You would think the anti-gun advocates had failed enough times with false flags attempting to divide the gun owning community they would just give up.
Just found this article via the usual enemy transmissions:
The gun responsibility organization Evolve and Saatchi & Saatchi New York today launched the first phase in a national culture change campaign aimed at reducing gun violence in America.
The campaign aims to become the “third voice” in a conversation that has been gridlocked for decades….The Code includes tenants such as I believe that owning a gun is a responsibility. And that gun safety is the most important part of that responsibility. I believe a gun in the wrong hands is a dangerous thing. I will be answerable for every gun I own at all times. …
Evolve is about changing the culture of gun safety in America. We represent the third voice: the gun owner, manufacturer, retailer and non-gun owner who all want the same thing: less violence. It’s time. We respect that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear arms. Let’s make our country a better, less violent place.
So that presser seems pretty reasonable on the surface. I would argue that the voice of gun rights advocates have owned the narrative of public safety. The United states is safer than its been since the 1970s! Gun ownership is at an all-time-high. Carry permit issuance is at an all-time high. Gun laws are becoming more and more liberal.
I believe that while anyone can own a gun, real gun owners use their heads. I believe a gun in the wrong hands is a dangerous thing. I will keep all of my guns unloaded, locked, and properly stored when not in use. I will be trained in how to use my gun. I will be answerable for every gun I own at all times. I will talk to my kids about the fact that there are guns in our home and those guns will be properly stored. I will speak out when I see people who are using guns without using their heads. I will respect what owning a gun means. I will respect the code.
With the exception of the “Locked and Unloaded” that is 100% the NRA’s stance on gun ownership. Further looking through their website all you have for “Discussion” is signing up for their mailing list and donating money to them. There is no forum, there is no way to voice a different opinion or point out flaws in their platform.
Further there is talk about gun ownership, and citations of violent crime, but nothing about legal personal defense…you know the REASON why we own guns.
They don’t actually have any citations for ACTUAL action besides the boiler-plate “Safe Storage” which is opposed by gun advocates because if followed to the letter, it greatly hinders lawful self defense.
What they DO have is this:
Ok first let’s savor the irony of this video. A group using their freedom of speech and expression to make a factually inaccurate, crass, and insulting video.
First up, the 2nd Amendment is NOT a law governing the people, its a restriction set up to prevent the government from overstepping its powers.
They then go on and cite “examples” or irresponsible gun ownership.
Better yet, the examples they cite are all CRIMINAL acts! You leave a loaded gun around and it discharges you’re liable for that. Nobody is disputing that. You let children play with firearms without proper training and supervision, you’re liable for that. Nobody is disputing that. You discharge a firearm in an unsafe manner, you’re liable for that. Nobody is disputing that.
Which begs the question: What is this group actually standing for?
I would note that this video seems to be openly hostile to modern gun ownership. At best they are openly ignorant in current gun laws and gun ownership.
I call “False Flag”.
I notice that presser is two months old. They don’t seem to be capturing the meme with any particular speed.
The presser is old but they’re active on FB.
…and at least they haven’t blocked comments on the video…yet.
They’re not very consistent in their message. First it was that the founding fathers thought it so obvious that the 2A came with the responsibility to not be a dumbass that it wasn’t worth even printing. Then we see Ben Franklin playing pi’f1ata with a blunderbuss- obviously what the Founding Fathers would consider protected behavior, and not over the “dumbass line”.
Outside of ‘Don’t be a dumbass’, I’m still trying to figure out what their ‘message’ is. They seem to have an aversion to specifics.
They sure do. Plus the vague message they are hammering seems to be already well in place.
The BEST argument FOR them I could make is fouled by the fact that they seem to be targeting private gun owners, and not Police.
They cite MAAD as one of their inspirational groups, and the #1 success of MAAD was simply getting Police to take drunk driving more seriously. Heck I still hear people talk about scenarios where you’re “Driving with a Beer Between your Legs”, which dates their experience to A) A time when cars didn’t have cup holders, and B) Cars were frequently stick-shift and you needed two hands to drive.
Back in those days cops would just dump your beer out and tell you to drive home, or find a place to pull over and sleep it off, rather than today’s sleeping it off in the drunk tank with your car in the impound lot.
Here in Mass we have all those stupid laws in place, and the inner-city illegal gun owners are rarely charged, or put away for their irresponsible and criminal gun ownership.
So yeah, all sources point to “False Flag”.
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I don’t know of anyone advocatiing for the “right” to handle guns irresponsibly, so right there they’re arguing against a straw man.
They don’t mention a possible “…unless you’re a dumbass” tag on any of the other amendments, but there is precident as to why they would like to see it assumed into the second amendment– The IRS targeting of conservative groups. That is essentially the leftist version of a “unless you’re a dumbass” clause in the first amendment. The ultimate leftist conclusion, of course, is that people in general are too stupid to be free, and this is how I interpret the video. Since practically all private gun owners are dumbasses in their view (and they’ve been very, very clear on this for many years) then only the anointed few should be allowed to have guns. QED.
I smell that rat a mile away.
I’m ok with the ‘locked and unloaded when not in use.’
So long as they understand that the pistol I place at my bedside every night remains in use until I store it away in the morning.
Ditto for the discretely placed shotgun that remains in use 24/7.
Frankly, knowing there are loaded firearms hand in the house keeps me more aware and more responsible.
But this, and every other ‘third way’ organization is not about that, because the last thing they want to do is trust in their fellow citizens. Which, ultimately, makes them no friends of liberty.
I’m not a fan of administrative unloading of guns. I keep my carry guns and HD guns loaded at all times, and I lock them up loaded when they aren’t under my control.
Of course I think we’re being generous, I don’t think they acknowledge or even like self defense.
Allowing dumbasses like the folks at Evolve unregulated use of the first amendment is dangerous.
Ideas are for more dangerous than firearms.
Organizations like Evolve should be required to get permits, and have videos like this vetted for actual facts instead of self-serving propaganda before being allowed to do something as dangerous as spread a bad idea via free speech abuse.