http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKyV9a37klo
I met National Rifle Association Veep Wayne LaPierre at SHOT Show. We had a brief moment of togetherness between booths; just me Wayne, his bodyguard and his Executive Assistant. What’s he like? Let’s just say any similarity between Mr. LaPierre and a Disney Audio-Animatronic is strictly coincidental. Mr. LaPierre launched into a spiel that included something not unlike a fist pump accompanied by “We gotta win in 2014!” OK, then. To be fair, busy! Also, Wayne’s world is so big it makes aircraft carriers look like hydrofoil racers. So it’s no surprise, really, that it’s taken the NRA five days to respond to movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s threat to “make them wish they weren’t alive.” Over at dailycaller.com, the NRA-ILA [finally] counter-attacked by highlighting Harvey’s personal security arrangements . . .
In 2012, following an extortion attempt against Weinstein, a source shared with the New York Post, “[t]he Weinsteins have always had intense security and been on high alert because of the movies they make.” The paper also noted that while producing The Master, a film that received opposition from some in the Scientology community, Weinstein “beef[ed] up his own security.” And a New York Times account of Weinstein’s 2013 Golden Globes after party described a scene where, “Harvey Weinstein appeared… amid a retinue of security.”
An entire retinue of bodyguards is outside the purchasing power of most Americans, but contrary to what Weinstein might think, their personal safety is no less important than his. Unfortunately, this penchant to utilize private security personnel while working to limit access to the tools of effective self-defense for those of lesser economic stature is pervasive amongst the most wealthy gun control supporters.
I’m not sure this approach is the right one. Oh how the libs laughed when the NRA’s post-Newtown attack ad pointed out that the President’s children are protected by guns while the CIC and his anti-gun allies seek to disarm average Americans, leaving their kids defenseless in “gun-free zones.” “You can’t compare the President of the United States’ security needs to the average American’s!” No really.
Of course, it’s not the libs to which the NRA speaks. They preach to the converted and, one assumes, fence straddlers. Who seem immune to the NRA’s “us vs. them” rhetoric. Thanks to mainstream media vilification, the NRA “brand” is not the best proponent of pro-gun populism. Just sayin’. Anyway, the NRA-ILA’s editorial is a one-two-punch. The second blow: pointing out Harvey’s hypocrisy.
In July of 2012, following the tragic shooting in Aurora, Colo., the producer told The Huffington Post, “I think, as filmmakers, we should sit down–the Marty Scorseses, the Quentin Tarantinos, and hopefully all of us who deal in violence in movies–and discuss our role in that.” Nevertheless, it’s not clear whether such “discussions” (if indeed they occurred) suggest any remorse, or merely led to further deals to produce more of the same violent content. Besides the planned NRA film, Kill Bill Vol. 3 and Halloween III are now in production.
And . . . that’s it. As someone who writes more than a million words per year, I gotta say: meh. And I’ve said this before: the NRA needs to be a LOT lighter on its feet. The news cycle is 24 hours. (It’s actually 24 minutes but you gotta run before you sprint.) The gun rights group also needs to re-think the way it sells itself to people who’d no more buy an NRA-branded .50-caliber bottle opener than vote their guns. Which they don’t have. Yet.
But what these non-NRA folk do have is a sense of fairness and decency. Weinstein’s threat was over-the-top offensive to people who believe in civilized political debate – even if they respond with Pavlovian predictability to its opposite and flock to violent movies in droves. Regardless, the NRA-ILA should have taken the high road on Weinstein’s throw-down, deploying both immediacy and personality. Colion Noir should have led that charge.
Democraps are the vast majority in NJ, do to the large union presence. Even though many union guys are progun/gun owners, they (and their families) vote the
way the union tells them to (which is ALWAYS Democrap). Also, LEOs in NJ make
an average salary over $100k, with lots of free benefits to boot. Just like union guys, (oops, they are union guys), they keep their mouths shut, as not to piss off the people signing their paychecks.
As the article said, the NRA is once again late to the party. I recognize that Wayne LaPierre making a statement is rarely JUST Wayne LaPierre making a statement, meaning that there is most assuredly a cadre of lawyers and PR folks involved in just about any public statement he makes. All that aside it sure would be nice if they could improve their response time a little….right now even the NYPD responds faster.
First, before my main point, right around 0:40 is great: “What do we know about the facts?” as if he gives a flying fornication about facts….
The response from the Sheriff is an epic smackdown, but something didn’t sit right with me when this was posted last night. I had to re-rewatch it to get a handle on what was bothering me. There’s something off in the Sheriff’s responses. I AM NOT saying it’s a bad thing, but the impression that I got is that he prepared those responses knowing who he was going to be talking to. Very rarely in a natural conversation will you hear someone repeat their point in the exact same wording as many times as he did.
Again, not saying it’s a bad thing, just something I noted…
It seems that the NRA is winning battles at the Federal level and in the states that are winnable. They must be doing something right.
Ban him, not guns.
I watched this video several times and laugh every time. This dude is hilarious.
If you all want, please join my Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/374033309331313/
There’s a reason that I’m no longer an NRA member…
The MORE guns are a “Culture War” issue — the WORSE it is for us. The NRA also needs to think about this a bit more.
As funny as this is, I have to agree that this doesn’t help anything. We have to seem like the kind, sane ones in contrast to the illogical, mean spirited anti-gun crowd. That way people on the fence will come to us.
I wonder how this will affect unaware gun owners in California who have a pre-’68 .22 rifle socked away in a closet or safe. Many of these were manufactured without serial numbers, or is this somehow excluded under the statutes referenced in (c)?
Did we ever confirm how or why Adam Lanza’s gun/s “went off”? Oh, I forgot, the NRA did it. end/sarc.
Good thing I have the right not to give a crap what libs think.
I love it. If you aren’t p1ssing off someone, you ain’t making a difference.
I’ll stick to froglube and Break-Free, and not some product that cannot even spell “Amendment” correctly, thank you very much.
I’m usually not stingy about grammar, but that’s for online matters. When you’re selling a physical product that is already questionable on its political standpoint (I’m not someone who enjoys ‘trolling’ the other side when what gun owners need most, is more people on their side)… at least get the spelling right. That thing looks stupid and is just more ammo for the antis to justify their array of “redneck”-related insults.
And no, I do not agree that trolling an anti is always a worthwhile effort. It’s as much time you have wasted on not doing something useful, like talking the good talk, actually convincing people around you, or hoarding .22LR.
I give money to the NRA, the NRA-ILA, GOA, SAF, and last year to various state groups fighting gun control in NY, CA, and CO. Hell, I’ll give money and support to anyone fighting for our rights.
Ok, so some gun-rights people don’t like the NRA. Got it. I don’t sometimes either, but they are the largest such group in the US, thus the world. Come on, people… arguing about NRA vs. GOA vs. (insert name here) does NOTHING for advancing gun rights. Hell, support who you want, but pony up and pay SOMEONE and then get involved with them to help defend and recover our rights.
Arguments for or against NRA or other gun rights groups is getting to sound a heck of a lot like 9mm vs. .45 ACP, or slide stop vs. slide release. Can we PLEASE keep our vision on the big picture. Ok, flame away.
Agreed 505markf.
Too many people quibbling over tactics and loosing sight of the overall strategy. Nothing will be successful 100% of the time; gotta go for the 80% solution and choose the battles wisely.
No flames from me.
The law is what they say it is, we don’t need to know it.
Collector’s item potential. Besides, even if its transmission fluid and Crisco it will still lube a gun alright.
Alcohol, tobacco and firearns, are litmus test issues for me (and I don’t even smoke, never have). These three are the triple crown of personal freedom in our country.
Show me a political leader who is genuinely in favor of maximizing freedom and accountability around these three topics, and you have a leader I can support. Simply representing a jurisdiction where these are already popular doesn’t cut it. Neither does just voting yes when a good bill comes up or no on a bad one. You must have been proactive and worked to expand freedom. You have to have sacrificed something for the cause, not just have had an easy stance handed to you.
If a leader does that on these, then that’s a pretty strong proxy for their judgment and philosophy across the board. It also tends to obviate such smarmy lies as this Lt. Gov.’s
This may not be a popular comment, but I’m a bit saddened that a gun advert has to stoop to the social low of so many close-up butt shots to try to sell guns.
And, if their target market is women…what’s the point? If you buy a GLOCK, your butt will look this good, too?
Gonna show this ad to my wife to get her opinion. My guess is that she’ll find it quite annoying.
That commercial has a LOT of flaws in any case.
The assumption that women don’t dress for on body carry is a half truth. If you ever walk around a place like Capital Hill or Wall street you see lots of power women in suits that give ample cover for on body carry of a sub compact like a Nano or Glock 42. If a woman dresses baby boomer casual, i.e, jeans and some sort of top, she can carry just about any sized gun. My wife doesn’t have a problem with a full sized and when dressed in her power suit she is on Captial Hill and therefore can’t carry on body or off.
Why not? Adam Kokesh does it.
I’m more interested in where I can buy generic “Ammunition” brand
ammunition.
Updates needed. They just did a press conf. and said they knew suspect was not home, they were all plain clothes cops non with uniforms and went in looking for a stolen laptop. This is bizarre.
Being an atheist I can’t let hell be the punisher I would like it to be no matter how strongly I feel that some should rot there. ( since fire is a sterilizer, I’m not quite sure who would actually rot.)
Now the death penalty, I put in somewhat the same category as to those that certainly deserve it. The problem is that it is the government that dishes it out. The definition of treason is somewhat soft for my sensibilities when speaking of a crime deserving of the death penalty. Do stone cold murders deserve the death penalty? Absolutely.
Innocent people wrongly convicted and executed is an argument against the DP but not the most important. What we all should be most worried about is being an “enemy of the state”. This we know by the events of the middle 20th century. How many of us would be enemies if the U.S. went Austrailian?
So if we are going to have the death penalty, let’s make it as inefficient as a three drug cocktail. Something that slows government down. Once the cops have you in handcuffs they can’t shoot you, oh wait…
If it is always a crime to murder someone, it becomes way easy to know who the enemy is.
Ready, Aim, Fire at 43 cents a pop is too scary for me.
If you’re in the Northeast, you can bet this great idea is coming to a state near you, soon…
I agree…. the NRA shouldn’t even dignify the vacuous drivel from the Hollywood troglodyte with a response. Seriously… no response at all. Weinstein is not worthy of a response. It’s like arguing with a pig, as they say.
So if the Chief has ignored the 4 rules twice, what other rules is he ignoring?
Great stuff.
I’ll keep watching him and emailing links.
Interesting, LA County Sheriff’s office just signed a contract with S&W, after dropping Glock as their “issued weapon”.
“Dave is an excellent marksman”
I’m an average at best marksman, but I still haven’t shot myself. Maybe I just need to practice more.
Wow, good thing my school’s not that crazy. There is major construction going on in my campus since we’re starting to build a new Union so that involved demolition and construction at the same time. Though I guess it could be understandable since I always thought I heard what sounded fire firecrackers going constantly near where I live, at first I thought they were .22’s. Turned out there actually a mine near not too far from my community where they blast materials.
I am sure that I can use every tactical trick in the book when a the evilserbs finally come after me. This was not very realistic training even for military style force on force. Where was the AT-4 or RPG shot before entry? What about a grenade through the window? Not even a flashbang. Defense is easy when the enemy is stupid.