Advertising and Firearms

Americans are bombarded by advertisements. I can't pump fuel without hearing some chirpy presenter tell me about the tasty vittles mere steps away.
I ignore 98% of them (it's a thing in our house to mute any commercials during the few ad-riddled programs we watch), but some still seep through.

I've written extensively on the use of deadly force. I served in uniform for 21 years (in specialties that trained direct action, not support). Yet I still had to work through whether or not I could use deadly force in a clear defensive situation (my blog is here: http://www.defendersmindset.com/ ).

Bottom line? It's not easy.

Too many firearms ads are glib about self-defense: "Bad guy stalking female model opening car door in the dark"). 

There's more to self-defense than a purchase.

But what other area in American advertising lays out the complex path from "buy" to "master and use"?

None.

Instead, we're lied to, constantly: Diet pills and the right hairdo will transform you into a 20-year-old Olympian. An app will make you a native French speaker. A book will make you an ideal parent. A car will provide status and prestige. A "supplement" will restore your fading cognition. A seminar will teach you "Five ways to Make Awesome [insert thing here]."

That said, it's easy to point to a thing and say, "Aha! Person A used thing x to do bad. Remove thing x!" The tragedy in this is we focus on the thing because we have bought into the ad concept: "Buy thing y, be fit / beautiful / strong / smart / etc."

We've been programmed: "Good thing? Right purchase. Bad thing? Poor purchase."

Meanwhile, these cases are evidence of deeper problems wrought by pharmacopeia, dysfunctional families, easy divorce, serial polygamy, drug and death culture in movies, music, and games, youthful angst, lack of role models, and the cult of celebrity. For every mass killer adolescent boy, there are 100,000 other adolescent boys with equal access to firearms who never commit mass murder.

These problems require objective assessment and careful thought leading to the often uncomfortable shattering of illusions crafted by slick marketing of all types.

Few people will admit that. Fewer will do anything about it.