Folks like Moms Demand Action, a campaign run and funded by Michael Bloomberg, keep trying to make the association between cigarettes and guns. It’s a smart move, since the “progressive” movement was very successful in branding those who argued in favor of cigarettes as being in the pocket of “big tobacco” and kept ramming through more restrictions on when and where people can enjoy their favorite tobacco products. In their minds, guns are no different — a scourge on the country with no benefit whatsoever. They even say as much in the copy accompanying this Facebook post . . .
EXPOSE THE TRUTH: Just as the tobacco industry once sold us the narrative that smoking was healthy, the gun lobby wants us to believe that 30,000 gun deaths a year is nothing to worry about. It’s up to YOU to help change the culture of gun violence in America.
Here’s the problem with their statement: it’s not that we don’t think 30,000 15,000 violent deaths with firearms a year is a problem, we just think that the well over 50,000 lives saved every year with guns more than balances out the equation.
Reality does always catch up with fantasy. Moms Demand Action lives in a fantasy world where stacking one more piece of paper on the pile, adding one more law to the books, makes the world safer. A place where, if we could just get rid of the guns, then everything would be perfect and there would be no crime.
But the reality is that crime isn’t caused by guns, and no matter what tools we humans have available there will always be murder and there will always be evil. We just hope that when that evil is on our doorsteps, we have the tools available to defend ourselves and send it back into the night.
Moms Demand Action wants to take those tools away, because in their minds that’s required for their fantasy to come true. But the reality of the situation seems to have dawned on most of the people in the United States who have used their common sense to realize that guns are a benefit to society, not a “cancer.”
yup, knew they were going there
Smoking isn’t illegal, and it kills more people every year than guns do….
Is it me or is the armed goon in the photo a cop on a no knock warrant? Yep – end that gun cancer.
Why would you think he’s on a no-knock warrant?
Because he’s geared up to the gills.
You know? You’re right. That’s what it looked like to me. For a moment there, I was thinking these people had come around and found some common ground with us; namely, opposition to the up-armored, invasive, pervasive police state out there. Sadly, it turns out they’re totally cool with that. They’d just really, really prefer that we were disarmed in the face of that assault.
Uhh…why is he wearing motocross gloves?
I see a lot of that. I ride, so I can tell you that the gloves are comfortable, they have a good grip and many of them have some hard plastic knuckle protection which also works well when you would have to punch someone.
Interesting that the image on the left is of a cop.
It’s an image of a dude wearing a vest that says “Police” on it, doesn’t mean he’s a police officer.
Back on topic: Smoking a cigarette causes real, tangible damage. Owning a gun does not.
Wow even more offensive than usual.
0h if only we could equate guns with cigarettes. Think how wonderful it would be to be able to walk into a local corner store and decide to pick up a9 millimeter or 40 with your pack of smokes. or perhaps the Holy of Holies, some 22 long rifle with a candy bar and 64oz big gulp(In New York even) . please let us equate guns with cigarettes
40s? Glock or “Old English”?
I’d assume the latter; Old E has more knockdown power.
Dirk has a point. If only cops should have guns, then a cop with a gun is the wrong picture.
Yep, cowboys shouldn’t smoke and cops shouldn’t be allowed to have full auto M-16s. No argument from me there.
Hey are you smoking? I’m so telling your MOM!
Hey is that a gun? I’m so telling your MOM!
#gunbigots
Ban cigarettes and guns and make pot legal. Go figure.
Its funny how effective their propaganda may actually be if they only dropped the demonetization of guns and their owners. They actually may enjoy some form of success if they could just get over that hump. But its better this way, for us, because people see thru them and know that their message won;t carry at the end of the day.
I smoke. However, you’ll never see me up on a soapbox ranting about my right to light up. Cigarettes are unhealthy and they don’t serve much function beyond marking the end of coitus. The founders didn’t create an amendment to protect my smoking habit so what happens happens. They were pretty clear, however, on my right to protect myself with a firearm. It’s kind of an important distinction and one the mouth-breathing moms keep forgetting. Bill of rights, ladies. Y’ought to take a gander sometime. *cough*
Actually, they did. It’s the 10th Amendment, where they reiterate that the powers explicitly delegated to the federal government in article 1 are the only powers that the federal government possesses. Drug regulation is not on that list, so they lack the power.
Figures. Do gooders have never met a right they aren’t willing to trample.
I don’t smoke, I hate it. But I don’t care if people do, and I don’t like the fact that smoking is being banned in more and more places, especially outside areas. It’s an erosion of our freedoms, and all in the name of “safety”. Which is a crock.
Save your reciepts for your cigarrettes. If anyone tells you that smoking on public property (sidewalk, park etc) is illegal, just show them the state tax stamp and your recipet wich includes the taxes at the register. You have paid the “sin tax” and have gained right to use. In some cities, they have passed laws that do not allow one to smoke in thier own yard (outdoors at all), yet the city collects sales taxes on the product and allows its sale.
I would argue, that 1. you paid the tax and are therefore allowed to use them even on public property. 2. the federal and state taxes on the tobacco were paid allowing you use under federal laws. 3. If you are in a city that does not allow smoking in parks or on public property, then 100% of the property MUST have signage just as if posting for no parking or for any other restriction, and in the same spacing etc. (some courts have already upheld that differing jurisdictions can not have a law that is not uniform without proper notification to anyone not a resident that passes through; the point being that without posting properly throughout the entire city, every entrance point, every place and repeatedly then no non-citizen would have any idea of such a law.)
As I understand, Florida just changed its gun carry laws so that they are under STATE juris only. IN other words, a city can not say that no guns are allowed in say a city park, (there may be caveats but generally) this allows for uniform carry in teh state. Also As I understand it, as long as no bullet leaves ones property, one has the right to shoot on thier oen property, even in city limits.
Interestingly, even animal control told me that feral cats and other animals may be “humanely” disposed of by an owner of property where such pests tresspass.
Well, lead exposure from gun smoke is actually pretty bad for you. Flame on.
Life is bad for you. Seriously, everyone who lives dies. (flame enough?) 🙂
I think we should just let people do what’s bad for them as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else. People who die of smoking in this day and age probably had a real good idea that it could kill them. I happen to love cigars and cheeseburgers and will not blame any one but myself if I die from it.
But in all seriousness ^YES. It’s a matter of personal responsibility. Why should the government interfere with that?
Because the government has made it their “right” by socializing medicine. (just playing DA)
This needs to end. The government needs to re-learn their place.
Can we equate abortion rights and gun rights?
There’s an upside to my constant diet of pipe tobacco handrolls. I won’t have to spend as much time on the same planet as these loons….
Five bucks says “Enchanting” Shannon Watts is a ciggie smoker.
I’ll just say she might enjoy a cigar and leave it at that.
Who does these monkeys’ PR; the same idiots from ACA who brought us “Pajama Boy”? Was watching “Mad Men (and Women) on PBS last night. Those were some brilliant folks. The dill-wads that come up with and approve this MA(A)G/MDA excrement should be forced to have their genitalia removed à la Braveheart.
Owning a gun is like having a tattoo, people who own guns don’t make fun of those who choose not to own them. I’ve never seen such misleading and insulting propaganda as I have from the anti-gunners. They’d lump us all in with school-shooting lunatics if they could. I’m fortunate to live in Florida where it’s part and parcel of the culture, at at least nominally accepted, even in “liberal” South Florida. I have a friend whom is anti-gun, in theory. I say in theory because I got a concession out of her after a few drinks…”well, I suppose if I actually fired one, I’d probably understand…”
Off to the range we go!
And the worst thing about anti-gunn people is that they always want MORE! Even in highly controlled and regulated places like NY, CT and NJ, they want more regulation, more restriction, more models banned, more stringent permits, etc. I have NEVER, EVER heard an anti-gunner say after getting a law passed, “OK, that’s good, everything is taken care of, we are done here. We are off to save dolphins and hug trees”
Very easy to turn this around. Check the CDC stats on death and injury related to guns compared to death, injury, and disease from all causes related to ALCOHOL. Whether it’s injury to oneself or other innocent victims due to intoxication or long term affect on the body due to disease.
It’s not even close.
Anyone who is genuinely interested in public safety should be twice as devoted to the elimination of all recreational use of ALCOHOL, well before addressing guns.
Don’t forget cars, bathtubs, swimming pools, and household chemicals.
I’m not sure what the difference is exactly, except guns are the only ones that would be particularly useful in protecting a population from government tyranny…well maybe the right combination of chemicals.
I love going to the the Cabelas in Hamburg PA. It has a Cigars International store next door. They also serve alcohol at the CI. It makes for a fun “ATF” day.
This rank emotionalism is the politics of large crowds; more commonly known as, ..the mob. It’s not too surprising that it’s the politics of Lefty anarchists, as well. Historically, they all thrive on chaos and death. Fear and confusion are their BFF’s, and the indoctrinated throngs are their useful constituents. And what they can’t accomplish with general honesty, they will accomplish through deliberate deceit. When will it all end?
“Doin’ right, ain’t got no end.” ~ Captain “R.L.” Terrell
I have asthma. It wasn’t diagnosed until a few years ago. I went through 10 years in the Navy with it and without any kind of treatment. I simply assumed that everyone felt that intense burning sensation when the ran or worked out. I smoked for a while but it was only one or two cigs per day when i could stand it. Those who have served know that a cig break is just about the only way to have a few minutes away from work. Now when I get down wind of a smoker I have a mild attack. It is just about every time. If i go to a club that allows smoking inside, I almost always end up with pneumonia.
Cigarettes actually harm others with second hand smoke. I am proof of that.
Guns actually protect others by their presence in the environment.
I cannot think of a more false comparison.
The Moms’ Demands just seem to get more desperate by the day.
I intend to start my own organization… D.A.M. Dudes Against Murder. Because what we need is a law that makes it a crime to kill some one without cause . You know because one more law is what is really needed because evil/crazy can easily be stopped with words on paper. Duh!
Lets just outlaw death – then we could all live forever
And next from bloomburg killing baby seals using an ar.
Thems good eatin’ and the coates make a nifty rain slicker too.
The cigarettes comparison is bogus. Big Tobacco went out of its way to lie to the public about the health implications of smoking, to the point of trying to discredit honest scientists and fund nonsense studies. That is what got a movement against it, as many people who smoked had no idea of the health implications.
Guns are different. For one, nobody has any question about what a gun is. Two, the gun rights lobby is not a front for the gun manufacturers. Three, as mentioned, guns save lives. Four, there are numerous other things that can kill a person (also mentioned in a comment above).
IF ANYTHING, I’d say it is the gun rights people that are equivalent to the crusade that was launched against Big Tobacco, and the gun control movement that is akin to Big Tobacco, i.e. lying and misleading people constantly on the issue. For years Big Tobacco had its way until a movement was launched to bring out the facts. With guns, for years the gun control proponents had their way until gun rights proponents organized and began bringing the facts out on the issue. The gun control proponents, outraged, have tried to fight back through misleading information.
From the ANTIs point of view — this is smart (ie manipulative). This was in “The Playbook”
Focus on IMAGERY. Make guns a Culture War issue. Don’t bother with pesky “facts”.
Dog-whistle AGITPROP 101.
Students: OBSERVE & LEARN.
This country was built on tobacco and guns, they aren’t going anywhere.
Consider this comment self moderated.
1 Million Moms Against Gun Control have more class than MDA SR Watts. You will be hearing a lot more from these real moms soon.
Their choice of image for guns is really surprising, given their call that only cops and soldiers should have guns, and I very much doubt any of them AREN’T in favor of police militarization. From a propaganda standpoint, the image on the right was a mistake. A BIG one.
I am learning the strategy of the enemy by being on Twitter.
It is fairly simple:
Float the idea and test it a bit, using your followers.
After you have tightened it up, make a quick but timid/pathetic thrust at your enemy (she seems to like Dana Loesch)
Ignore all responses
Meanwhile it is very easy to dispense with the followers and their postings. I haven’t lost one yet. The only problem is the sheer number of them; once they grab the message and start broadcasting it, there is no way for one or two people to handle the onslaught.
Need more warriors ….
My current response to this meme is: How can it be a #publichealth issue when far more people are Saved by guns than “lost by gun”?
I think what they’re trying to say, badly, is that smoking doesn’t make you into some cowboy, and having a gun doesn’t make you into a cop. Both, I guess, they say are ‘fantasy’.
Basically that non-cop gun owners are imagining that they’re cops, (you know, the only people who SHOULD have guns) – and that that’s fantastical.
Or something. I’m sure it made sense to some Moms(TM).
Reality catches up with fantasy… if you are a libtard. They refuse to face reality.
I actually don’t mind all the restrictions on tobacco (though it shouldn’t be illegal) but I do mind all the restrictions on firearms. Because if somebody has a firearm or (gasp!) uses a firearm they don’t harm me, while if they are smoking close to me they are harming me. Here in Norway we just tax the s*** out of it and no smoking in buildings.
Then again I did get some damage from passive smoking (though that is healed now).
Take Notice: Here are two scientists who have researched and agree that climate change does not exist. However, they say that it is ok for scientists to lie and submit false information to the public….to further global causes and treaties.
Take a look at the link. Understand that this is the exact same reasoning used in gun control arguements for local, state, federal and global changes to gun rights. The ends always justify the means when taking away rights.
http://ajae.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/02/24/ajae.aau001.abstract?utm_source=CFACT+Updates&utm_campaign=bbcbae0cf5-Peer_reviewed_paper_It_s_OK_to_lie_about_climate4_&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a28eaedb56-bbcbae0cf5-270123833
Climate change does exist, the question is how much do people affect that.
The question was never “does it exist?”.
I wonder if MDA received permission to (mis)use either of those advertisements. The latter is an advertisement for Blackrain ARs, I doubt they gave permission to use their imagery in MDA’s propaganda. I doubt it matters, Watts could just bat her eyes, play the mom card, and claim non-profits can do whatever they want.
Guns aren’t the new lung cancer. Cancer is still very prevalent unfortunately…
http://i.imgur.com/HOy8jji.png
Using tobacco products is pretty much guaranteed to kill you sooner or later. Please tell me how using my firearm is going to induce a health concern. Well, maybe if you don’t take your Glock for it’s rabies shot!
I think they shot themselves in the foot [YET AGAIN] with this one.
1. If you read it very quickly, your brain inserts stuff and sees “Reality always catches up with fantasy in the end. Gun fantasy now.”
2, Others brought up the subliminal reference to the cop in the right panel.
3. The ridiculous MDA logo is in the same panel. Does it signals their desire to “end?”
How many lives have been saved by smoking cigarettes ? Sure people do due from gunshots but guns also save save lives. Sure the moms can argue over the numbers but they can’t refute the obvious that people have been saved by guns. Everybody knows of somebody who has.
This is why this type of moral campaign is not going to work. Not to mention that smoking bothers non smokers where as shooting generally is not done in the presence of non shooters. And of course gun ownership can easily be kept in the closet where as smoking makes you smell and is easy to notice when you smoke every ten minutes or so.
We are being told how heathy pot smoking is at the moment so health benefits of cigarettes can’t be far behind.
I know of at least boilermakers that were off on thier smoke/coffee break when the heater they were working blew up. Seems to me those cigarettes being smoked in the break area just might have saved a few lives.
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