Right wing discourse on guns is completely shaped by the gun industry’s desire to sell more guns

[SecularMotion]

I’ve noticed a dramatic uptick in gun nuts talking about how people need to learn to be “comfortable” around guns, which has, in turn, led to this whole “open carry” bullshit, which uses the line that it’s good to be “comfortable” around guns as its justification. (However, the emotional motive behind swinging a gun around in public is still the desire to dominate and terrify, but we’re all familiar with the glib ease with lying that is widespread on the American right.) There’s even a children’s book pushing the idea that it’s wholesome family fun to “open carry”. When I was young and growing up in gun-loving Texas around gun-loving people, the notion that you should just be tossing guns around and displaying them everywhere like some yahoo—the idea that guns are safe and we should feel “comfortable” around them—was strongly discouraged. Guns were locked away and we were told that they are very dangerous. But while that’s surely a smarter move if you want to minimize accidental shooting, the correct belief that guns are dangerous had to go because it’s clearly stifling gun profits. There’s still a little bit of talk about gun safety on the right, but it’s just a little ass-covering. The emotional pitch now is that guns are safe and they should be everywhere all the time until you forget how fucking dangerous they really are.

This is all corporate marketing 101. No doubt the very real fear that guns are dangerous—backed by statistical evidence showing that having one in your house raises your chances of being murdered or assaulted by gun, being shot by accident, and committing suicide—is a huge barrier to selling more guns. So just like the ads in the 50s that tried to calm consumer fears of cancer by showing doctors smoking, there’s a push to signal that guns are not dangerous. You should just have them laying around all the time. You should strap them to your body! Guns should just be so familiar you completely forget that they can blow your head off if you handle them incorrectly. They’re so safe we should have kids firing them to pass on to the next grade! They’re just like very expensive action figures and you should collect them all!

The shift from concealed carry to open carry as a focal point is also indicative of how much the discourse on guns on the right is being shaped by the gun industry’s desire to sell more guns. Anyone who knows anything about markets knows that conspicuous consumption is a huge driver of profits, and that convincing people that owning your product will say something about them as a person is a really good way to sell widgets. (Anyone who claims they’re immune to this is probably lying, and you can find their iPhone on them somewhere—or their Android, with which they signal how they’re different and smarter than everyone else.) With guns, the fact that people lock them away or hide them on their person, therefore, is clearly stifling sales. Shifting towards arguments about how people need to be “comfortable” with guns and open carry is better than concealed carry allows people to display their guns. Being able to use guns to signal your identity to others—or to make others believe you are tough—shifts guns directly into the conspicuous consumption category, which is huge for gun sales. Entire industries are built on selling stuff that’s main purpose is showing off that you own this particular item, which any purse manufacturer or luxury car salesman can tell you.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/06/right-wing-discourse-on-guns-is-being-completely-shaped-by-the-gun-industrys-desire-to-sell-more-guns

[DetlefK]

1. I have a weird idea for a satiric comedy-skit...

"You just need to get comfortable around them.

Have them around you.

They are not dangerous.

Carry them openly around with you.

Detractors will call you out, but they just don't realize how natural it is and how proud you are of your constitutional rights."

Image of two men piggyback-riding. The upper one hops off and they hold hands.



And then a second plot-twist about immigrants and muslims.

[NYC_SKP]

2. I wouldn't know, but as Capitalism goes, it makes perfectly good sense that they would.

...

I'm not interested in a story, however, that can't even get ten words into a written composition without using the term "gun nuts".

I don't understand gun-fear mongering writers' obsession with sexualizing the topic with talk of penises and nuts and other terms like "ammosexual".

[SecularMotion]

3. Kick

[DonP]

4. There's desperation for ya, do you Rec your own stuff too?

Trashing now, thanks.

[oneshooter]

5. Trashed, as is all of his/hers/its posts.

[DonP]

6. Yeah, if only there was a group where he could openly support gun control and confiscation ...

[Duckhunter935]

7. All he can do

The group he hosts has so little traffic, he has nothing to moderate and it is not worth posting there. All he can do now is click on a smiley, kick and rec his own Google cut and paste dumps. Can't even take the time to post a comment or discuss them. I find it hilarious

[ileus]

8. Guns are mean and scary.

[Straw Man]

9. Allow me to retort ...

When I was young and growing up in gun-loving Texas around gun-loving people, the notion that you should just be tossing guns around and displaying them everywhere like some yahoo—the idea that guns are safe and we should feel “comfortable” around them—was strongly discouraged. Guns were locked away and we were told that they are very dangerous. But while that’s surely a smarter move if you want to minimize accidental shooting, the correct belief that guns are dangerous had to go because it’s clearly stifling gun profits. There’s still a little bit of talk about gun safety on the right, but it’s just a little ass-covering. The emotional pitch now is that guns are safe and they should be everywhere all the time until you forget how fucking dangerous they really are.

Guns are dangerous. No one has ever -- repeat ever -- disputed that. But the notion that a visible gun is more dangerous than a concealed one is ludicrous, as is the notion that discomfort with weapons somehow fosters safety.

Let's make an analogy to power tools. They are extremely dangerous if you don't know how to use them. The appropriate response to a power tool is to learn how to use it or leave it the eff alone. You don't park the bandsaw in the living room and say, "I'll just let it sit there until I'm comfortable with it, and then I'll let 'er rip!" Nor do you scream "Danger! Danger! Bandsaw!" and then stash it out of sight lest you put yourself at risk through too much familiarity and "comfort."

What you do is learn about the machine and how to operate it safely, with guns as with power tools. The right kind of familiarity leads to competence, safety, and ultimately comfort.

The NRA -- yeah, those guys -- have a course called Home Firearms Safety, in which no guns are fired. Students learn the basics of safe handling and safe storage, and then are taught how to safely unload all the major handgun and long gun platforms, using dummy ammunition. Y'know, so that if you find a gun in the woods you can make sure that it isn't a danger to you or anyone else. That's gun safety.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

10. Controller discourse on gun control is completely shaped by the Controller desire to control.

Because they reject all proposals that would actually reduce negligent gun deaths, treat mental illness and keep guns away from criminals in favor of disarming the people in direct violation of the Constitution.

[Eleanors38]

11. Trashing a year-old thread.

[benEzra]

12. You know, if MDA/VPC/CSGV/Brady/Joyce et al wanted to sell as many guns as possible,

then it's hard to think of how they could shape *their* rhetoric and legislative proposals more effectively than what they already do. Bloomberg is the best AR-15 salesman in the nation. Every time sales start to return to normal, he kicks off another "let's ban more guns and magazines" campaign, and then sales of modern-looking rifles, handguns, and regular magazines go to the moon again.