Never interrupt your enemy when they’re making a mistake. So please, gun control advocates, feel free to rename yourselves. Yet again. Although I have to say I’ll miss “gun safety advocate.” Because armed Americans can’t hear the words “gun safety” enough.
As for the term’s failed replacement — “gun reform advocate” — I liked that one, too, because it was totally stupid. Believe it or not, the latest moniker is even stupiderer.
GVP advocate. The acronym stands for Gun Violence Prevention.
Our old friend Mike “the Gun Kapo” Weisser “invented” the term ostensibly to compete with his three-letter bogeyman (the NRA). The first GVP use that caught my attention: Gun Violence Prevention Advocates Need to Unite and Organize for November.
Does it bother me that the increasingly shrill appeals for money by the NRA contain statements that simply aren’t true? Not really. After all, when you’re selling something that people don’t need, you do what you gotta do. What does bother me is the degree to which NRA emails and messaging aren’t matched by the other side.
And you would think that since the Gun Violence Prevention movement (or what we call ‘GVP’) finally has someone running for president who is talking loudly and continuously about the need to end gun violence, this would be enough of a reason to ramp things up and start responding to the NRA in kind. But I received no less than four emails today from national and state-level GVP groups and none of them mentioned the election at all.
I dismissed Mr. Weisser’s “what we call ‘GVP'” statement as arrogant wishful thinking (hardly a first). And GVP disappeared without a trace. Until today, when The Trace trotted-out GVP — without explanation — for a news item.
2. GVP advocates get disinvited from a suicide prevention walk
Organizers of a San Diego suicide prevention charity walk asked a delegation from Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America [San Diego chapter below] to not distribute literature at the event this past Saturday, citing differences over gun policy.
“Their organization’s legislative stance related to guns is inconsistent with our efforts,” Jessica van der Stad, the regional director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, told the Voice of San Diego. “As a suicide prevention organization, we are not in the business of saying who can and cannot own firearms. We are in the business of saving lives.”
In a weird way, I hope “GVP” catches on.
While the military and government love them some acronyms, here in the real world, branding gurus consider letter-only names anathema. Sure, the NRA, CBS and even IBM are a thing. But it takes for-ever to establish widespread recognition of a letter-only name, and there’s no guarantee of success.
Going three-letter requires singular focus. The Civilian Disarmament Industrial Complex is split between the Moms, Bradys, Everytowns, the VPC (who no one’s heard of) and ARS (who . . . wait for it . . . just changed their name).
Any mainstream media attempt to lump these gun control groups under the GVP banner will dilute the individual gun ban brands.
Not to mention the fact that Mike and his minions aren’t the first to lay claim to “GVP.” The EU (European Union) spends millions of Euros promoting GVP (“Good Pharmacovigilance“). The American Stock Exchange lists power company software behemoth GSE Systems as GVP. Grand Valley Power (above) owns the url gvp.org. Oh, and wikipedia.org offers the following citations for GVP.
- Global Volcanism Program, a program of the Smithsonian Institution to document Earth’s volcanoes and their eruptive history over the past 10,000 years
- Great Valley Products, a former third-party Amiga hardware supplier
- All-German People’s Party (German: Gesamtdeutsche Volkspartei), a political party in the Federal Republic of Germany 1952–1957
- Gurukula Vidya Peeth, an Indian high school in Ibrahim Patan, Rangareddy, Andhra Pradesh, India
- G. V. Prakash Kumar (born 1987), Indian film score and soundtrack composer mainly for Tamil films, singer, film producer and actor
What, no Gun Violence Prevention? Oh well.
I reckon “GVP” will fail, just like all of its euphemistic predecessors. As it should. GVP advocates want to ignore or repeal the Second Amendment and ban civilian firearms ownership. They are gun control advocates, plain and simple.
That’s my take. What do you, a member of TTAG’s AI, think?
I have an SLRX. It’s my EDC piece. The 15 oz. weight is something to be reckoned with when shooting +P, but it’s not too severe. I love the three inch barrel and the adjustable sights.
I can definitely see the cost advantage with the nine, but you would need to do a bit of shooting to recover he cost of the gun.
Rarely have I had to heat the end of a shotgun barrel with a propane torch to get a mangled/frozen choke out, but I’ve done it. I heat the barrel, then spray the choke with some computer duster to contract the choke, then I try to get it out ASAP, or at least get some Kroil down between the choke and the barrel.
FWIW, there is a tool that I’ve used to remove a choke ruined by steel shot, with Kroil, with the thermal expansion: It’s an expanding knurled internal plug:
https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/shotgun-tools/choke-tube-tools/stuck-choke-removal-tool-prod922.aspx
I made my own version out of a couple pieces of 1018 steel, then I case hardened the knurl with some Kasenit. You can’t get Kasenit any more, but you can get “Cherry Red” or similar compounds.
This tool will likely ruin the choke, so it is to be used only in extremis.
Remove your chokes at the end of every hunting season, lube the choke and put it back in. Use grease.
Too true. If God requires effort to avoid starvation, thirst, exposure and disease, why would he excuse us from the work of avoiding murder, rape and robbery?
WTF. Montana fish, wildlife, and parks (FWP) lecturing people about bear spray while carrying firearms.
Armalite has literally been doing this for at least two years with the AR-10 Defensive Sporting RIfle, the DEF10 (yes, that’s actually what they named it–a forward slash “/” would go along way in that name to separate “defensive” and “sporting”).
https://www.armalite.com/product/def10-defensive-sporting-rifle/
Priced around $950 in most areas.
In the last 5 years, I bought 6 Ruger handguns. Four of those had to go back for repairs. All of them had problems out of the box. The guns function after a visit to the factory. So their Customer Service is great but their Quality Control is not.
Last line in item 8:
“A list of winners with first initial, last name, city, and state will be published on the ASA’s website and on our social media pages (Facebook and Instagram).”
Oh you betcha, I want all my personal info, and the fact that I not only own firearms, but advanced firearms, plastered all over the internet. What a good idea.
I’ll buy my own stuff, thanks.
Count me out. Geez.
I once saw a professional shooter who had an assistant throw eggs in my
Kristof tweeted, “The NYC terrorist had a pellet gun and a paintball gun. Good thing that in NYC he couldn’t buy assault rifles, or the toll would be higher.”
Too bad nobody was armed-up to stop him sooner. Really, “let them drive until they can’t drive any more” seems an expensive strategy for stopping them.
If this had happened in the Walmart where Iive, I guarantee there’d of been no less than 25 Concealed Carriers present to handle the situation. Probably why there is never any shootings at my Walmart.
All this renaming makes me think of some kind of Witness Protection Program for organizations that reveal their true motives — or ineptitude. Isn’t the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence itself a reskin of Handgun Control Inc.?
Which of these groups hasn’t “rebranded”? Even MDA — an obvious tailcoat-rider modeling itself after MADD, has been semi-rolled into the goofily-monikered Everytown for Gun Safety.
If they’d just name themselves “People Channeling Their Phobias and Political Leanings Into Rabid Hatred For Law Abiding Folks Who Happen to Own Firearms,” I’d respect them a whole lot more.
Sounds like there are quite a few people in the US who shouldn’t be allowed to carry firearms……and they all work for the Federal Government. ????
I would like info on that tan rifle build in the hog picture.
Thanks
“Liberty Restrictions Activist” is what they need to call themselves…
Liberals need to look at today’s Venezuela, that’s what the US will quickly become if they get their way.
There will be no revolution. There will be no uprising. This picture is the perfect truth of it. Look at it, 3, maybe 4 people even remotely capable of violence. And “capable” is highly suspect.
What are the rest doing? Smiling, taking pics and video, having a fine time. This isn’t a revolution, it’s a freak show, it’s a train wreck, and everyone is just a gawker.
How about we just outlaw Chicago?
Death penalty for possession of a stolen firearm.
No Exceptions, No Excuses.
If you find a gun turn it in, if you aren’t absolutely sure of the seller, don’t buy it.