Reader Dan S. writes:
The recent article P320 Entry: This Isn’t Working brought up some good points about re-framing the discussion about gun issues in a way to appeal to a wider range of people, which got me thinking. I don’t watch a lot of TV, but my wife does. Usually she’s in the same room as me, so occasionally I get roped in. And now that I think about it, how many of the shows that she watches show people carrying guns? Almost none, unless you count “Cops” (which I don’t). Now, these same shows will show people driving cars, eating food, talking on the telephone, and doing other things that (most) normal human beings do on a daily basis . . .
Another trend I’ve noticed is that almost every TV show — at least the ones that my wife watches — has a gay couple or person in it. I think it can be safely said that ten or twenty years ago, that wasn’t so prominently displayed on mainstream TV. It wasn’t “normal” before, now it is.
That’s the bottom line — we need to make guns normal, and it has to be done in popular media. If we can have gay characters on TV shows and have it not be a big deal, why can’t we have characters open-carrying on TV shows and have it not be a big deal?