Coonan, the premium pistol purveyor, is trumpeting their new association with Evolve. The organization bills itself as a “group of gun owners, gun store owners, moms, professionals, leaders, and NRA members” with a goal of creating “a new American gun culture where everyone is responsible for saving lives.” In their press release, Coonan says their goal is to encourage people to be ‘responsible gun owners, not dumbasses.’ That’s always good advice which Coonan could have benefitted from themselves. Maybe it would have kept them from being taken in by an obviously anti-gun false flag operation and proudly announcing the fact to the world . . .
Like the laughable American Rifle and Pistol Association, Evolve was founded by opportunists in the wake of Sandy Hook, led by Jon and Rebecca Bond. Jon, a former ad man and marketing maven, is chief tomorroist at Tomorro LLC, a New York “value accelerator.” That’s about as much marketing-speak as I could cram into one sentence and still keep my breakfast down. Rebecca’s a contributing editor at Architectural Digest. As the New York Times’ Joe Nocera described the operation back in Evolve’s infancy,
Here is Jon and Rebecca’s big idea: They want to create an anti-violence organization — a “brand,” they call it — that will appeal to gun owners and nongun owners alike. “When you talk to gun owners, if your purpose is to make them feel bad, they will push back,” said Jon, “and you will lose them.”
“But,” chimed in Rebecca, “when you reframe the issue as ‘how can we save lives?’ the conversation shifts. Responsible gun owners and nongun owners both want to save lives. They have that in common. The end goal is to save lives.”
So the idea is, rather than beating people over the head Brady-style, Evolve will take more of a kid gloves approach to showing gun owners how misguided they are.
As advertisers and marketers, they had both worked with the liquor industry, and they had seen how outside pressure — from Mothers Against Drunk Driving, for instance — could change the larger culture so that once-acceptable behaviors became unacceptable. They had also seen how the industry had ultimately participated in safe drinking campaigns.
Of course! Get the NRA and gun companies to participate in gun safety campaigns! Why didn’t they think of that?
As they explained all this to me, Jon and Rebecca were joined by their friends Bob Barrie and Stuart D’Rozario, co-founders of the Minneapolis advertising agency Barrie D’Rozario Murphy, whose conference room they were all using. Another friend in the business, Claudine Cheever of Saatchi & Saatchi, was participating by phone.
Bob and Stuart were among those Jon and Rebecca had contacted early on. Stuart had flown to New York, where, over a long breakfast, they had devised a name for the brand:Evolve. If you put an “R” before and after the word “evolve” — which, indeed, they did when they designed the logo, in the lightest of type — it spells “Revolver.”
Clever. So they’re a gaggle of current and former ad execs taking a modern marketing approach to…what? Their Facebook page makes it quite clear. Evolve exists…
to unite concerned citizens working toward common sense reform. We are about action. We understand that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear arms—just not ALL arms.
Ooooh, ‘common sense gun reform’. There’s a new slant on the civilian disarmament push. With fresh ideas like that, it’s a wonder Jon Bond washed out of the ad game. Still, they intelligently don’t make clear exactly which guns they’d place on the verboten list. We’ll give you three guesses what the first targets are, though, and the first two don’t count. Here’s Coonan’s press release:
GUN MANUFACTURER TEAM UP TO SAVE LIVES.
Evolve, the gun responsibility not-for-profit has teamed up with innovative pistol manufacturer Coonan Inc. to open a new dialog: Become a responsible gun owner, don’t be a dumbass.
Evolve wants gun owners to lead the conversation around responsible gun ownership and toactively engage in initiatives that reduce gun violence. Coonan Inc. is the first firearms manufacturer to work directly with such a group. The legendary gun designer, Dan Coonan, has never been afraid to tell the public the hard truths. In his words, “I totally support and endorse the message of Evolve. To save lives and to work for a society with less gun violence. We need all citizens, gun owners or not, to come together and support a mutually beneficial and inclusive message to affect not only gun violence, but all forms of violence. We should not live in a society where people feel that they have to be armed to be safe, or that their house must be a fortress to be secure.” On the topic of home security, Dan Coonan says, “Get a dog “. The Coonan .357 Magnum Automatic slogan is “Looking for your first pistol? This isn’t it.”
Upcoming videos featuring Dan Coonan, will answer your questions about firearms, gun safety, and gun violence. The series also picks up on Evolve’s theme “Don’t be a Dumbass”. Evolve co-founder Rebecca Bond explained: “ I grew up in Minnesota in a Military family. I strongly believe that we can all help curb unnecessary gun violence without compromising our constitutional rights, by re-emphasizing and adopting a code of responsible behaviors. I applaud Dan and all the people at Coonan Inc. for taking a stand on a difficult and controversial topic.”
We would love to hear your concerns and questions about firearms, gun ownership, and gun safety. Please send them to: [email protected]. This is your opportunity to have your voice heard in this new and exciting nationwide dialog.
Why was Dan Coonan taken in by these transparent frauds? And why now? Can they really be that slick? Maybe Coonan’s internet connection was down and he couldn’t use his Google Fu for a little due diligence. Is this a case of a 1911 maker throwing assault weapons modern sporting rifles under the bus figuring that will keep his own business safe? We’d like to think not.
Whatever the case, here’s a clue for the company going forward: any friend of Joe Nocera’s is no friend of Americans’ gun rights.
[UPDATE: Coonan has responded in the comments below. New post here.]
[UPDATE 2: Coonan has doubled down.]
[UPDATE 3: Coonan’s Statement Clarifying EVOLVE Relationship]
They still blame the gun instead of the criminal who uses the the gun.
“It’s not Hitler’s fault for World War Two,it’s those darn guns that started it all.
The STUPID anti – gunners who are clueless ‘it’ll never happen to me ” drones and the Mom’s Demand to be Victims IDIOTS and Mayors Support Criminal Defense League are bound and determined to go down the toilet and take you with them.
These bonehead ignoramuses ar exactly what all the worlds enemies are praying for.Ignorant goodie two shoer’s who don’t believe a gun is a way to refute atrocities ,Look who they have;Feinstein ,Bloomberg,Horowitz ,Piers Morgan,REALLY? Are you kidding me?let these Jerks go unarmed,let them have coffee in gun free zones,let them be victims of crime ,if they are really that stupid and ignorant,Let them,not you think they are protected .Time will tell who is right and who is wrong.One thing is for sure; those who don’t learn from history are bound to repeat it!
Is the guy in that photo the Grand Marshall of the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade? If not, maybe he should be.
Leaving the race issue out of it I’m going to put forward that there was a second LEO on the scene, a superior and that he/she was in a relationship of sorts with the vic. and that there was an argument over certain legal irregularities the pair were involved in. A threat was made, vic. went for her gun and was overpowered bang. Perp left scene w/gun amid additional threats. I see a promotion in the vics future and a transfer to another district.
One more name to ad to the list of people and organizations I don’t do business with
To my surprise (and tinge of disappointment), I wasn’t canned at my last review, so I’ll be slaving away on Black Friday, although it’s now an all-night affair where I work. No turkey with the family for me. I already put this year’s dream gun on layaway at another store within the company, a Colt LE6920MP-FDE. For what it’s worth I kinda wish I was doing sales at sporting goods or even electronics, it would be something different for me and good at. But that’s neither here nor there, I guess. We don’t do e-check anyways. Oh well.
Robert, I’m just a regular workin’ stiff and occasional curmudgeon, but that Christmas sweater was the last straw….screw the prudes, bring back the Israeli supermodels! I know you’re only human, divorced and have needs, so you’re forgiven for the occasional indiscretion. Just…..make the Java exploit bug, laser-beam ads adinfinitum and frozen cursors go away. Please 🙂
Tom
Just called my FFL and cancelled my order on one of these, citing their support of Evolve. I let them (Coonan) know as well. I was heavily interested, but now I will be getting a Desert Eagle in .357 instead.
That’s the best way to get the message across!
“We should not live in a society where people feel that they have to be armed to be safe, or that their house must be a fortress to be secure.”
I agree 100%. But until that day comes, I will arm myself and my fortress just to be on the safe side.
But not with ANY weapon you make, what a moron.
1) So, the NSA has a reputation that’s the same as saying you’re with the Mafia?
2) How many times do we have to say it? STFU! Don’t volunteer info to the Police.
3) This Darwin Award, Honorable Mention nominee shoots neighbor instead of self.
Maybe he’ll have better luck next time.
4) Dumdum should be glad his story wasn’t posted on TTAG’s DGUOTD. Damn it!
5) Well, at least there’s that. So Glock’s are actually good for something after all.
1) We will crush this.
2) There must be an all out offensive by all pro-2A groups to get kids interested in firearms and to create, organize, and sponsor family welcoming firearm events. Getting kids enthused about firearms is how we survive for the long term without having to do holding actions against every new gun-grabbing group that pops up.
This (second point).
Not just kids, but all responsible adults personally known to the The People of the Gun (collectively). Voters need to be informed, and we’re the ones to inform them.
…as others, I’d never heard of Coonan before today. Went to the site – they sell silver bullets. Silver bullets! Custom-signed!
Whatever…
Products for the ruling elite, who will be able to buy them no matter what gun laws are imposed on us little people. Dan Coonan has chosen his side.
There should be an all-out embargo of Coonan and drive it sales into the dirt and don’t stop until it files bankruptcy.
“Looking for your first pistol? This isn’t it.” I think a good number of people are going to decide that a Coonan isn’t their next pistol either. Or a pistol to own, ever.
Just watch the Merryland State Police/Marching and Chowder Society hop right on that sign. It seems every bad idea in the nation eventually finds its way here.
The most important item is we in America have taken security too easy, We need to return to the founders basics , and put our everything in our own care, We have too much government now , We need to learn to be more independent of all government,,, the shut down proves we need very little government , we need to rid our self’s of about 70 to 75 % of the current government, and take control and have more freedom and everyone ends up better off and stop all the special interest groups. Rich or poor… and we will have no middle east blow back, if we take care of our own house , (fix the roads would be a good start) and remove all the gun controls ……..ALL OF THEM. and be free Americans again.
Yep. People make mistakes. Chill out, bros.
Wow. Pretty stand up move. It would be quite poetic if somebody got canned and the official termination letter actually used the term “dumbass.”
Oh face it, it was only a matter of time before this generations William B. Ruger reared his ugly head.
Who is the dork in the photo?
Don’t be a dumbass; don’t buy a Coonan.
I can have a lot of respect for this sort of response. It’s timely and recognizes there may be an issue, but without jumping to any conclusions either way. I wish more companies/groups/people/politicians would operate in this fashion.
“Unfortunately, the EVOLVE Facebook page is run by interns and the current communication is abysmal.”
This is a conclusion. This aspersion casting is also unprofessional CYA.
I think evolves facebook is gone. Atleast it didn’t show up on my phone.
The name of this social phenomenon is called the normalcy bias.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy_bias
The story of the Jews in 1930’s Germany is the most referenced example of normalcy bias. A great portion of this normalcy bias might be the social unwillingness to imagine the worst in people. How could you possibly believe that your neighbor would turn against
you because of your faith; so fervently in fact, that they’ll willingly participate in your extermination? You could just as well call it the complacency bias. For most of American history, those bad things happen only in foreign lands, and halfway around the world. We’ve had 236 years of the rule of law to keep our society civilized and free from a malign, murderous tyranny. The horrific and irreducible truth is, the ideologies of the Left will exploit this normalcy bias to their own evil purposes, just as Hitler did with the Jews.
The next time, they’ll be coming for the Christians. A tyranny always needs a scapegoat.
Could this be evidence of the normalization (mainstreaming) of gun culture?
The stream on their Facebook page is schizophrenic. There actually is some good stuff there, but they also uncritically repeat a lot of slanted and even overtly anti-gun garbage.
Their value statement sounds great, but the devil is in the details.
How do they reconcile “the right to keep and bear arms — just not ALL arms” with “we don’t want to ban guns”? If there are some guns they don’t want people to own, then they’re going to have to ban those guns, no way around it.
They don’t want to deny rights to responsible gun owners — but who decides what “responsible” means? Does responsibility entail putting up with tyrannical nonsense like the NY Safe Act and the farrago of nonsense that even California’s Governor Moonbeam was sensible enough to veto?
They say they want to change “the gun culture”…but I don’t think they understand what gun culture is. They’ve got it mixed up with thug culture (which is about violence, not guns) and the over-publicized negligence of a minuscule minority who do stupid things with their guns. The real gun culture doesn’t need some oh-so-cleverly named group of ad executives to tell it how to behave. It’s about responsibility, skill, self-reliance, and saving lives — AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN.
As much as I like the thought of a gun-oriented group that avoids polarized political partisanship, I’ll take a pass on (r)evolve(r). While I wouldn’t call them a false flag operation, it’s clear to me that they don’t really understand gun owners or the fundamental rights that are at stake.
There’s plenty of long established organizations if your company wants to promote TRUE gun safety. You have to be an idiot to align with any recent vintage “gun safety” group and not realize they are in fact gun grabbers. Just really stupid and why would I want to spend big money for a gun built by stupid people?
Yall stop hatin on my fabulousness my granny made me that sweater!!
“…disdainful of compromise…”
2nd amendment advocates have been “compromising quite a bit. We’ve bent over so damn that we are literally sitting on our own heads and then anti-gun people rage at those of us who refuse to go that one step further of inserting our heads to form a moebius strip of stupid that is anti-gun.
We’ve tolerated stupid knife, sword, gun laws that don’t help. We fill out stupid ineffective forms to try to exercise our Constitutionally protected rights. We’ve sat through watching accounts of multiple gruesome murders shaking our heads at what could be prevented if only they were armed. We’ve even some how managed to refrain using the 2nd amendment for it’s intended purpose, ie giving this corrupt country an enema using the blood of the would be tyrants. We have done all that yet some how we are fanatical, unreasonable, immoral dullards?
Well stated, Mr. E.
Their version of compromise is “we’ll take this now, and you can keep that, but we’ll be back for it later.”
I guess he didn’t have a camera stand…or a make-shift shotgun stand either. Or he just likes fantasizing about suicide!
“respectfully request cooler heads prevail”
I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.
Oh Coonan, your automatic .357 held so much intrigue, but I will have to pass. Marketing snafu or not, the fact that anyone in your organization gave these loons the time of day is damming in and of itself. If you want to advance gun safety, there’s this little organization called the National Rifle Association, maybe you’ve heard of then, who has been promoting gun safety for a really long time. I woukd suggest trying to cozy up to them, FAST.
Dan was brought into this discussion to move towards a civil gun safety discussion…never a gun rights discussion.
Ummm… that’s the new “label” they’ve given to the anti-gun agenda. Now it’s about “gun safety.” Bullshit! They don’t care about “safety.” Shit, WE are the experts on that, by necessity. We don’t need your “help” with “gun safety.” Nice try with a weak euphemism.
Defcad would like this.
Because fuck you, that’s why.
So I don’t become another statistic.
Because I take responsibility for my personal well being
To launch bullets.
To improve my odds.
“To keep body counts to a minimum”
Screw Josh Horsesh1t, who heads the organization formerly known as “The National Coalition to Ban Handguns.”
I guess that the name just didn’t work out.
Because a cop is too heavy to carry around everywhere.
(I cannot believe someone had not yet posted this one.)
Greg did, about an hour ago. 🙂
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2013/10/robert-farago/question-of-the-day-why-do-you-carry-a-gun-in-ten-seconds-or-ten-words/#comment-1324601
So for 2/3rds the cost of an LCP, you can make your gun that cost more than an LCP and is less comfortable to shoot than an LCP shoot more comfortably.
I’m going to invent a line of state of the art VHS rewinder as a standalone unit and sell it. I’m going to be rich.
Because my claws and teeth aren’t sharp and pointy enough.
Because I have but only one life to live.
After 50 years of Libiturd policies I feel the need
All D’s and one independent so nobody should be shocked.
Put shit in D’s and get shit out stupid laws.
Mr Smitty
I’d loan you mine, but I’m in Brea, CA. Y’all are welcome to look me up if you’re ever in SoCal.
Sounds like a hotel employee just got a free Saturday night special.
Great review; great comments! I’ve been carrying my Kimber Ultra Carry CDP Elite II in a Sticky for about 8 months now. I like the fact that I can move it to whatever position is comfortable (typically at about 4:30 with a slight cant).
There are a few points I’d like to make:
1) The rig has NEVER dropped. Sometimes, after several hours of carrying, it may have shifted slightly, but it’s easy to readjust.
2) The rig is so comfortable that I frequently forget that I am carrying. My office has a strict no-firearms policy, and on many occasions I’ve gotten to my desk before realizing that I forgot to leave my weapon in the car. Good thing it’s so concealable – nobody has noticed that I’m carrying.
3) I have practiced drawing and reholstering, and I’m generally able to reholster in place by nuzzling the muzzle back into the holster (with proper care, of course!); the tighter the pants, the harder this is.
4) I’ve carried the rig with sweatpants on a few occasions, with good results, but I’m not too comfortable doing that. The rig definitely favors a tighter fit than I like with sweatpants.
5) At my daughter’s wedding, I carried the rig under my tucked dress shirt (with no cover / jacket), and it was completely invisible! Even my gun-nut son (who is teaching me “the trade” had no clue I was carrying, and couldn’t spot the gun, even after I told him that I was carrying. He had to pat me down to find the rig!
I’m not a big fan of the single-mag pouch; it’s definitely more bulky than I’d prefer, and really tightens my pants. It’s better when looping it over the belt. I’m still working on the best solution for this setup.
Always outnumbered, never outdumbed…
Mera told her husband that she didn’t think his halloween costume was a good idea, but would he listen?
Funeral services were held on Nov. 4th.
And people wonder why the pro-2A crowd is so reluctant to have an ongoing dialog about gun violence (or whatever the phrase of the moment is) – see previous post on Coonan & Evolve.
Get betrayed enough and you learn to never offer any compromise or quarter.
Every time you use a term like “Fudd” an anti-gunner smiles.
Oh, look! More bozos with long guns out in public.
One of the reasons why you see older, fine firearms appreciate in value so much is that most all of the guns made today are complete and utter crap by comparison. The fit, finish and workmanship on the vast majority of firearms today is shoddy, incompetently performed and comes with very poor customer service to make problems right. Example: Very few Glocks will ever be collectable. There’s nothing collectable about any one Glock vs. another, unless you have a paper trail to say that Glock A has some documented notoriety vs. Glock B (and every other Glock). They’re all just ugly, compressed cheez-whiz, and every Glock looks like just as ugly a piece of crap as the next one. Sure, sure. The Tacti-cool crowd will crow “they work flawlessly!”
Yea, well, so does a fist-sized granite rock; I just have to get closer.
Do you see many people collecting mundane rocks? No.
But this situation didn’t used to be true before about 1960. You could call up the Colt, Remington, Winchester, S&W and other “custom shops” at a large gun maker’s company and say “I want X on my gun.” And you’d get “X” on your gun – done usually to very nice standards. Now your gun was different – and not in regular production.
All you kids who like fondling your AR’s and other guns with matte black sand-blasted finishes: Go pick up a Python in original condition. Don’t just fondle any Python. Go find a really, really nice one, owned by someone who knows something about Pythons and who has purchased an example in original condition. Or go look at a high end Winchester rifle from before WWII.
Look at the polish. Look at the blueing job on that gun. There is no major gun manufacturing company today that will deliver that finish on a factory firearm. None. To get something roughly approximating that level of finish, you have to buy a gun from a custom/boutique shop that specializes in making really nice guns. And you’re going to wait.
Even some of the companies today producing the finest guns in their markets don’t make guns with very nice finishes. Freedom (not the hedge fund idiots running Remington/Marlin/et al into the ground, but the revolver company here in Wyoming) makes some of the best single action revolvers today. Superbly accurate. Incredibly strong. Wheel guns that can credibly take down large game. Over $2K each, new.
Do they polish and finish a revolver to be anything like a Python? Nope. You get brushed stainless. End of discussion there.
One of the best companies out there for finishes is Doug Turnbull’s outfit in NY State. He does wonderful firearms finishing. Doug is a meticulous craftsman, doesn’t accept crap – and charges what is a commensurate price with that level of workmanship – which is on par with what you’re seeing in the examples of nice, but not rare, guns above (eg, the Win12’s, the Pythons, etc).
Thanks to the deliberate devaluation of the US dollar by the federal reserve, tangible items are going to go up in cost – but maybe not value.
Tangible items in markets where there are no or few new examples of supply coming in will see their valuations skyrocket in concert with the Fed’s policy of currency debasement. Those will go up in value. That’s just simple monetary economics.
Here’s an exercise. Read through this LC Smith Ass’n journal. All the double gun collectors have a journal these days, it seems. They’re filled with wonderful articles written by people who have a genuine love and interest in old firearms, and what is more, they’re often a source of excellent history on the US situation as a whole. Volume 7, No. 4 is one such, as it recounts how shotgun prices were crushed downwards by the economy going into WWI:
http://www.lcsmith.org/Journal/Volume7Issue4.pdf
Please read the article “Smith Distinction.”
NB the price point of “field grade” or “utility” shotguns therein: About $25.00 or so. The Parker commanded a bit more – the Trojan was going for $27.50.
OK, so… what’s that today? You certainly can’t go buy a new shotgun, even the roughest grade, from any manufacture today for $25.00. Your money isn’t worth a tenth of what your great-grandfather’s money was worth – in part, because his dollar bills were backed with gold.
Your dollar bills are backed by nothing more than the greasy mendacity of politicians and bankers.
Let’s go on over to the BLS, another one of those organizations that shut down their website in a snit-fit of PMS by the kakistocracy over the last couple of weeks. Therein, you will find an “inflation calculator” that uses the Consumer Price Index to tell you just how little your money is worth.
http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm
Put in $25 in the little box. Pull down the “In” drop-down menu and choose 1913, which was when the Federal Reserve was created. There’s inflation data that pre-dates this, but for bankers, economists and bureaucrats, the world began when the economists and fellow thimbleriggers took control away from non-economist citizens of the US.
Click on “Calculate.”
And you get $590.60. Which would still get you a rough double gun from an outfit like Stoeger, and the shotguns are made in Turkey.
I can (and do) buy used LC Smith, Parker and Fox Sterlingworth utility/field guns in rough condition for $600 to $1000. So they’ve appreciated even when we’re talking about the bottom-of-the-line, and abused. A field grade gun in nice, nice original shape might go for $2500.
A nice gun in nice shape? Well, a nice Parker mid-grade in 1913 might have cost you $250. Today, that $250 would be $5906, but the price on the nice shotgun, in original condition, might be $8K on up. Today, you can buy a pretty nice O/U from Italy for $6K. You can buy Parkers, Foxes, Smiths and Lefevers in really nice shape for $6K too.
Lesson: Buy quality, keep it in good condition. At the very least, it is a hedge against the morons at the Federal Reserve devaluing the currency in your pocket. At the best, it will go up in value – sometimes quite a bit.
its ok bill…everyone makes mistakes….including us.
Mort planned dismantling of our Armed Forces. But, don’t cry for the A 10. DHS is picking them up…..cheap.
Oh, there’s evil in Keene. Police Chief Ken Meola is a total d1ck.
The biggest reason is that many of them such as Stretch Pelosi and The Wicked Witch of the West or ensconced in ultra liberal bastions. Others are protected by built up campaign “War chests” that make them hard to beat, and they also get backing from Bloomer et al.
I spent a couple of weeks in Tucson on business. The best part was driving out to Davis Monthan and watching the A-10s. I’d grab something at a drive through and sit on the hood and watch them. A couple used my rental car for practice, it was the third coolest aviation experience of my life.
Coolest was being on a bus parked next to a runway at Miramar while a couple of F-18’s did full afterburner takeoffs at night.
Second coolest was being on one side of the lake watching APCs and tanks on maneuvers in the national forest when a Cobra gunship came through the trees behind me and ran a simulated attack run across the lake.
-Cranky
I almost bought a Coonan. I’ll buy a 10mm instead from STI or Kimber.