In 2012, #SandyHook happened.
Twenty children in an elementary school were killed by a a terrorist with easy access to guns.
America did nothing.
It is 2022. And this will keep happening.
Twenty children in an elementary school were killed by a a terrorist with easy access to guns.
America did nothing.
It is 2022. And this will keep happening.
https://twitter.com/OmarJimenez/status/1529189009125265408
Even over 2 dozen dead in an elementary school in idyllic prosperous rural Connecticut in 2012 didn't move the "Pro-Life" Party from its avowed position to be shills for gun companies.
14 children gunned down for the Second Amendment, which even in the "originalist" reading, wasn't meant to mean guns for everyone no questions asked.
While courts and conservatives focus on a woman's genitals
While courts and conservatives focus on a woman's genitals
https://twitter.com/NPR/status/1529208278315683841?t=H8I_HHt5CAJPkA-zsyrT5A&s=19
The "original sin" of the United States of America is the Second Amendment.
Our university has us do an active shooter training every year. Generally Stevens is a happy cheerful campus. But that is the most depressing thing to attend for everyone. Being trained on how to deal with a dude with an assault rifle using furniture and stationary. 😑
The first time I attended such a training a few years ago was the first time I learned how to lock a classroom from the inside. All those years, I never knew because why would I ever have to lock a classroom from the inside.
The training reminded us.
The training reminded us.
Notice that the "Arm Teachers! More Security at Schools like at Airports!" noise doesn't come from actual teachers or schools.
I'm an educator who worries regularly about an active shooter. I don't want you to give *me* a gun. I want you to keep his out of his hands.
I'm an educator who worries regularly about an active shooter. I don't want you to give *me* a gun. I want you to keep his out of his hands.
And as a Marketing educator, I urge you to recognize the blatant Marketing strategy in those hot takes already flooding the media.
"If only the teachers had a gun.." is about selling even more guns. Making even more $$$.
NOT about self defense.
We teachers don't want more guns
"If only the teachers had a gun.." is about selling even more guns. Making even more $$$.
NOT about self defense.
We teachers don't want more guns
And "we need more security at schools, like at Airports or federal buildings" is also a Marketing tactic. More $$$ for gun sellers and also for private security contractors.
Teachers want more education funding not more security theatre.
And of course, gun regulations.
Teachers want more education funding not more security theatre.
And of course, gun regulations.
Instead what we are getting is laws that put more guns in the hands of more people.
This is like literally connected.
This is like literally connected.
Literally a direct line from recent Republican legislation in Texas to the recent mass killing of kids in Texas. While they pretend to care about babies and criminalize abortions.
"Pro-Life" it seems.
"Pro-Life" it seems.
In pure Marketing terms, guns are an anomalous product, in that their being used to kill people can be flipped narratively into selling more of their product.
Cars catching fire or 737 Max crashing don't make cars or planes MORE popular. But gun violence makes guns more popular!
Cars catching fire or 737 Max crashing don't make cars or planes MORE popular. But gun violence makes guns more popular!
Because no matter how sexy TV shows and movies and video games and advertising and social media propaganda make guns seem, they are, at the end of the day, tools explicitly meant to maim or kill.
So when they *work* like in Uvalde, more people will buy them, not less.
So when they *work* like in Uvalde, more people will buy them, not less.
The mythical "free market" or "civil society" can't fix America's gun problem. The answer is in legislation and in the courts. In winning elections. With special focus on the midterms. And state races. And swing Senate seats.
It'll take years but it's the only way out.
It'll take years but it's the only way out.
Exactly. It's all about marketing narratives.
Charlton Heston as the NRA face after Columbine pioneered this technique of gun lobby leaning into mass shootings as opposed to laying low.
They actively consciously strategically used tragedies to sell guns
Charlton Heston as the NRA face after Columbine pioneered this technique of gun lobby leaning into mass shootings as opposed to laying low.
They actively consciously strategically used tragedies to sell guns
https://twitter.com/pjux/status/1529514606208729089?t=dM76W57dBHGJdvFv6_tRJg&s=19
Until Columbine, whenever there was a mass shooting of innocent civilians, and especially women or children, the NRA and its figureheads laid low. Obviously. Their product was responsible for murder!
Charlton Heston flipped that strategy in a cruelly cynical way.
Charlton Heston flipped that strategy in a cruelly cynical way.
After Columbine, the NRA, once a generally dorky staid lobbying entity, was completely taken over by the gun manufacturers and gun retailers. And with their latest celebrity endorsement, Hollywood Moses himself, they decided to turn mass shooting crises into opportunities.
So after a headline making mass shooting, Heston and NRA would rush to the site of the tragedy and hold a big "Guns don't kill people" rallies, also saying "Come buy more guns before the evil liberals ban them all".
Every tragedy makes them richer. Why would they stop?
Every tragedy makes them richer. Why would they stop?
This image is central to the idea that no matter how many innocent people or children are gunned down, any kind of gun regulation is unpatriotic and "leftist".
The most effective evil marketing campaign in modern America.
The most effective evil marketing campaign in modern America.
Until the late 90s, the American conservative movement wasn't really all that into unfettered access to guns.
It's a result of 21st century marketing that it's become the reality of American politics today.
It's a result of 21st century marketing that it's become the reality of American politics today.
It's a perennial winning strategy for them. The answer to gun violence being more guns.
https://twitter.com/pamela_vogel/status/1529482485951774720?t=pxtUtk-z3KQ1rClTKONYwA&s=19
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