What If We Made Gun Culture Uncool Like We Did Cigarettes? the headline at talkingpointsmemio.com asks. As you can see from the 1995 video above – featuring the future Attorney General of the United States arguing for anti-gun brainwashing – this is not a new idea. Regular readers will recall that Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety has re-started the culture war against gun rights, hiring a former MTV PR flack as their “Director of Cultural Engagement.” No doubt Everytown’s anti-gun agitprop arm, thetrace.org has been emailing its acolytes, urging them to join the campaign to demonize guns and gun owners. A call answered by one Michael Maiello . . .
“Sorry, I can’t bring my kids to your place if there are unsecured guns in the house.”
“Thanks for coming over. Do you mind leaving your shoes in the hallways and your pistol off my property?”
“I can’t stay over if you keep a gun in the bedroom, especially if we’ve been drinking. Guns make things less safe when the lights go out.”
It’s surprisingly easy to imagine a society where gun ownership is looked down upon, if not scorned outright. This already happened with smoking, at least partly as a result of a public education campaign aimed at young people, and it happened when polite society finally came down against people flying the Confederate flag after the Charleston church shootings this year. Sometimes, when legislative action is difficult or downright impossible, a cultural approach works to curtail dangerous behaviors.
In short, we can make gun ownership uncool.
No. No you can’t. For one simple reason: guns are cool. A handheld tool that puts the weak on an even playing field with the strong? One that can save a life in an instant? Save a family from starvation? Prevent or repel government tyranny? How cool is that? Way cool. Get back to me when Hollywood heroes and video game avatars no longer use a firearm as the great equalizer (not Edward Woodward).
Maiello – a standup comic, playwright, Forbes writer and, oddly enough, an unabashed Hillary Clinton supporter – must know that the fight to make guns uncool is a losing battle. Still, there’s [small] money and statists’ attaboys in it for the self-described playwright. Let’s hope he’s satisfied. ‘Cause that’s all he’s gonna get.
On the legislative front it seems America has made its choice and there is little chance for legal reform in the near future except at the margins deemed acceptable by the gun industry and a current generation of gun owners who believe that “things happen” is an appropriate reaction to gun deaths. When lawmakers can’t lead, a social solution is certainly worth a shot.
So to speak.
i was going to leave a comment on the TPM site, but you have to join something they call “the hive” which seemed rather ominous. You also have to pay 5 bucks a month.
Same here.
Reading some of the comments, the supreme ignorance and incredible stupidity was astounding. One comment in particular aroused both amusement, and pity, of the lack of comprehension it expressed:
I think when people trot out the 2nd amendment argument, our first response should be, ” Oh? What militia do you serve in? I’d like to learn about it.”
I’m sitting here laughing.
As I read the above, I’m sitting here with a cup of coffee, some Wheeler bubble levels, and a screw driver set. I was just at my closest LGS and couldn’t pass up on the Vortex scope for a rifle I’m reconfiguring to make it look even more cool.
It’s a savage .308, but now rests in an XLR chassis, atop an Atlas bipod.
Did I mention it looks cool?
I *just* put a wheeler level on my nightforce. Got to say, the whole thing looks pretty cool to me.
Right with ya, buddy. Got a Chinese M1A on an Archangel stock with a Vortex Crossfire II and a Harris bipod. Looks awesome.
I don’t think gun culture has ever been considered more cool. With all the youtube channels showing the newest generations how cool guns are, we are winning the culture war big time.
Only the crusty old leftwing farts things it’s not cool, but since when do they ever know what is cool?
THEM: “I can’t stay over if you keep a gun in the bedroom, especially if we’ve been drinking. Guns make things less safe when the lights go out.”
ME: “Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. Bye now.”
————————
THEM: “Sorry, I can’t bring my kids to your place if there are unsecured guns in the house.”
ME: “Good idea, they’re stupid little shits.”
Oh, and by the way, my kids won’t be coming to visit at your house anymore until I’m sure you have an effective means to defend them from dangerous intruders.
“I don’t trust your damn kids in my house, with my guns around, cause YOU have’nt trained them how to behave around, and with, a firearm! They can come play and visit when I see their Eddie Eagle certificates. Now be careful driving home; car accidents kill more kids than guns.’
Wait a second! If they have both been drinking then they both can’t consent! So now they are saying drunken sex is OK, again, but guns are not? Damn, I am so confused by these people.
No, no, no. Drunken sex is only okay if you have a vagina. If you don’t have a vagina, you’re going to be in big trouble, sh!tlord.
These fools are about to receive a college-level education in culture war 101. They are deluded if they think they can achieve widespread societal change by preaching bigotry and intolerance of civil rights. The litany of absurd actions by school administrators over the past few years (eg: poptart gun and fingergun suspensions) has resulted in several states passing laws to reign in their stupidity. They remind me of backward children being ignored by their classmates on the playground.
If Guns weren’t cool I wouldn’t be thinking about getting another safe. My “45” gun is a little cramped.
Funny how that capacity is only a suggestion and tends to be really only 70% to 80% actual capacity?…………..
I think most people look at the number as a goal. I’ve avoided buying a bigger safe for that reason. I’d quickly be broke trying to fill it.
Safes are good! Since I don’t have a safe, I seem to be trying to fill my house!
Brainwash is the operative term there. Oh and the culture war never left, they were just laying low while they regrouped.
Brilliant if you want to be a made man sucking in gobs of cash from rich anti gun elites. As for being effective, count me skeptical since smoking had far more known and unavoidable negatives than gun ownership. You could go to the bar and not return smelling like smoke, but you can return from your friend’s or neighbor’s without even knowing a gun was present.
No doubt they’ll try though. When your ruled by feelings, pure bullying is all you have left.
I don’t think it’ll work. I still smoke (stupidly, I admit), but guns don’t cause cancer for the gun customer. As a matter of fact, they are actually safer than many other recreational activities (skiing, skydiving et al.). Plus, they may save my life one day. Smoking really is bad. Their idea stinks.
Huh, smoking deaths per year according to the CDC=480,000.
Deaths from firearms per year=11,000.
I don’t hear the liberals screaming about smoking, just guns.
That reminds me. I need to order some H Upmann Vintage Cameroons.
Go ahead losers try to make guns uncool!
Once I start looking into romantical things (eh might start advertising am a 22year old Male white Christian, seeking woman with tractor, send picture… of tractor {Ok I jest}) if I have a prospective mate and she falls for this krapola then that lets me know she is not the one for me! (I want to create smart offspring for world domination…)
After the video stops there is a array of individual photos. The one in the middle, right side. Ted Cruz is sitting there next to our lovely broad of the night D. Fuddstein. Cruz has a look on his face like, how long am I gonna have to listen to her shit!
Cracked me up!
I laugh at the irony of talking of making guns uncool with their attempts to harness Hollywood celebrities who have “cool gun using” roles. Oh the hypocrisy.
The LA area, a bastion of liberal thought, is constantly plastered with movie billboards usually depicting good guys with a guns!
Honestly though, when I see folks in my generation smoking I just shake my head. But then if people are dumb enough to be communists I guess smoking isn’t a surprise
I know! Smoking is so outdated. Now vaping? That’s the future!
“In short, we can make gun ownership uncool.”
“No. No you can’t.”
Not so fast ,my friend. The same hive mind that made gangster rap, skinny pants, male hair buns and The Modern Half-Man cool have a chance to make make guns uncool. Yeah, it won’t be easy, but it’s no harder than turning a clown with too many tats, too much bling and his hat on backwards into a cultural icon.
No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the average American.
“No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the average American.”
Amen. We should never underestimate the power of the “the hive” to exploit the imbalance of emotion over intelligence that is so prevalent.
Bloomberg could put $100 million a year into trying to make guns uncool and it would be as well spent as just making a big pile of it and adding gasoline and a match! The reason this concept will never work is the entire entertainment industry. From the books folks read to the games they play to the movies they watch. The biggest movie of this year is Star Wars despite the fact that no one has watched it yet, and won’t for over a month! The biggest game release is Fallout 4 and it hasn’t shipped and won’t for a couple of weeks. Anyone going to dispute those offerings being big shootem ups? Two of the biggest TV successes are the Walking Dead offerings.
Bloomberg? He is an impotent fool with more money than brains!
“I’d like to visit your house but your ant gun stance makes your house an easy target for home invasion. ”
See how being defenseless can be so uncool too?
They’d better call up Hollywood and make sure they’re on board. Same for the rap music industry. They not only glorify guns, they glorify the misuse of guns. If you can’t convince them to stop making movies with guns and rapping about guns you’ll never succeed in making young people think guns are anything but cool. Even the people that think nobody but the government should be able to own guns still think they’re cool.
“What If We Made Gun Culture Uncool Like We Did Cigarettes? the headline at talkingpointsmemio.com asks…”
All you need to do is tell Hollywood that only the villains will use guns in their movies. The good guys will only use ‘conflict resolution’ techniques to apprehend criminals.
Best luck to you, dudes (and Everytown Harpies)…
(Laughing maniacally)
If my guns aren’t cool, why do they huddle up in the safe snickering at me whenever I walk by? My shotgun called me a “dweeb” the other day, and my Mosin tripped me in the cafeteria! I should’ve seen this coming; my dad told me he had a wheelgun in the 50’s that greased it’s hair and bought a motorcycle!
“No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the average American.”
Amen. We should never underestimate the power of the “the hive” to exploit the imbalance of emotion over intelligence that is so prevalent.
This is laughable. Pisses me off that Bloomberg will waste millions of dollars on this when he could spend that money to help people…like homeless Veterans, or the orphans of Black-on-Black Drug murders, or single Mothers struggling to raise children, or a thousand other worthwhile things.
Anyone who wouldn’t come to my house because of the presence of guns is welcome to stay away and take me off their Christmas Card list to boot.
I’m all for them doing this. Better they follow this route, which is constitutional, than passing laws that should not be.
Like others, I doubt their success, but I’m ok with that.
Good point.
Guns will NEVER be uncool. Half the movies in Hollyweird revolve around ’em. And while I am no fan of the Stars & Bars I see an enormous uptick of the image online and elsewhere. People get tired of being told they are RACIST… Millions of folks have CC(and open carry) in the 20 years since unindicted felon Holder ranted too. AND at least 100 million guns bought/manufactured. Besides THIS OFWG could give damn about being “cool”…
Sure, go ahead, start with all the Taken movies and other Hollywood productions.
But you don’t want to do that, do you?
They can try to make them uncool and this is the obvious plan by inserting the Srg gen Murthy and L.Lynch into the mix. Wrap health and the legal means then demonize.
Yassir……………. the talking head Holder just spoke the magic word…. BRAINWASH the masses, starting early when their brains are still mush.The great police state pulls back the curtain to reveal the great OZ
Only as hard as making motorcycles and cars uncool. Also, look around on any given day and see how many people are smoking outside of buildings and in their vehicles. Smokers aren’t exactly living in shame, or being “scorned” by the public. Yeah, good job.
Everytown for Gun Safety has re-started the culture war against gun rights, hiring a former MTV PR flack as their “Director of Cultural Engagement.”
MTV is still around?
If cable bundles didn’t exist, neither would MTV.
WOW! The Progressive Left could not manipulate a cow piled field if it tried!…Who the hell put this guy in there?
Lung cancer never saved anyone from an armed felon.
Why don’t they try making being a piece of shit, unemployed, drug using, repeat offender uncool? Wouldn’t that be much more effective (and realistic) plan? Leave the working, law abiding, gun owning public the hell alone.
I think parents should boycott schools that do NOT have guns. I have the right to protect myself and if you don’t like it tough $hit.
The 2nd Amendment was put into the Constitution so the people could protect themselves from a corrupt government. No double standards put DC politicians on Obamacare and SS.Thanks for your support and vote.Pass the word. mrpresident2016.com
It all starts with each of us:
1) take someone new to guns to the range.
2) write a letter to the paper
3) Go to town halls and keep people informed/educated.
4) be willing to show up for rallies
All from the same hypocrite who was a former black panther and who smuggled guns to the Mexican drug cartels. He needs to be in prison, preferably like Otis or Juice Ortiz in Sons of Anarchy.
So is the next hashtag campaign about showing off our cool guns?
#gunsarewaycool
The anti-smokers had facts on their side. The anti-gunners do not, and it’s a lot easier to sell the truth than lies.
We need to make self defense cool. Of everything the antis talk about, what they.never mention is SELF DEFENSE NEWS.
We need to relay every self defense story we see on social media because the news media downplay it. I believe millions of self defense occurances far our weight murder, suicide and accidents by far. We.need to hammer this fact home with people.
I’m amused how this is their backup strategy when legislation isn’t working. “Oh, we CAN’T cram our stupidity down the throats of our countrymen through force of government? Well, let’s try convincing them…”
Government is supposed to reflect its people, not determine them. This is why progressivism is a disease.
I’m a fat, glasses wearing , IT geek. I’m a pocket protector away from being an Internet meme.
OH WAIT. Geeks are cool now and I carry a .40
I smoked a cigarette while reading this.
Liberals want to think they are cool, they have to stay in line to be in the cool club. Still living in a delayed development stage. Overly concerned about what their peers they about them.
Most, if not all, people here could give a rat’s rear end about what people think of them.
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