You Know My Name
The official definition of a terrorist is “that of a person that uses unlawful violence and intimidation against civilians in the pursuit of political aims.” You’ll immediately notice that at no time does it actually mention death or murder. That is what a lot of people mistake for terrorism. Death is but a side effect. The real goal is the political agenda.
Shortly after the Uvalde massacre, the following advertisement started making it circles around the internet. As you look at this picture, I want you to remember one thing. This isn’t the picture of some jackass taking a picture with his son. That would be bad enough. This is a picture from the maker of the gun designed to sell it. It’s a damn advertisement.
Now, let’s first dispense with a few misconceptions. This was intentional. You can’t imagine the number of people that had to sign off on this advertisement. This isn’t the work of some junior level temp that sent out an advertisement like some kind of rogue Bond villain. Dozens of people viewed it and at least half of dozen had to sign off before releasing it into the wild.
Tbere are a few things we know. The first thing is that even the rank and file in the NRA isn’t on board with what leadership is doing. Leadership doesn’t represent them anymore. We also know that the NRA has shifted over the intervening decades where they represent the interests of gun manufacturers more than the interests of individual gun owners.
For those keeping up, Daniel Defense was the producer of the weapon. They are the ones that released the picture above. So, in essence, the NRA and these gun manufacturers are willing to lie to their constituents about the availability of guns and the political motivations of Congressional Democrats and Joe Biden. They want to scare the flock into buying more guns.
So, they want to lie and intimidate the people into doing what they want. Just ask yourself how you feel when you see that picture above. What is the gut emotion in play here? Mind you, I don’t know that the NRA or Daniel Defense wants people to die. However, they are not above using their deaths in order to further their political agenda. They want more people to buy guns. They want more guns and bigger guns. We already have more guns than people. Why not two times? Three times? Four times?
So, when an interest group and a company uses fear and intimidation to further a political agenda what exactly do we call that? What do we call it when that interest group continues to hold it’s rallies and conventions days after these tragedies? It isn’t hard to picture members of the Taliban or Al Queda dancing up and down on 9/11. Heck, politicians used those images to stoke anger in us. Simply transpose the images of politicians and rednecks dancing on stage and cheering and it is the same exact thing.
I want you to take a good look at that picture above. Is that a picture from a company that is so tone deaf that they just don’t know they are being overwhelmingly offensive? Do you really believe that? Or, is that the photo designed to trigger people on one side or another. What do you call people that use fear and intimidation for their own political ends and profit? I wish there was a name for that. It’s right there on the tip of my tongue.
One of the most disturbing pictures I saw in the paper of the inside of the NRA convention was a little boy, about he age of those murdered in Uvalde, looking at a display of an assault rifle. I hope, once the Uvalde and Buffalo families have buried their dead, they sue that manufacturer, just as Sandy Hook families sued Remington and Purdue Pharma was sued. These companies only understand money, so hit them HARD in the wallet.
1Grandma Ada @ 1,
I would add that gun dealers should also be sued if they sell an assault rifle or other gun that is used the comission of a crime. The bodies of innocent children and adults were blown apart by this weapon of war. I recall hearing authorities say they needed DNA samples from the parents. it doesn’t take much thought to figure out that the bodies of those small kids were unrecognizable. This shit has to stop.
https://theintercept.com/2022/05/26/ar-15-uvalde-school-shooting-vietnam-war/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=The%20Intercept%20Newsletter
2Don’t forget the biblical verse. from Proverbs22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it” ,that was added to this picture
3@Heidi Good—Yes, somehow guns have become a “God given right.” As if that is the whole purpose of Christianity and the Bible. “And Jesus wept.”
4I agree with Papa. In some places a bartender can be held responsible if a drunk patron totals his car. They’re expected to judge when someone has had enough and cut him off or take his keys. I don’t think there’s a school that teaches this skill.
So definitely go after those who “legally” sell a military weapon to a civilian, especially in states which have washed their hands by eliminating background checks or any mandatory training.
5I would also add the retailer that sold an 18 YO 350 rounds of ammunition for an assault rifle should be sued.
6I agree with Steve from Beaverton @ 6,
Retailers don’t even think or question why an 18 year old would purchase 350 rounds for an assault rifle. They just sell it. I mean, this is a gun that has only one purpose: to kill masses of humans.
7For a long time, we have been made to apologize or tiptoe in these moments and I’m sick of it. We couch things in a nice way as to not offend anyone. I’m done. They are deplorables. The preacher from Tennessee is a domestic terrorist. The NRA are terrorists. These gun companies are downright evil. Not misunderstood. Not mistaken. Not misguided. Just evil. Cancel culture? You bet your ass I want to cancel all of you (pejorative you) jokers.
8Daniel Defense made a statement when they decided to not have a display at the NRA meeting:
“We believe this week is not the appropriate time to be promoting our products in Texas at the NRA meeting.”
So they’re implicitly saying “But the week before and the week after are just dandy! And we’ll sell our weapons anywhere folks have money for them … just not this week in Texas at the NRA meeting. Joe’s Guns and Knives a block away in Houston, however, has a special on our AR-15 knock-offs. Just give the code Uvalde21 to get an extra 10% off!”
9… and someone just pointed out on twitter: you cannot legally own more than 6 dildos in Texas, but there’s no limit on the number of guns:
https://onwardtexas.org/trending/is-it-illegal-to-own-more-than-six-dildos-in-texas-yes-it-is/
Probably because large collections of dildos might compete with the Texas state legislature. For all the hetero guys that are thinking this does not affect them, the law also applies to “artificial vaginas”.
My questions are: how do you register your (legal) 6 or fewer? And can someone sue you and pick up $10k if they find you’ve exceeded the limit? Finally: Who can believe that the majority of Texans don’t realize just how ridiculous their government is when run by Republicans? [answer for the last one: everybody, since large numbers of dead bodies blasted away by a nutcase don’t seem to raise an eyebrow among the majority of the electorate.]
10The only thing I can begin to compare that ad to would be the old Joe Camel ads that clearly were aimed at children. It’s one thing for a family to introduce guns to their children at a young age. At the end of the day everyone has to govern their own conscience. It’s the same with alcohol or tobacco. There is an argument for that in some respects. If I set parameters, preach safety, and treat the gun as a dangerous tool that has legit uses then maybe those kids have a fighting chance.
Having an ad that targets children is just despicable. There’s really no other way to put it. Whether it’s meant to trigger those of us that are anti-gun is open to debate. I think they know exactly how it impacts us on that side. Others may disagree.
11Not forgetting that the Grand Ol` Perverts NEED babies to handle a gun from one day old .
12Clearly Surly you don’t understand that we can trace sales of dildos and false vaginas. There is a registry for these things because anyone that owns one or more of those is potentially dangerous. Moreover, I think there is a waiting period and a dildo safety course that you must enroll in. Priorities man. Priorities.
13Sorry you left out that the text of this ad, at least the copy that was on Twitter was a Biblical quote that I’ll paraphrase:
14“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it . . ” That is pure sickness and evil to conflate assault weapons and child rearing but with this ad were
a dozen others this company has used that were equally bizarre.
Of course they employ lingo that only the truly manly man of guns can appreciate so I was in the dark but the imagery was of
highly tricked out assault weapons in the kitchen, or lounging poolside, or standing against the tire of a parked car. Just
hard to truly appreciate the marketing imagination that created
such banal images of death machines.