazine. Maybe if you bought a gun somewhere, the gun shop will send you solicitations.
I don't watch commercials anymore, but how does Budweiser promote responsible drinking? At the end of the commercial they say "Drink responsibly." Big deal Two seconds out of a 30 second commercial.
The only time a bar can get sued is if they knew the patron was drunk. A gun shop has no idea of ill intent by a customer. They run his name through a federal background check and it's either permitted to sell that customer a weapon or it isn't.
I believe you are letting the gun shop owner off easy. And the government certainly does. You are correct, a bar can be found liable if they sell alcohol to someone that is drunk and that someone has an accident and kills someone. They don't get to say, we looked at his ID and he was old enough to buy it, so we sold it to him.
That is essentially what you are saying, and the government agrees with you, that if the gun shop runs the background check and it comes up clear, they can sell the gun. So if some dude with crazy ass eyes, reeking of body odor and disheveled clothes, comes storming in and demanding a gun, like right now, while muttering under his breath audibly, "I am going to get that SOB, if he passes the background check, sell him the gun. Are you starting to see the difference here?