Moms Demand Action Kroger's campaign (courtesy facebook.com)

I named this website The Truth About Guns because I wanted to make sure that, A) we held ourselves to the highest possible journalistic standards, and B) we weren’t corrupted by the industry or, indeed, our own enthusiasm. Although we’ve made missteps, I like to think TTAG’s stayed true to our mission statement. With your help, we pursue the truth about guns. In contrast, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America is an organization based entirely on a lie. The words “gun sense” are a ruse designed to hide the fact that MDA’s out to deny Americans their natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms. If you pay even the slightest attention to their messaging, you can see the proverbial man behind the metaphorical curtain. For example . . .

IT’S CRAZY, BUT IT’S TRUE: Krogers policy allowing open carry of loaded guns in its stores puts customers and employees at risk.

That’s the text accompanying the image above on MDA’s Facebook page. It’s exactly the kind of “common sense” logic that MDA uses to push its anti-gun agenda: an emotionally loaded piece of ‘information’ that seems true, but isn’t. Google doesn’t yield one single incident where a shopper openly carrying a firearm in a Kroger supermarket injured anyone (with his or her firearm). Not one.

So how do legal open carriers endanger customers and shoppers, as MDA proclaims? They don’t. They just plain old fashioned do not. Yes, there is a potential risk – as there is whenever someone carries a gun. But that risk has not been realized and it’s exponentially smaller than the risk of a customer or employee being injured by an armed robber. Googling “Armed robbery Kroger” yields 91,200 results, some of them involving in-store shootings.

But Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America has no interest in doing something about armed criminals. MDA’s dedicated to civilian disarmament. They want to eliminate legal carry. So they immediately delete any factual rebuttals from their Facebook page (lest the unclothed Empress be revealed), ban the poster and encourage this sort of commentary from their supporters:

Jerry Fields Keep your guns Kroger. I’m sure a store filled with badly dressed, racist, pig farming men with small penises will workout for you. Good luck and remember to duck.

Who’s more dangerous: “armed extremists” who cherish their gun rights and would, I have little doubt, act to save innocent life, or guys like Jerry who’d gladly see legally armed Americans removed from society, one store at a time? The funny thing about MDA’s Big Lie is that some of their members are so close to the truth it hurts. Literally.

Deborah Hebron How many innocent people have to die before common sense, morals and ethics are restored?

Good question. One Ms. Hebron should ask nine-year-old Devin Perry.

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91 COMMENTS

  1. The MO is the same here as everywhere else. Throw a big enough tantrum and we’ll get what we want.

  2. “Armed extremists” I prefer “enthusiasts”. If I have to be an extremist then Shannon is too.

    • My son is 18 months old, and gets a time out for throwing a tantrum. And I may get a tantrum in video, because sometimes they are pretty funny. Regardless, there is more maturity and truth in my household than there ever will be at MDA.

    • when you lie and choose words like “extremists” to describe law abiding good Americans, than you are beyond extreme. Shannon is a nut in more ways than one.

      • Absolutely. To paraphrase i was at a BBQ over the weekend with some friends of mine. One friend in particular had his brother who is 10 years our senior and a particurarly heated debate erupted. Our point of view beig that we do the jobs that we do beause we genuinely care about other people, where as his older brother kept calling us “extremists” because we refuse tolerate the on going religious cleansing that is goin on in the midd. East. When in all reality we just want to protect those who cant protect themselves

        • And, of course, guys like me who say, “Why can’t we just mind our own damn business and let other people solve their own damn problems?” are labeled, well, not extremists, but isolationists, (which we’re not – we’re non-interventionists), but those of us who advocate adherence to the Constitution definitely get labeled “extremists.”

      • She may be a “nut” but she, at the behest of Bloomberg and his cronies, is persistently using fear and re-defining common terms and words to influence cultural norms toward an anti-gun outlook amongst the susceptible low information sheeple in American society. There are maannny who know little or nothing about firearms or their law abiding owners who will believe anything that this supposedly knowledgeable but deceptive charlatan has to say on the subject.

        Those who sponsor and help promote her BS without evaluating its legitimacy and truthfulness are equally to blame for duping the unknowing public with her propaganda and brainwashing efforts.

        All we can do is constantly expose the BS to the light of day and hope some are awakened enough by the truth of logic to overcome their irrational, misplaced “feelings”.

    • Were those Kroger’s exact words?
      If I were Kroger’s spokesperson, I would say to MDA, “No mam, the armed extremests…I mean…police may not be able to get here in time to save you. We would rather allow you to arm yourself as is your right in the United States of America.”

  3. I know I’ve been blocked from MDA’s facebook site (as well as the “Being Liberal” site). My comments were intentionally non-offensive but factually based. I guess these groups aren’t really wanting to “start a conversation”, they just want you to either enthusiastically agree or sit down, shut up and listen.

    • Exactly correct. Shannon and her followers absolutely reject a live and let live philosophy. It is a complete authoritarian society they demand. As such, they have made the choice that they will not coexist with anyone that thinks different from them and they have made that choice for us. Shannon doesn’t want to coexist with us, fine, I’ll keep stockpiling ammo for the day her people can’t physically contain their rage and hatred of us.

    • The problem these hysterical women (and hysterical she-males) have is that the truth is not on their side. If they could make a cogent article supported by facts that showed guns were dangerous, they would have a lot more credibility. They can’t and it bugs them. Hence, the appeals to emotion.

      What’s also interesting is the real-speak they use – “Kroger’s policy allowing open carry of guns…” I seriously doubt that Kroger (or most any other store) has an explicit policy regarding guns (unless it is to prohibit them). Kroger simply doesn’t actively take a stand one way or the other, so to suggest that they have a policy is ridiculous.

      It’s time to start calling Shannon and her ilk the modern brownshirts that they are. Just as in Hitler’s Germany, these new brownshirts are spreading lies to drive their point across. Hitler and his brownshirts tapped into the pain of the economic troubles Germany was going through and blamed it on the Jews. MDA’s new brownshirts tap into real grief (shooting tragedies), but try to fix the true blame elsewhere.

    • +1 on the banned and blocked list. I never even posted once on their page but I do regularly post fact based and non-aggressive blurbs on some other liberal blogs.

      MDA is the textbook definition of Echo Chamber.

    • Has someone ever done a news piece or documentary about the deletion of posts and opinions from MDA and similar sites? I think it would be hilarious to do something like a short 20/20 style piece about it and get it circulating on the web.

      • It would be easy enough. The gun ban philosophy is summed in two words, ‘comments closed’

        I’ve been banned from everyone you can name. I don’t think their propaganda is very effective. First of all I don’t think most people care about guns either way. Secondly Americans aren’t dumb, even if we act like it sometimes. Their ‘ads’ ring hollow if anyone thinks about them for more than second.

        “Propaganda is a soft weapon, hold it in your hands to long and it will turn like a snake and bite you’.

        Paraphrased from somewhere.

  4. Interesting how the folks whose supporters repeatedly and enthusiastically advocate violence against those they disagree with have the gall to call us “extremists”…

    • Seems to me that the ONLY violence they’re opposed to is gun violence. Their supporters openly advocate many forms of violence against those who disagree with them.

      • I’ve seen plenty of their supporters advocate shooting gun owners. They just don’t want to pull the trigger themselves.

        • Worst kind of people IMO. Those who want to kill but can’t pull the trigger. Those who want to bring death but can’t look a dying man/woman/child/animal in the eyes.

          I don’t like getting philosophical since I am too young for that but some things have to be said.

        • I’ve said it before, but it’s worth mentioning twice. They certainly love to stereotype gun owners as having Rambo fantasies, but I’ve noticed anti-gunners seem to imagine themselves as being Don Corleone instead, coolly ordering their enemies wiped out and kicking back while hired thugs do the dirty work.

          They wouldn’t dream of picking up a weapon and doing it themselves -they abhor gun violence, don’t you know- but the thought of government goons kicking down doors and efficiently exterminating the people they hate [folk like us] gives these nutcases a happy tingle.

          I know they’re total cowards, yet still I shudder to think what they’d do if they ever got real power in this country.

  5. Those advocating gun-restricting, Second Amendment compromising laws, are secretly or openly racists. Period. Inner city residents must have weapons to defend their own families and homes. The Police Chief of Detroit knows this well, and have advocated numerous times for all his residents to become armed and know how to use their guns. He knows that his budget decimated police force in the bankrupt city of Detroit, cannot respond to defend any of his residents against thugs, street gangs, drug crazed maniacs, or any other threat. The best they can do is to arrive in time to call the coroner or medical examiner.

    That is why our local truck stop clerks open carry and since all clerks open carry and take regular practice times, there has been no robberies at our truck stop and convenience store. Open carry in this case (and all others I know of) is a deterrent to not only the customers, but the employees remaining safe.

  6. Personally, I also don’t trust armed extremists.

    That said, I have yet to meet one. Plenty regular folks with concealed carry permits though.

  7. Now, this is just silly. This makes it clear that this isn’t moms or speaking for moms. This is raving mad clowns speaking for…I can’t imagine who.

    • “raving mad clowns” I like that. Is that a comment on their demeanor or their make-up, or both?

    • Sir, I suffer from coulrophobia, and yet even I must insist that you not demean raving mad clowns by ever comparing them to MDA.

  11. When are we going to admit that MDA is a terrorist organization bent on instilling fear in people?

  12. Can you guys make an article about people being banned on the MDA facebook page?
    They are notorious for it but I want something compiled so I can question their credibility to anyone who believes they represent gun sense.

  13. Armed extremists?

    The Menopausal Moms Without Action would cower and beg for brave men with guns to come protect them if they were faced by the likes of real “armed extremists” like ISIS.

      • If they found out she was NOT a Muslim they might treat her like they have some of the minorities in Iraq and Syria, which would be much sexual assault, dismemberment, and then open pit burial.

  14. It offends me less that MDA says such things than it does that there are people that read it and believe it.

    If there ever was an indictment of the US education system, this is it. How can an “educated” population possible cultivate that much logical fallacy?

    To the MDA believers: Look around you, people. Do you SEE shootings in Krogers, Targets, Starbux, Home Depot, Chipotle, Staples and all the other places? Do you SEE people pulling out their guns and shooting people in arguments over who was first in line?

    Forget what MDA and all the “Squealers” are telling you believe. What do you SEE?

    How do such people, that apparently have to be led by the nose to every conclusion, function in life? Cook a meal? Dress themselves? Engage in complex social relationships?

    • We’re talking about a category of people that become terrified and call the Police about someone carrying an umbrella and find it acceptable that the umbrella carrier is met with not only an eight-person armed response, but with rifles pointed at the person.

  15. YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!

    Had to do that one. Also, why do people shop at Krugers? Hearing that name makes me immediately think of Freddy Kruger, can’t be good for business.

    • +1 for the quote from A Few Good Men!

      Actually, the store name is Kroger, not Kruger. (Kroger means absolutely nothing in English.)

      But yeah, I probably wound not want to shop at store named after the Freddy Kruger character from the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.

      • This will be awkward but I have to say the truth: I haven’t seen “A few good men”. Though it has Bruce Willis in it so it is definately on the list. Yes, I keep a list of movies, shows and videogames I intend to watch/play when I get the time.

        • Sorry, no Willis. Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson. The eye candy is Willis’ ex, GI Jane Demi Moore.

        • Meh, close enough. Still on the list.

          It us just that on the poster you see half of their faces and I glanced over it quickly.

  16. You know what I worry about in a supermarket? Those banana spiders that can kill you just by looking at you. One day they are gonna get me. I’ve been packing a high cap 9mm with extra mags for years whenever I trek to the mart and lately I include a couple of cans of hair spray and a lighter because the voice said the spiders are forming an army.

    Tell that to the kid in the picture and it well be “clean up in aisle 7”.

  18. “Googling “Armed robbery Kroger” yields 91,200 results, some of them involving in-store shootings.”

    Not to nit-pick, but that’s really not a good way to get a rough count, particularly since you will find many sites with the same stories. Many of those probably are not unique. I only point this out, as we rely on facts to support our arguments, and sloppy stat collection makes us look bad.

    • Fair enough, but

      (a) he didn’t claim the number index hits equates to number of stories, and

      (b) the fact that 90,000+ “hits” exist in Google’s index stands in stark contrast to the other search he did which turned up…ZERO.

  20. I’m sure a store filled with badly dressed, racist, pig farming men with small penises

    Apparently pig farming is now censure on part with accusations of racism. By people who patronize grocery stores that sell pork products.

  21. Why not turn the mentality around and use it to our advantage?

    “Why does MDA want to make you a victim?”

    “Why does MDA promote the sheeple mentality?”

    “Why would you let a PR specialist define how you can defend yourself?”

    “Are you willing to be a victim of violence? MDA thinks so.”

    There has to be a few that would let the wind out of their sails….

    • My three favorites are:

      How does weakening us against attackers make us stronger against attackers? Why is being weaker ever a good thing?

      How does taking away options for dealing with attackers give us more options for dealing with violent attackers? Why would we ever want fewer options when dealing with violent attackers?

      Why should we entrust ourselves and our well being to the good will of violent criminals who just concretely demonstrated violence and ill-will toward us?

  22. It’s interesting that they are specifically complaining about “open carry”, not all types of carry. Pretty illogical if they are worried about the “gun danger” in the supermarkets.

    • Oh, that’s just THIS time.

      Too, it may be fueled to some degree by the scent of blood in the water. They have to recognize OC as the divisive topic it is within OUR ranks. Maybe they think they can capitalize on that…

      It’s one bit of momentum they have right now. Any OC story that comes up, half of US go on the attack.

      So, I don’t think their focus (for now) on OC is accident.

  23. And yet, they don’t seem uncomfortable about armed police officers being around. That’s peculiar, since…

    “According to the Violence Policy Center, Florida has the highest murder rate among concealed carry holders, and Dean figured out that those numbers put the murder rate at somewhere around .58/100,000. Counting domestic homicides only, police officers committed 1.85/100,000 over the same time period. Nationally, the murder rate in the United States sits right around 4.5/100,000. Therefore, you’re over three times less likely to be killed in a room filled with concealed carry holders than police officers.”

    “Concealed Carry: Safer and More Law Abiding than the Police”
    http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2013/12/foghorn/guns-violence-united-states-numbers/

  24. “lest the unclothed Empress be revealed”

    – isn’t that something only Dirk wants to see?…

  25. Given the crime rate perpetuated by the local “Honor Students” around some Kroger’s, you might really want to trust your life to the “Armed Extremist”. Yes, we do have many Kroger’s in Indiana and Ohio as well as many “Armed Extremists”. Remember, an “Armed Extremist” is anyone who owns a gun and is pro-2A.

  26. In a way, I’m glad that the gun control crowd is making these arguments, as it reveals their true beliefs and goals: that nearly all gun owners are dangerous extremists who should be disarmed–Shannon and former mayor Bloomberg can keep their armed bodyguards, but that’s about it.
    However ineffective background checks are, advocacy for them at least recognizes that the problem is habitual criminals with guns. In contrast, these attempts from Ms. Watts and Co. make it clear that their objection is to ordinary, law-abiding, responsible citizens exercising the right to keep and bear arms.

  27. How many innocent people have to die before common sense, morals and ethics are restored? Good point. Let us restore the more robust interpretations of the Constitution and a Libertarian government immediately.

    • +1,000,000

      If there is any single thing that contributes to violent crime, it is oppression. Oppression can come at the hands of private individuals, or it can be institutionalized and come at the hands of the State.

      Funny how Shannon’s ilk does not want to address the latter…She should listen more to Chief Craig.

  28. Keep your guns Kroger. I’m sure a store filled with badly dressed, racist, pig farming men with small penises will workout for you. Good luck and remember to duck. Since when? A lot of different people shop in a lot of Kroger stores in different locations. Many of the Kroger stores are actually upscale.

    • What about nicely dressed, open-minded, professional women? Apparently Shannon didn’t get the memo that we carry too…

      • Bingo! Excellent point.

        They expend a GREAT deal of effort keeping that particular tidbit from getting out. It destroys 90% of their misandrist narrative.

  29. So moms are afraid of legally carried firearms in Kroger’s, then buy sugar coated Pop Tarts for their little darlings.

    I have news for you, honey — the chances are much higher that your kids will get diabetes from the crap you feed them.

    In fact, moms have been known to strangle, drown, beat, poison or stab their children to death. So maybe we ought to ban imbeciles from raising children.

    • Yeah, Shannon is apparently more afraid of guns in a Krogers than of the genetically modified, Monsanto-based alleged food items sold in said Krogers…

      Oh wait. In Shannon’s World, Monsanto good, guns bad.

      • Uh, Wendy… The subject of types of food sold at Kroger has no bearing on this conversation. But… since you bring it up, I suppose you also drank the cool-aid concerning GMOs. What a farce THAT is. Ever hear of grafting pears and apples? Ever heard of breeding cattle? How about the chicken you serve your family… is it longhorn or leghorn? All these farming techniques have existed for 1000s of years… yes, Genetically Modified Organisms. Abraham, Issac and Jacob where really good at it…just saying 🙂

        • Sorry, but not to put too fine a point on it, you’re completely wrong.

          In each of the above examples there is no direct tinkering with DNA as there is with the Monsanto (and other chemical and agricultural seed companies’) “GMO products.” Your examples were “cross-breeding” and “grafting,” which are related to GMO production only in that they involve living organisms. No cigar at all. Not even the smoke.

          You may want to read up on the nuts and bolts of GMO production.

  30. Thanks RF, and TTAG for staying on top of Everytown, MDA, and MAIG, all anti-gun astroturfing campaigns paid for my ex-Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

    I notice that its important to understand the messaging by MDA is deliberately emotional, deliberately distorted, aimed at the gullible and ignorant, and understandably fearful Moms and other parents who do not have life experience in guns, and dont have the time or commonsense to become informed.

    What we, 2A rights believers, need to do- and I am saying it for myself as a reminder, is not to get sucked into the same emotional pi$$ing contest, that some of their supporters get wrapped up in, and worse- the insults and name calling that inflames it to become personal. That is the sign of a failed conversation, as anyone who has experience on a personal relationship level understands.

    So, lets not fall into the trap of bad-mouthing Shannon Watts, other than sarcasm and mockery, because she is just doing her job- she is a professional PR person who last served as Monsanto’s spokesperson for Genetically Modified foods- hardly a politically correct “value” for the typical progressive who is also wrapped up in the belief system that guns are also inherently “bad”.

    In a way, we should probably feel sorry for the more gullible among their numbers, or for the moral failure of the State Chapter heads, as undoubtedly some of them know very well that they are engaged in a lobbying effort that is NOT truth based, but simply a cynical political power play, and obviously coordinated as other progressive groups coordinate messages, to generate support among the gullible but well meaning low information voters (LIV).

    Finally, lets remind ourselves, that it is simply not working- despite the agitprop campaign, the active suppression of free speech on their FAKEBOOK page, and $50 million of Bloombergs dollars to “target” the NRA, for example, the results are clear- the political campaigns have failed in CO, MI, and their actual attendance at rallies is numbered in the dozens, not “hundreds” as falsely claimed, and gleefully re-broadcast by the more liberal of the mainstream press and mass media.

    All this does, in the end, is further impugn their own credibility, motives. and validate what most of middle America, and increasingly, more of the independent swing vote, who value their freedoms, including constitutional right to self defense, and are waking up to the culture war underway, between free men and women, vs the Statists in both parties, but particularly in the Democratic Party left and “Progressive Agenda”, long advocated there, by community organizers and other victim panderers and race con-artists.

    Keep telling the truth, argue with facts, calmly against the increasingly hysterical emotion, as its working. The sea change underway is vast, and lets keep the pressure on- spread the word.

    Take back the Senate 2014, and Elect a President who believes in Freedom, and America, instead of apologizing for our exceptionalism. We are still the Shining City on the Hill, and the beacon of freedom worldwide, by those who have been victimized by other Elites and Statists- as history has proved over and over. Progressivism v2.0, is just the lame retread of the Progressive Movement of the 30s, that was compromised and converted by socialism, that has failed over and over, here in the US, and worldwide.

    Keep Calm and Carry On!

  31. I guess those who exercise their right to vote or speak their minds are extremists also, by MDA’s reasoning.

    • Only if they vote for the non-Shannon approved candidate or by speaking their minds say something Shannon disagrees with.

      It’s gun control, as well as all other forms of control.

  32. A soon as I saw the graphic, i wondered,”What story are they trying to tell/’ I first came away with the mom and child were in fear of terrorists (extremists) and their fear was multiplied by their lack of effective defensive means. Does MDA really think that a gun-free zone at a Kroger will keep the terrorists out? .

    So to me it reads just like the MDA video showing the girl needeing a Glock really badly.

    Either it’s really hard for them to get the message straight or their PR is run by a 2A fan with a wicked sense of humor.

  33. This is the same kind of emotional, unfactual attack that lad to the banning of openly carried firearms in California. In 1968, fearful of the Black Panthers, Governor Reagan signed a bill outlawing the open carrying of loaded firearms. While it was still legal to openly carry an unloaded weapon, it was pretty pointless, and open carrying essentially disappeared. Then, beginning around 2010, groups of people were organized to engage in open carry events in public areas like Starbucks and the San Diego boardwalk, and in the Bay Area. Inevitably, the “man with gun” call would be placed to the police, and even if the dispatcher explained to the caller that it was perfectly legal, 6 to 10 patrol cars would respond each time. The soccer moms were fearful of carriers, just as the MDA crowd. It took the legislature little time to ban the open carrying of handguns at all in incorporated areas, and the mere threat of long guns being openly carried impelled them to ban that practice as well a year later.
    All propaganda is based on emotion. Do not underestimate the power of the believable lie. Or become like California.

  34. Personally, I rise in strong support of efforts to manifest all the relative comfort, safety and security of the womb into the societal structure. The logic is of course, flawless, in that, since there aren’t any GUNS in there — there shouldn’t be any GUNS in society either.
    One might however, be at least temporarily caused to consider the effectiveness of waging girlilla-style warfare against various and otherwise uninvolved businesses as a means to achieve their intended goals — and perhaps maybe even go so far as to wonder exactly what methods might be employed by those having assumed irrational, irresponsible, intellectually and practically indefensible positions as unarmed victims-in-waiting against say…hordes of barbarians intent on finishing the fundamental transformation of America from an imperial federalocracy into a caliphate?

  35. Why is it that just because you don’t agree with these hysterical ninnies you’re immediately an extremist? Also, what’s the message of the bi-racial child? Must everything be geared to race? I doubt Shannon Watts has ever set foot in a Kroegers.

  36. I read a “letter” in the Eugene OR Register Guard newspaper, Saturday. This is a section where folks from Eugene and surrounding areas write a “letter to the editor” They only print about 1/3 of the letters received.
    I frequently write in on gun issues, and have an acceptance rate of over 95%
    this letter was from a man who was shopping in Kroegers (city not mentioned) He said he noticed another person open carrying a weapon (side arm or rifle, not mentioned) The man said in his letter that he was very fearful of this “act” that he knew there were many accidental discharges. He said that if he went into any store and saw someone open carrying, that he would leave and when he got home he would call the store and tell them that they had just lost a customer.
    I was debating on whether or not to write a reply. I thought about asking if the accidental discharge he was referring to, was maybe 9 months before he was born. In the end, I decided to wait, as you are only allowed one letter a month.

  37. The biggest problem with their latest set of propaganda posts is that in keeping them even marginally rational (avoiding, for example, a post with a picture of a starved and bleeding African child emblazoned with the words “GUNZ BAD BLAAAAGHHHH! SUBMIT!!!”), the materials they’re posting now can be read either way.

    For example:
    “To keep our families safe, moms mitigate risk” could be a reference to the FACT that more and more moms are being licensed to carry, thus actually “mitigating risk” for their families and themselves.

    Yet another GRAND, EPIC FAIL by “the Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight.”
    [In tribute to the great Jimmy Breslin.]

  38. Their approach seems to be: when truth and logic are not on your side scream in impotent rage….even a four year old will soon figure out that this does not produce the desired response.

  39. I swear these people sometimes make me want to switch to open carry just to shove it in their faces. Just to let them know that it is our right to possess guns and it is a right that isn’t going away.

    Extremists?! Unbelievable!

  40. They keep talking like there is a problem. Well MDA, where is the problem? They never actually show any negative impact, there’s no blood in the streets, no one has been shot in Kroger.

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