Indie producer J. Todd Harris and his Branded Pictures Entertainment have optioned the film rights to Big Guns, a novel about the gun industry by former New York congressman Steve Israel. Deadline reported that the book, which will be published next April by Simon & Schuster, is "on a fast-track for development, as gun legislation continues to be a galvanizing national issue."
Harris said: "In 1992, my half-brother was shot and killed by his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend. He shot and killed them both when they opened up the door. It bore a permanent hole in my family and that set me on the path of trying to understand gun legislation and also the safety issue. We all know that the NRA started out as a gun safety organization and there is a lot of speculation as to how it morphed to what it is today. All I care about is how we go forward.... I think that if people see a movie like this, maybe a spoonful of humor would make the medicine go down."