Please let me start by saying I am not accusing anyone of anything but it is obvious that Americans have some fundamentally different views on guns to many outside of America. I have been trying to determine why this is so. Some years back I became convinced that it was not the number of guns that raised the gun death rate - it was number of guns plus societal attitude and myths towards guns. There is a very real reason why I want to continue to explore this topic - I would like to reduce gun deaths I think most people would And let us face it - even the most ardent gun lover would be delighted if we could simultaneously reduce gun deaths and allow them to keep firearms. So, if one of the drivers of a higher gun death rate is societal attitude and beliefs about guns then maybe we should look to the source of those beliefs - advertising. See we do not have ANY gun advertising here. Yes, there are a few gun magazines around but no widespread advertising. So, my question is - how influential is gun advertising in the USA?
I would argue the influence of gun advertising is minimal, as it caters to existing gun owners. Rightly or wrongly, the gun culture in America is pervasive, Between 40 - 50% of households have at least one gun. This isn't changing any time soon, I would say gun ownership is growing, not declining and advertising has a minimal overall impact on this growth.
Hollywood alone has more influence that the manufacture. If you turn your TV channel to a sporting station you will see advertisement. Not so much on main stream channels. Edit: Gaming also has a major influence.....Sony, XBox etc..
Outdoor related magazines and television shows. You will not see gun advertisements on more mainstream broadcast or cable television shows. it does exist of course, but in media that is catered towards people who would already have an interest in guns. You won't see guns advertised during a show like "American Idol" for example or during sporting events. In specialty magazines, it is very common and on speciality television shows like those catering to hunters, there is lots of gun advertising. It is very easy to go about your life and never see a gun advertisment unless you like hunting tv shows and hunting magazines. it is not in the mainstream advertising media. Toefoot is correct, where you will see lots of guns is in movies and video games...video games are saturated with guns. Most games that sell well, involve killing a pixelated human being with a gun. Sad perhaps, but this is where it is the most prevalent.
I know there has been research into the role of video games with mixed results - some research says it does not influence mass shootings other say yes. But I am more concerned with these sorts of messages
Ads like that are rare in the mainstream media. Those would be found more in outdoor related magazines catering to gun owners. I hear advertisements on the radio here in the central United States for gun stores and they talk about conceal carry permits, but it isn't like the radio is saturated with those sorts of ads. By the way, I have never seen those advertisements before. Obviously I'm just one American, but I've personally never seen those specific ads in anything I watch or read.
Whereas we do not have ANY outside of specialist magazines But the advertisements that show the woman as a victim are the ones that do concern me most
Well Bowerbird, I have never seen those advertisements before in my lifetime. I only subscribe to two magazines and they are both related to aviation. I would guess those ads you show would be in something catering to gun enthusiasts and hunters.
Hollywood movies glorifying violence and associating guns with power do more harm than anything else. About the only gun advertising I see is in hunting magazines and newspaper ads with a list of guns and prices that a local store has for sale. I would put the second most powerful influence is the media attention on guns, especially when one of these mass shootings happen. IIRC, America's murder rate is steadily declining and has been for a long time.
Just curious, why do the ones "showing the woman as a victim" concern you? Don't women deserve protection?
However, and unfortunately it is still orders of magnitude higher than most other industrialised nations - - - Updated - - - Because the idea that a woman is helpless without a gun is almost exclusively American.
Bowerbird, I wanted....no hoped that you are truly wanting to understand Guns, Weapons, Sidearms culture in the US both positive and negative. I was wrong. Your notions are deep and the facade you display is plain, simple and disingenuous......no guns. Why pretend?
Only if you look at it by gun. It depends on how you work the numbers according to your own bias. If you look at intentional murder rates, on a per capita basis, the US isn't really that big of an outlier for industrialized nations and nowhere near what many nations area at. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate)
Interestingly you picked just "intentional homicide" and not "gun related deaths" because there definitely is a difference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate
If you want gun ads, you buy a gun magazine, after that the only advertising is from the leftists actors who speak out against guns yet glorify them to millions of underage children in order to make millions of dollars for themselves. Americans don't need advertisements to buy guns. We understand it is a freedom and you either choose to own one or not. If you want to reduce gun deaths how about putting the pressure on leftists who coddle criminals which is where the problem is in the United States. We let criminals out of jail with a popsicle, a warm facecloth on the back of their necks and an apology we put them through the process here. Quite frankly, I find these threads hypocritical. Everyone, I repeat everyone reading this knows the problem is with the criminals, but the same leftist who cry out we want to reduce gun deaths cant bring themselves to ring the bell about severe punishment for criminals. We have people committing attempted murder here now by just sucker punching people and the media treats it like its just teens letting off steam. You wonder why we carry guns? Because people are walking around punching people for no reason and killing them in some instances, and our POS President nor the leftist media even acknowledges it. If you lefties want less guns on the streets, this attitude is having the exact opposite effect. I know people who ordinarily would never want a gun, watch these stories and are now actively taking gun safety courses in order to obtain their permits to carry. So where do you stand on harsh punishments for criminals? And how many posts do you have about that?
Aside from billboards advertising gun shows, and gun and hunter magazines, I have never seen a firearm advertisement on any media.
Pretty much with every post you have made about guns. Now, I never see any adverts for guns unless you go to gun mfg websites or gun forums. Only gun owners go there so it is not something that is nationwide and imposed on the general public. Nice try but FAIL on this issue.
Stopped reading when I hit the bit about "everyone knows it's the criminals" Right there is another myth - - - Updated - - - Thanks for that - seems it is less pervasive than the internet would suggest
Thought so. You really don't care about stopping gun deaths. The only way you will even contemplate reducing gun deaths is by only reducing guns. WHATS THE MATTER? Afraid correcting the criminal situation will reduce gun deaths and therefore contradict your real agenda which is to remove guns not reduce gun deaths? You don't need to answer. I already know I hit the nail on the head. That's why you stopped reading. Gee and you stated you want to reduce gun deaths, just a couple posts ago. I debunked your thread in one post.
The idea is that a woman with a gun, if she chooses, is certainly not helpless. An unarmed woman may well be.
An unarmed woman is not helpless and inculcating that idea into the female population of a country is doing them a disservice
See, the thing is, you never want to bring a knife (or worse, just your fists) to a gunfight. And you never know when you're going to be in a gunfight. Now, I acknowledge that simply having a firearm does not guarantee me victory, but I'd rather have it and not need it than the other way around. It's just a tool. I have a fire extinguisher, too. Don't want to use that, either, but good to know it's there, just in case.
