Dan made the point in his post on an anti-Bloombergian NRA ad: the gun rights org needs to be a whole lot faster on its feet. Police One published their eye-opening, potentially game-changing comprehensive survey of rank and file cops’ opinions of current gun control measures on April 8th. (TTAG blogged it the same day.) That’s nine days ago. Hands up: we should have blogged the NRA’s ad based on the survey yesterday. But the NRA should have had this bad boy fired-up before Obama spiked the gun control football in Connecticut and Manchin-Toomey gained strength. Speed, surprise and violence of action. It works for TTAG. It works for self-defense. It would work for the NRA too. Just sayin’ . . .

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41 COMMENTS

  1. He [Sen. Wicker, Miss] has a solidly conservative voting record, so much so that he drew notice last week when he voted to allow debate to begin on controversial gun legislation in the Senate. “I cast this vote at the request of the National Rifle Association, of which I am a member,” he said in a statement at the time that added he has a 100 percent voting record in favor of Second Amendment rights.

    WHAT IS THE NRA THINKING

    Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/wicker-letter-ricin-poison/2013/04/16/id/499817?s=al&promo_code=132B9-1#ixzz2Qlermnkf
    Urgent: Should Obamacare Be Repealed? Vote Here Now!

  3. Jesus ….what idiots are making these videos!?!

    After they say….
    “71% of police say that Obama’s gun ban would have zero effect”

    Where the hell is the follow up that should say
    “…in fact an additional 22% of police say that it will WORSEN crime due to the disarmament of law abiding citizens”

    F’ing media idiots!

    or even better
    “…93% of police say that Obama’s ban will have eith no effect or even WORSEN crime in America”

    Gawd!

    I hate seeing them piss away my donations on under-performing ads that come out 9 days after the report and on the day of vote.

  6. They must be using the same consultants that performed so expertly for Romney’s campaign.

  7. just to pile on to this, Feinstein has had her bill on her desk for years, waiting for the right moment. What happened in the state houses was a coordinated attack. It felt like the NRA did not have a ready-made contingency plan, while the antis had a ready rolodex to fill the bloody short brigade. I accept, I was complacent as well. But now, we have to have a battle ready plan because the next Adam Lanza is out there at the range practicing.

    • The thing is – the next one is always just around the corner. Because, like all things, they are a function of math and odds.

      We have a long history of “mass”-murders and serial killers. Always had them, always will. Just like bombings – if anyone gets ‘credit’ the car bomb, we’re in the running with the precursor – the cart bomb. After a stretch of 30 other anarchist bombs in 1919, 1920 saw a wagon-load of dynamite parked across the street from the House of Morgan. 38 dead, hundreds injured.

      They are a statistical oddity, like lottery winners and people who get struck by lightning multiple times. But the one thing to be counted on is that they will happen again.

      So we should be prepared. The other guys are.

      • right. the NRA kept saying that they were coming for the guns. Then when they did it felt like, SURPRISE!

        They need to declare victory this round and let la pierre retire in favor of a more modern look.

        • “They need to declare victory this round and let la pierre retire in favor of a more modern look.”

          yes…Yes….YES!

        • I agree in the aggregate that WLP needs to be “moved” to a different position, if not out the door.

          To be fair, he does seem to know how to work the machine and the backrooms, and that is a very necessary skillset. Connections are everything, that’s why the revolving door of Washington pays so well.

          The NRA needs more media savvy leadership, that understands the world of 24 hour news cycles, tweet decks, and facebook. I dunno if we have to can Wayne outright, but he is 100% not the guy to be running the show post web 2.0. Behind the scenes and the K-Street interface? Perhaps.

    • the next Adam Lanza is out there at the range practicing.

      I know what you mean but in all likelihood this is not true, and it points to a fact we need to pound on regarding mass shootings.

      Mass shooters who are also “gun guys” are rare. Out of seven mass shooters in 2012, precisely one had a longstanding collection of firearms (the Seattle Starbucks shooter), and one other owned one gun for longer than a year prior to the attack. Both of these two had documented histories of domestic violence and probably would have been prohibited persons if the justice system had worked correctly.

      The other five all acquired their guns less than a year prior to the attack. Four of them were less than three months prior (including Lanza, who didn’t own the weapons he used). There was also an attempted mass shooting, the Clackamas Town Center shooting, where the shooter stole an AR-15 from a friend the night before. This pattern holds for earlier mass shootings, including Virginia Tech, Tucson, and Columbine.

      The point is they might get one or a few range sessions in, but not many. We need to push back against the idea that mass shooters are NRA members or “gun guys” who snap and go on a rampage. The typical mass shooter is a non-gun owner who decides to go on a rampage and decides to acquire weapons to do so, in that order.

  8. The NRA is great at advancing safety and marksmanship. The ILA is even good at defending Second Amendment rights legally and politically. From a PR perspective, the NRA is train wreck. They just have no clue.

  10. As an IT person I think we need to be realistic about how quickly these slick videos are assembled and published.

    • Knowing what I can do with a $69 video editing program in 1 day I’d say I have a sense of what can be done by a team of professionals.

      You’re in a media war exactly like a presidential campaign…..you should be in a mode to turn a mis-statement from the opposition (or a new poll result) to a completed ad within 24 hours. If you don’t have that capability…then you need new media people.

      • Very much so. There were ad agency teams assembled during the Superbowl, just to watch what happened and frakkin’ brainstorm then tweet.

        I’m not skilled in the world of video production/editing, but I know some who are. You’re completely correct that a decent team (of 3 or 4) could have put out something better in 24 hours. I know several here did a more thoughtful rebuttal in under a few hours.

  11. Not to nitpick

    But its:

    Speed
    Surprise
    Security
    Simplicity
    Violence of Action

    Principles of Military Operations on Urban Terrain

    🙂

  14. In defense of the NRA, it might possibly have had a few other things on its plate this week. Oh, and since it won every vote and Bloomb1tch lost every vote, I really have to ask — WTF are you complaining about?

    • Love you man but the NRA needs to be faster on its feet with it’s PR. That’s a fact.

        • I’d ask for complete and utter annihilation of any and all gun grabbers for a start. Then I’d go for the pro-abortionists. Then…

        • Taking the initiative. Yes, the battle was won this time, but I’d like to see the anti-gun forces permanently on the defensive. When the next tragedy happens in a gun free zone (which we know with nearly metaphysical certainty it will be), the NRA should be ready to push the narrative on what abject abominations they are. Our side should be ready with legislation banning them.

          Any time something like this survey comes out, the NRA should be on it and pushing the right talking points out there. Any time somebody mentions an assault weapons ban, the next sentence out of someone’s mouth should be “93% of police think it would be ineffective or make things worse.”

      • The NRA agency is Ackerman-McQueen, and has been for 30+ years. Talk about having your hooks in. Nobody ever stays with an agency that long. Nobody. Especially based out of the media capital of OKC…

        Anytime you’re with the same agency for more than 5-8 years, things can get kinda stale. 30 years? Complacency and mediocrity is the expectation. And it is fulfilled.

        FWIW – Evan, Colion Noir is what’s referred to (semi-pejoratively) by the suits, as talent. IE, he ain’t running anything but maybe his dressing room. Especially dropped into an environment where the ad team has been there since Methuselah went to prom.

        • “Holy Jeebus” apparently lives right down the street in Tulsa. But his influence is felt throughout Okie-land. Sadly, apparently not “his protection”….

          (Yeah, I lived in North OKC [Edmond] for 6 months and while my condo was spared that 1999 tornado, not everyone else’s was.)

    • If we live in a world where Oreo can put out an incredibly popular tweet during the Superbowl blackout, I think the NRA can be a little faster than 8 days with a video response.

  15. It probably took them nine days to decide whether or not to use the typewriter sound effect. . .and to explain what it is it to the people that actually did the video.

  16. Even though I’m currently living under the darkening cloud of gun legislation that is California, it makes me happy to know that there are still free states out there, and that they are continuing to fight for their rights. Hopefully I will be moving to one of those states 3 years from now.

    • I respectfully recommend pretty much any of the 40 “shall issue” states in the U.S. In general the farther south and west you go, the fewer the restrictions, although both Texas and Florida criminalize open carry of handguns.

      Concealed carry fun facts:

      — Utah law creates NO prohibitions on concealed carry if you have a valid concealed carry license. In other words Utah law does NOT create any “pistol free zones”.

      — All 40 shall issue states honor Arkansas and Michigan resident concealed handgun carry licenses. No other state concealed carry license is good in all 40 shall issue states.

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