Mike “The Gun Guy” Weisser’s huffingtonpost.com post can’t possibly claim that the antis’ box fresh “Gun Violence Awareness Day” proves that the NRA is losing the culture war. How could it? GVAD is tomorrow. We have no idea how many people will participate or what impact the “wear orange to show your support for civilian disarmament” will/won’t have. Mike would have to argue that the idea alone indicates the supremacy of MDA’s anti-gun agenda in the court of public opinion. He’s not that dumb is he? Well . . .
I think that June 2, touted as Gun Violence Awareness Day, may mark a true turning-point in the argument about guns. The pro-gun community can lobby all it wants for laws that make it easier to own or carry guns, but fewer gun restrictions won’t really matter if the country’s dominant culture becomes anti-gun. And while the NRA has been promoting gun ownership as their response to the “culture wars,” the millennial culture that is emerging and will define the country appears to be solidly anti-gun.
Note: “appears.” It “appears” that the young ‘uns are “solidly anti-gun” to Mike “The Gun Guy” Weisser. Who proceeds to jump through more hoops than a circus pony to “prove” his point.
How can I say that when recent opinion polls indicate that a majority of Americans believe that guns make America a safer place? I’ll tell you why.
When a writer forces himself to confront the fallacy of his argument by questioning his own logic you know he’s playing from his own end zone. I hate to say it, but watching Mike scramble for the line of scrimmage – and beyond! – is my idea of fun.
First, the surveys which ask Americans if guns make them safer also show that less than a majority actually own guns.
So the fact that people who don’t own guns believe guns make them safer reveals that the gun culture is in decline. Gotcha.
Second, despite the Obama-driven spike in gun sales, the industry has not managed to penetrate new demographics such as women and minorities; most guns and ammunition sold in the last few years went to the same-old, same-old who bought those guns for the same reason that gun sales have spiked at other times, namely, the fear of losing their guns.
An excellent example of the antis’ go-to strategy: repeat a lie so often people believe it. Factually speaking, back in 2013, townhall.com reported that . . .
A survey conducted by the National Shooting Sports Foundation found that 73 percent of gun dealers reported an increase in female customers in 2011, as well as the previous two years. In 2005, just 13 percent of gun owners were women. Today, that number is 23 percent–a 77 percent increase in 7 years.
More recently, last March, fortune.com reported that . . .
According to the National Sporting Goods Association, from 2001 to 2013 there was a 60% rise in women who participate in target shooting. On the hunting side, there was 85% growth . . .
“The biggest driver is women getting into the shooting sports, and practicing concealed carry,” said Ruttenbur. “When you look at the demographics, what has happened is there’s been a rise in women being head of the household. So it started with concealed carry, as a protection thing, but now women are going and taking the family to the range for fun. You don’t see it in the major cities, but go 10 miles outside the city, and gun ownership goes through the roof.”
That’s just women. The ENORMOUS number of twenty-something-and-above males playing FPS games like Call of Duty has created a GIGANTIC pool of future gun owners. A trip to a gun range also reveals the kind of diversity (if not the activity) Quaker schools adore.
Basically, it’s guns 2.0 – coming soon to a TV screen near you as a documentary on NBC (featuring our very own twenty-something gun guru Nick Leghorn). We can only assume that Mike, who admits to being out of the loop on celebrities like Amanda Peet, must not have access to Google or know anyone younger than, say, forty.
Finally and most important, the social and political views of millennials are completely at odds with the socio-demographic profile of the gun-owning population, and as millennials become the dominant generation, this could have dire consequences for the health and even survival of the gun industry as a whole.
So there’s no such thing as a gun-owing liberal, eh? I guess that’s what he means. If so, he’s wrong. And even if he’s right, he’s wrong. Gun sales have fallen back below the post-Newtown surge, but the new normal is significantly higher than it was pre-Obama. What does that tell you? That Mike’s a little factually-challenged. Alternatively, you could say he’s in love with Moms Demand Disarmament’s pathetic PR ploy.
Another master-stroke in planning this event was using orange to build identity and awareness for the folks who get involved. Orange, or blaze orange as it is known, has always been worn by hunters and many states require it for anyone goes out after game. Brady and Shannon’s Moms, among other organizations, have lately moved into the safety space which was owned lock, stock and barrel by the NRA. Guess who now shares and could soon own that space?
Don’t you just love marketing-speak? Neither do I. Anyway, I hardly think that people seeing hunters all ablaze will view them as anti-gun billboards. Any more than orange-robed Hare Krishnas will add “ban guns” in the chant “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.” Who else wears orange? Oh right. Prison inmates.
Time for the FFL turned traitor the cause of firearms freedom to close-up shop.
Until recently, the playing field where gun violence arguments played out was controlled by the NRA. But right now the field is tilting the other way. And notice how millennial culture has no problem attaching the word ‘violence’ to the word ‘guns.’ This alone should make the NRA wonder if their message can win or even compete for hearts and minds. The NRA always assumed that gun owners would defend their guns while everyone else just sat by. After June 2, I wouldn’t want to take that assumption to the bank.
It’s not the millennials who use the term “gun violence.” It’s the civilian disarmament industrial complex, their media enablers, various chiefs of police, race hustlers and residents of crime-infested neighborhood who refuse to take responsibility for the firearms-related violence plaguing their communities.
As for the idea that non-gun owners are going to rise up against Americans exercising their natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms, it happens all the time. In The Huffington Post especially. But I’ll give Mike 20-1 odds that gun rights will remain intact in those parts of America where the idea of personal responsibility of individual liberty hold sway. And they call us insurrectionists.