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: askdan@coonaninc.com. 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]