“Nestled in the heart of Silver Lake on Hyperion Avenue is the shuttered MJ’s gay bar that sits next to a busy Trader Joe’s,” laist.com reports. “And over the weekend, local folks got punked into thinking that a new owner would be taking over the spot, namely the Silver Lake Gun Shop. Is this another Nathan Fielder prank?” Perhaps so. Only this one’s way better than the Dumb Starbucks deal . . .
A huge banner hung over the gray facade of the building, with clip-art quality pictures of the American flag, fireworks and guns, accompanying the text: “Coming Soon, Silver Lake Gun Shop, (844) 340-GUNS, www.silverlakegunshop.com.” If you went to the website, you’d get a barrage of 90s-style gifs of fluttering American flags and soaring eagles—like something you might find on an Angelfire or Geocities webpage.
Needless to say, there’s not going to be a gun store – a gun store! – in the ‘hood famous for its gay leather subculture (and the final resting place for Tom Mix’s Wonder Horse). More’s the pity (about the gun store, not the horse). If anyone needs a friendly neighborhood gun store, it’s the LGBT community. Or anyone who remembers Joe Gatto’s home invasion murder.
Anyway, I like it! The banner gets everyone thinking about guns and gun stores without a single person strolling into a store carrying an “assault rifle.” It’s not gun normalization per se, but it’s an awareness-raising device nonpareil. It would be even better if the web address linked to a family friendly pro-gun website like . . . I can’t think of any at the moment, but I wonder . . . time for a little guerrilla marketing?
Ha….ha? Not much of a prank.
They should have named it Gun Trader Joe’s.
How about “FAB Guns!”
or “Stonewall Gun Store”
that’s a good prank.
Oddly enough, a fair number of LGBT people have decidedly libertarian mindsets. I think a bigger percentage of the LGBT community is pro-defensive-firearm than the general community.
It’s not that odd, really. Not long ago (and in some places still) gay people were being attacked and even killed by bigots. Why wouldn’t they want to carry? I always got a kick out of the Pink Pistols club (linked below).
http://www.pinkpistols.org/?q=node/4
As the real estate agents all say…location, location, location.
Nice!
“guerrilla marketing”
I like it. There’s an empty storefront in my town…. Just sayin.
About 40,000 cars a day pass by.
In Western Oregon? Better stand by with an AED if you pull this prank.
“AED?” I’m guessing it’s not “Automatic Explosive Device,” so what is it?
Automatic Electronic Defibrillator?
He meant that someone would have a heart attack.
There’s already plenty of gun stores here, I thought. Either way, straight from the heart of the Portland Metro area:
https://www.facebook.com/nwarmory/photos/pcb.737490596314027/737489306314156/?type=1&theater
Check out their webpage: http://silverlakegunshop.com/ ‘Murica! (FB page seems legit too)
For anyone who hasn’t been in that Silver Lake area, that place sort of has that new age feeling to it. Kind of like that holistic section in Whole Foods. At least for me, anyways.
my 80 y.o. aunt lives over there in Silver Lake – the gay community has really helped raise housing prices. Her 2 bedroom bungalow is worth over $800k and she paid $39k for it. . . . that is called appreciation. I wish they would put in a range there so I could go visit her and take her shooting
Mr.Digg, you need to visit her often and be her favorite nephew… 🙂
There are already 3 gun stores in my town. I doubt anyone would notice if that banner went up near me.
Not sure I get what the “prank” is here. A sign for a gun store in a somewhat unexpected place? Not exactly uproarious hilarity, is it? Sound less like a prank, and more like “real world trolling”.
Based on the voicemails they have posted on their page, I’d agree… it’s real world trolling, and it’s brilliant.
How about a link to the CMP program or the local hunters safety program
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