Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America is nothing if not mercurial. Run by former Monsanto PR flack Shannon Watts, backed by billionaire anti-ballistic bully boy Michael Bloomberg, MDA has focus-grouped their way through an endless series of pro-gun control marketing campaigns, never settling on any one message. Not that I’m complaining; the Moms’ lack of brand discipline is a blessing for firearms freedom folk. MDA has a new angle for Mother’s Day 2015. Unfortunately or fortunately (depending on your perspective), their latest effort is pro-gun safety – actual gun safety – rather than anti-gun agitprop. Or is it? Here’s their SMART crusade in an acronym-shaped nutshell . . .
Secure all guns in your home and vehicles
Model responsible behavior around guns
Ask about the presence of unsecured guns in other homes
Recognize the risks of teen suicide
Tell your peers to be SMART
The campaign’s vague touchy-feely verbiage betrays the hand of some sophisticated (i.e., expensive) ad agency effort. (At least one employee of which loves him or her some Anthony Robbins.) Even so, what’s wrong with urging gun owners to secure their firearms? Or behave responsibly around guns?
As for Moms asking about the presence of unsecured guns in other kids’ homes, personally, this single father doesn’t have a problem with that. In the same way that I wouldn’t mind if a playdate mom or dad asked me if I’ll supervise their kid when they swim in my pool. Not that I have a pool, but still . . .
I know many members of TTAG’s Armed Intelligentsia do have a problem with that. They think their gun ownership is none of the other parents’ business. They consider any such inquiry as a front line skirmish in the cultural war against guns. I reckon these conscientious objectors are free to say “It’s none of your Goddamn business” or the polite parent equivalent thereof. Free speech, free choice.
“Recognize the “risks” of teenage suicide?” Hmmm. That one troubles me. It should be, recognize the signs of teenage suicide. By using the word “risks” for the “R” in SMART the Moms are clearly suggesting that parents should not keep guns in home lest their child use one to commit suicide. It’s a subtle but offensive dig at responsible, caring gun owners. This from a writer who’s seen the immediate aftermath of a young man’s bullet-to-the-brain exit from society.
“Tell your peers to be SMART?” Someone ran out of ideas, defaulting to a spread-the-message message. I would have gone with T Talk to your kids about gun safety. But all-in-all the SMART campaign’s a lot better than anything that Moms has ever done to address “gun violence.” As The Dixie Chicks sang, there’s your trouble . . .
Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America is dedicated to civilian disarmament. The SMART campaign – set to launch with actress and Mom Melissa Joan Hart as its spokesman this Mother’s Day weekend – is a Trojan horse. It’s designed to give them credibility in the gun community so that they can exploit that support to curtail Americans’ natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms.
As we’ve been saying for years, THIS is the kind of post-Eddie the Eagle gun safety campaign the NRA should have launched. Now MDA is claiming the space. In the battle for hearts and minds, this is a loss for the pro-gun side. In the battle for honest-to-God gun safety, not so much. Your thoughts?