Never let it be said that the NRA is a tad slow to react to changing social trends and new technology, like, say, the increasing diversity of America’s gun owners or the introduction of Al Gore’s Internet. Heaven forfend! Meanwhile, America’s oldest civil rights organization has finally updated their Eddie the Eagle gun safety program to catch-up with the latest innovations in 1990’s animation techniques. And it’s . . .

multi-ethnic…in its own special way.

After a bit of a musical wing-ding, Eddie gets down to gun business (2:25). I’m a little concerned about the advice to “run” away (from the evil gun?) but once again the NRA gets it done.

Let’s hope Moms Demanding Disarmament welcome the new video and recommend schools adopt it as a part of their ongoing desire to educate and protect American children. Sorry. Did I fall asleep just then? My bad.

25 COMMENTS

  1. “Stop, don’t touch, RUN AWAY…”

    And then they all mosey around the playground singing while turning their backs on the pistol they found.

    Cute.

  2. That’s so weird. I heard the NRA wants to kill babies, club harp seals to death, and doesn’t care if tuna fishing is “dolphin safe.” Is the part where the NRA encourages mass murder so gun companies make more money in the next video?

    • I remember when Eddie began and the Brady Bunch called it “Joe Camel For Guns” then copied it, took out all the safety tips and turned it into hoplophobic hysteria and then CHARGED schools for the books all the while demanding that schools block Eddie Eagle.

  3. I did all the sound effects and mix on this video. Let’s just say I can confirm that the song can get a tad old after hearing it 250 times.

    You might be interested to know, when he sets the backpack down on the bench, it’s the sound of a Sig 1911 in my range bag being set on my desk 🙂

    I wanted it to be accurate!

    • Accuracy in sound editing is needed, considering what the entertainment-industrial-complex does with the sound of guns in the media. For your Sig, thank you. Enjoy a job where you can take your gun to work. 🙂

      My personal take on the vid was it was kinda heavy on the visual exaggerations and a bit too long, but I’m no pro in that field.

      Was this intended to be an introduction to this version of Eddie Eagle?

  4. Liberal Eddie the Eagle;

    “If you find a gun, scream for your life and go tell an adult that guns and capitalism are responsible for the oppression of the working people, then hold your breath until they agree to vote democrat.”

    • Exactly.

      One thing I have always wanted to do is ask them to make a PSA on what a child should do if they are out playing and come across a gun.

      Zero politics. Guns ARE out there, kids ARE going to come across them, some will be hurt and killed. Create a PSA to cover that hypothetical situation. Call in Disney, Children’s Television Workshop (Sesame Street, and I was 5 when it first came on), anyone else you can think of.

      They really need to be called out on that bullshit.

      Eddie Eagle is Joe Camel?

      O.K., Show us what you have. We will match you dollar for dollar on paying for airtime.

      Something tells me the only sound I’m gonna hear is crickets softly chirping.

  5. If they do it will be the run away part. I personally would have liked them to just say “leave the area” or something a bit more neutral instead of “Run away” which implies there is something to be afraid of in the extreme, but I guess better safe than sorry.

    • I was looking at the Eddie the Eagle website and this is what they had to say about the change in message. Answered my own question.

      “I noticed that the mantra of the Program has changed slightly. Why did that happen?

      Eddie’s original mantra was “Stop! Don’t touch. Leave the area. Tell an adult.” However, during research, the NRA discovered that children had a hard time remembering words they didn’t use regularly—especially area and adult. The updated mantra integrates more kid-friendly words and phrases like run away and grown-up, and recall on the mantra has improved as a result.”

      https://eddieeagle.nra.org/faqs/

  6. Kids these days are so spoiled. We (not me of course) had to do drugs to see stuff like this!

    • Thinking the same thing. But it is difficult. With my own kids, I plan on range time and teaching them gun safety but also taking away any mystique. With a general PSA, though, you have to aim a message toward a group of kids of varying behavior (some follow parental rules others not so much), as well as varying exposure to gun culture.

      It can’t be too cerebral. And it has to get across the seriousness of the matter, but can’t do that in a gritty fashion. At least there is a hint that your parent having a gun isn’t evil.

      One criticism by anti’s that I agree with is the ineffectiveness of the program. But that is true of just about any PSA/ DARE / Avoid Sexual Predators video designed for kids. There is little substitute for parental education, and particularly discipline, and even then the best parents don’t always have perfect children.

      The generic audience makes it all that much harder to reach them. But in the absence of parental education, or more involved (read: never going to happen) gun safety training, it does have some beneficial effect, even if not that great.

      I think it can be tweaked a bit to avoid painting the image that the gun is a ticking time bomb. Run away perhaps was not the best substitution

    • It is funny how the adult guy states that you can find a gun in places such as on a cop and with your parent and in the same breath says if tells you if you find a gun stop, ,don’t touch, run away and tell a grown up. Taken literally it means the video is telling kids to run from armed cops or from their armed parents and requires them to report the the cop or their parent is armed to another adult.

  7. Atrocious site ads causing a bounce up to the top.

    Finally got relief by AdBlock. That company thanks you for your crappy ad infestation.

    Don’t understand how this isn’t chasing away new visitors to site.

  8. As discussed elsewhere, please put Chris Cox in charge, sooner than later. And he can maybe put a smart 19 year old who likes guns in charge of future Eddie the Eagle productions, so we can at least make it forward to the 21st century in terms of look, feel and packaging. I’m 47 years old, and I’m just SMH at this.

  9. Let us not analyze this cartoon too much folks. Any means of discussing gun safety to kids is good. I cringed a little about the ” run away” part, but then I thought if my four year old grandson is with a group of kids and they find a gun, I want him the hell outa there, ASAP.

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