Dr. Jason Gladwell, owner of Gladwell Orthodontics, with offices in Wake Forest and Raleigh, North Carolina, got more than he bargained for when he hooked up with Kurt Lieberman, owner of the Youngsville Gun Club & Range. Gladwell’s offer “Grins and Glocks” — tying a free Glock Model 19 (or a Silver membership to the club) to the purchase of an Invisalign treatment program at either of his offices — was intended only for members of the club.
But his offer, which expires November 9, found its way onto social media and has received national attention, not all of it good.
The News & Observer, part of the McClatchy Media Network, headlined the joint marketing venture and received this from an unhappy reader: “This is insane, free guns for Invisalign? How is this even possible or legal?”
It is possible. Last week a roofing company in Florida offered a free turkey and an AR-15 rifle for a roofing job, and other companies have successfully tied marketing programs to firearms.
It’s also legal. TV Station WRAL, which covers Raleigh, Durham, and Fayetteville, called attorneys and the ATF to check on it. They said that if Gladwell and Lieberman follow the rules, it’s completely legal.
First, the offer was only for those on the gun club’s mailing list and not for the general public. Second, the offer consists of Gladwell’s office issuing a coupon for the recipient to take to the club in order to receive his free Glock.
Said Lieberman:
It’s not like you’re going in, you’re buying Invisalign and you’re walking out with a gun. It’s nothing like that.
They come in (to Gladwell’s office). They have to be 21 years old because it’s a pistol and then they have to pass a background check, which we do on-site.
Gladwell explained that it is part of his practice’s marketing strategy to do joint ventures with local charities and businesses:
This was not a general blanket advertisement that we sent out to every orthodontic or potential orthodontic patient in the state. It is a brand new business in Youngsville, and we want to help try and make them as accessible as possible.
Align Technology, the company that provides the invisible alignment products, distanced itself from the promotion: “All of our doctor customers are independent practices and Align was not involved in the development or approval of the promotion or the advertisement.”
But one group did make it its business to get involved: the North Carolina Council of Churches (NCCC). A progressive “faith” group, it states that
Our primary program areas right now are environmental justice and health and welfare.
We are also extensively advocating around gun violence prevention, public education, raising wages, overdose awareness, racial equity, HIV advocacy, mental health advocacy, death penalty abolition, cash bail reform, and immigrants’ rights.
Nothing on the outfit’s website indicates that it supports the church’s Great Commission, from Matthew 28:19-20: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I (Jesus Christ) have commanded you.”
No, instead the NCCC poked its nose into Gladwell’s promotion. When she first heard about it, Jennifer Copeland, NCCC’s executive director, went ballistic:
They’re giving away guns that are going to be lodged in a house somewhere, and will potentially create gun violence and gun death. It’s mind blowing to me, that an organization that I think of as trying to provide health care to the people in the community is partnering their healthcare with gun death.
I’m pleased that they’re going to follow the minimalist gun laws that we have in North Carolina.
Let’s be clear, they’re very minimal in North Carolina, but at least they are going to follow those. The fact remains that after we go through these checks, they’re going to give a gun to somebody who’s going to take it home, and it will be in their home.
In reality, no. Both open and concealed carry are legal in North Carolina, and so law-abiding gun owners will likely be carrying their newly-acquired Glocks on their person while proudly displaying their new smile, thanks to Invisalign. They will, in the words of one wag, “grin and bear it.”
