Evolve to America: 'We need a National Gun Safety Day' (VIDEO)

To promote National Gun Safety Day, the non-profit Evolve released the video “American Man” to promote National Gun Safety Day, which it hopes will be recognized nation-wide (check out the petition).

Evolve hopes that that 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.

“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,” Rebecca Bond, co-founder of Evolve, said in a press release. “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.”

The thinking behind the day is to remind gun owners that guns are not toys and they should be treated with respect — in several capacities. Evolve reminds gun owners to properly store firearms when they’re not in use and follow safety rules when managing firearms.

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.

“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,” Lucas said. “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.”