goal of the National Rifle Association's Eddie Eagle program is not to safeguard children, but to protect the interests of the NRA and the firearms industry by making guns more acceptable to children and youth. The Eddie Eagle program employs strategies similar to those utilized by America's tobacco industry—from youth "educational" programs that are in fact marketing tools to the use of appealing cartoon characters that aim to put a friendly face on a hazardous product. Other key findings included that "the NRA uses the Eddie Eagle as a lobbying tool" in its opposition to child access prevention laws and mandatory trigger lock laws; that "Rather than recognizing the inherent danger firearms in the home pose to children, and the often irresponsible firearms storage behavior of adults, the Eddie Eagle program places the onus of safety and responsibility on the children themselves"; and that "Public health researchers have found that 'gun safety' programs like Eddie Eagle are ineffective in preventing unintentional death and injury from firearms." The study's key findings were summarized in major newspapers including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Chicago Tribune as well as regional newspapers including The Philadelphia Inquirer, Newsday, The Times-Picayune, and others, and in the book Guns in American Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, Culture, and the Law edited by Gregg Lee Carter, professor of history at Bryant University in an article on Eddie Eagle by Robert J. Spitzer. The NRA called the study "ludicrous" and threaten to sue the VPC. Proliferation of federal firearms licenses The VPC has spoken out against the "criminal abuse" of the Federal Firearms License system, which has resulted in a proliferation of licenses. The VPC states that the high number of FFLs inflated by "kitchen counter" dealers and those not "engaged in the business" make it impossible for the ATF to regulate them all, and has called for the ATF to cease issuing such licenses in order to reduce licensees to a more manageable number. Josh Sugarmann holds a federal firearms license with the principle place of business at the address of the VPC. He has stated he does not sell firearms, although the license exempts him from many of the restrictions of Washington D.C. gun laws. Reception The VPC distributes its published research and analysis to members of Congress and their staffs. Numerous US gun control organizations have used VPC reports and terminology