Gun Grooming

[RDKirk]

....former gun industry executive Ryan Busse writes in The Atlantic (he left the industry in 2021]:

"The ads [2010], which ran in several gun-industry publications, on websites, and in Maxim magazine, were controversial and gained national attention. More important, they showed the rest of the industry the power of an appeal based on masculinity to the 18–35 male demographic, at a time when images from America’s foreign wars were airing constantly on the evening news."

He goes on to argue the gun industry made a decision to exploit the growing "tactical market" - a market that relies on exploiting the culture war to create fear....and sales.

Another example is "Daniel Defense"

"Few of this new breed of firearms company are more illustrative of the dramatic transformation that has taken place in the U.S. gun market than Daniel Defense. Like scores of entrepreneurs who saw this opportunity in the early 2000s, Marty Daniel started a gun company that soon turned to AR-15 sales. And he set a new industry standard by leaning into a civilian market for guns touted as the military real deal. One of the company’s early ads, in 2012, lured young men with the promise of being on par with Special Forces soldiers."
...
Like many other firearms companies, Daniel Defense also sought placement of its products in movies and video games. This Facebook post from 2019 alerts followers to the appearance of one of its DDM4 V7 rifles in the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare game. The DDM4 V7 was used by the 18-year-old gamer turned shooter in Uvalde, Texas."

....and later:

The lionization of Kyle Rittenhouse tapped into something powerful already under way: Fear of rioters and the power to kill them was proving a winning formula for creating new customers. Wilson Combat, an Arkansas gunmaker, was one company poised to take advantage of public anxiety about civil strife, advertising on its website an AR-15 model marketed as the Urban Super Sniper. “There are times when extreme accuracy and rapid follow-up shots are the most important criteria when selecting a rifle,” the site proclaims.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/07/firearms-industry-marketing-mass-shooter/670621/

Okay, so and Maxim magazine.

Otherwise, movies and video games, as I said.

 

[Tuur]

No, though I did join the army after high school. In our home, I recall the no toy guns rule by my parents was based on gun safety. Knowing I would eventually shoot real weapons, I suspect they didn't want me to learn bad habits (i.e. pointing guns at people).

Huh. Different than how we were expected to follow gun safety with toy guns. In that instance, they were as much a teaching aid as a toy.

 

[Tuur]

Addendum to the above: The thing is, I don't think we realized what our parents were doing there. Gun safety just became accepted behavior.

 

[rambot]

My option doesn't matter. Ask yourself what an attorney for Kyle Rittenhouse might say. And that's all I'll say about it.

Two people with guns pointing them at each other; neither of them calm and composed, both of them in "Reptilian Brain mode". BOTH of those people were in grave danger.

I'm not talking simply about Kyle here. I'm talking about the overall circumstance and how the American gun culture's persuasion towards justice is so strange.

 

[Aldebaran]

Two people with guns pointing them at each other; neither of them calm and composed, both of them in "Reptilian Brain mode". BOTH of those people were in grave danger.

I'm not talking simply about Kyle here. I'm talking about the overall circumstance and how the American gun culture's persuasion towards justice is so strange.

How do you know what people in photos are feeling or thinking?

 

[rambot]

How do you know what people in photos are feeling or thinking?

Really? You haven't heard of nonverbal signals?

 

[Aldebaran]

Really? You haven't heard of nonverbal signals?

Ok, what "signals" do you see in the photograph that allows you to read thoughts and emotions?

 

[mark46]

Federal Assault Weapons Ban - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Yes, there can be negotiated definitions.

Object to such a law if you must. However, IMO, it is silly to argue that we shouldn't pass a law because we are incapable of coming up with definitions.

 

[Aldebaran]

Federal Assault Weapons Ban - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Yes, there can be negotiated definitions.

Object to such a law if you must. However, IMO, it is silly to argue that we shouldn't pass a law because we are incapable of coming up with definitions.

Legal definitions are very important in law.

 

[rambot]

Ok, what "signals" do you see in the photograph that allows you to read thoughts and emotions?

What is "the photo" you are talking about? I'm saying you can read people's body language. Is that mind blowing? I wasn't addressing any picture. I was addressing situations.

 

[Ana the Ist]

AR-15's existed 40 years ago but they weren't nearly as popular.

I had to look it up...I'm guessing they weren't as popular because you could buy actual assault rifles in full auto like the popular AK47.

 

[Ana the Ist]

No you don’t. You disingenuously assume.

Well if it sounds like you're making the same arguments...I am assuming, but there's nothing disingenuous about it.

What's next? Telling me he crossed state lines?

 

[Ana the Ist]

There isn't a single "it" obviously, but I think gun industry marketing is part of the picture. There are individuals who are vulnerable to such messages as ramjet summarized:

Industry marketing is so limited (to my knowledge) that you basically have to be interested in guns to even find it.

.I've never seen a gun ad on TV, heard one on the radio, or in public sources like billboards. If these rules vary state by state....I somehow missed it

You can find them in magazines, and if your internet algorithm shows a potential interest....but that's all I can think of off the top of my head. It's a strange assertion to say this has created some aberrant effect on today's youth.

As for the explanation...I have no idea what it means. It looks like he's afraid of "good guys with guns" going on rampages. I don't recall that ever being a thing. It doesn't seem like his one example of Rittenhouse is a problem. I can think of one other case....maybe Christopher Dorner...who really saw himself as a good guy with gun. There's a pretty old case where a father assassinated his child's rapist while he was walking in police custody....but it's not really a rampage. I think there was an old man who killed a couple of thieves who kept robbing his home....he went to jail.

Whatever mentality @rambot is trying to describe seems extremely rare, hard to find examples of, and when I can find them....we're often talking about someone justified in shooting.

I used to broadly support certain gun restrictions and laws and would advocate for certain others....but I can't in good conscience do it now.

That's because it appears to be coming from the same far left voices that have so damaged police effectiveness. If the next step is making sure the average citizen is unable to defend themselves....well, this is a pretty well worn and predictable direction from the far left.

Perhaps we should just pretend to turn in all guns and see what they suggest next.

Does it strike you as at all strange that the left seems very focused on creating narratives and removing or silencing oppositional ideas....particularly those consumed by very young children?

 

[Ana the Ist]

None. But if the police who did the shooting were not there the police would not have killed anyone.

True. If you remove any of the people involved in a killing....we could argue it wouldn't have happened.

In fact, check this out....if we removed your lunch today....you wouldn't have had lunch. Mind blowing stuff. I probably should have told you to sit down before reading.

Do you see?

I do....I'm seeing people who need no logic, reasoning, evidence, or really any personal motive or stake willing to parrot any idea just sent their direction.

It's not exactly a comforting thing to see.

 

[Ana the Ist]

Okay, so and Maxim magazine.

Otherwise, movies and video games, as I said.

Movies I had thought of....but I think the left has ruined movies enough. I don't want John Wick 4 to only feature nerf guns with everyone pretending to die.


Stop destroying otherwise enjoyable movies by trying to inject your politics in them please. It's getting very weird.

 

[Ana the Ist]

I'm saying you can read people's body language. Is that mind blowing? I wasn't addressing any picture.

Well you can read body language....you can also misread body language. Some people are terrible at reading body language. Pictures are tricky because if they are posing or otherwise aware of the picture....that's not body language so much as it's a deliberate manipulation of body language .

Lots of people smile for the camera when told. The idea that means they must all be happy is.....well it's not a great idea.

 

[Ana the Ist]

Legal definitions are very important in law.

Yeah...I can't believe someone said we don't really need definitions in legal terms.

That's literally the move Stalin played. I would have to look up the law....but it describes something so vague it was applicable to basically anyone who Stalin wanted to remove. I remember it's innocuous sounding too....

 

[Ana the Ist]

It was just picking up slack for French colonial assets.

You're contention is that we went to Vietnam for the ripe pickings of an economic source that was slipping from French control?

The Khmer Rouge came into power because of the Vietnam war (specifically, Nixon bombing Cambodia).

I'm sorry....you think they gained popularity from the bombing? I wouldn't disagree with that. I can't just handwave the training given by the N Vietnamese army, indoctrination and propaganda help from China, or the fact that they idealized the N Korean model though.

It's possibly the most gruesome genocide ever seen. If you think that happened because of a bombing you're wildly off.

Vietnam saw the Khmer Rouge as enemies, and went to war with them in the 70's and 80's.

Yeah, eventually they couldn't continue support for a regime that saved bullets by beating people's heads in with blunt instruments. Vietnam invaded to help end what they had started....and saw the resentment of a populace that didn't appreciate your intervention. They began to sympathize with the US soldiers they fought so recently and that's part of why they abandoned socialism rather quickly.

The abject horrors of forced equality were also apparent to them far before the west got a peek behind the iron curtain. They wisely shifted course in many ways....and recovered far quicker than "communist" nations that didn't.

You don't do evil so that good may be accomplished.

In the words of the leading scholar of Anti-Racism....and I'm paraphrasing....

"The only remedy for past discrimination is current discrimination."

"Assault weapon" has a precise definition in US legal precedent.

Assault weapon?

It has to have two or more features, such as pistol grip, foregrip, detachable magazine, flash suppressor, etc. It has nothing to do with whether its semi-automatic or fully automatic.

Assault weapons are....as far as I can tell....weapons used in an assault.

My shoe could be used to assault someone for example. That would be assault with a weapon.


Assault with a deadly weapon (and I'm probably going to get the wording wrong) is the use of a weapon in an assault in such a manner or chosen to be used in such a manner as to cause serious injury or death.

Where is the precedent for this assault weapon definition you're talking about?

 

[timewerx]

Guns are not the problem. Look at Iceland, one of the highest gun ownership in the world but also have lowest homicide rates in the world.

The irony of ironies? Guns are not the problem but the culture of bullying and coldness towards other people.

'Christian' America often looks at Iceland and other countries in Europe as pagans but who really are the more loving and caring towards one another?

 

[rjs330]

There was an interesting thread about school shootings just below....with more than a few people talking about the gun culture of America.

I'm wondering if anyone has ever stopped to think about the idea of "gun grooming"? Some folks are quick to suggest that gendering LARPING is an existential threat to America, however it seems maintaining it's fascination with guns is a FAR greater threat to people's safety in the US. Gun culture is a very oft repeated phrase when folks are trying to wrap their head around why America has so much more of a problem with guns than any other country. And it does appear that EVERYONE (right?) actually does want to stop shootings.

Do you have thoughts on the concept of gun grooming?

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You know where real gun grooming is taking place? In the inner cities of America. And you know who is involved in that culture right?