A gun control video using kids and dildos as a demonstration of why gun owners should make certain to practice good gun safety rules has some critics calling the video a “dangerous lie” that just confuses the picture.
In a related report by The Inquisitr , the supporters of the so-called Trayvon Martin gun control laws have been taking on the Stand You Ground law in various southern states and have also been trying to recruit lawyers to their cause.
It turns out the gun safety PSA is not the first time the organization has attempted to sway opinions with potentially offensive videos:
“Earlier this year, Evolve launched a campaign urging gun owners not to ‘be a dumbass,’ including a silly video about the Founding Fathers failing to codify gun safety tenets because they were ‘common sense.’ The campaign is preserved on the group’s YouTube page in a header graphic that reads ‘it’s the right to bear arms, not the right to be a dumbass.’”
The newer ad attempts to remind parents about gun safety by making the point that “if they find it, they’ll play with it, so always lock up your guns.” But critics say that making this point with a comparison between dildos and guns fails because it ignores the realities of how guns are used in American society:
“This requires ignoring the vast differences between gun culture and dildo culture, because aside from their similarities as surrogate penises, there’s little common ground there. Dildo owners don’t bring their kids along for dildo-using trips, or dildo practice, and you’re not going to rent a dildo at a dildo range and have it jump in your kid’s hand and kill him. Most kids don’t know you have a dildo, and won’t spend every available minute alone looking for it.”
In addition, they point out that although 40 percent of gun owners with children do not lock up their guns, this strategy may not be completely effective studies have shown that “keeping a gun locked and keeping a gun unloaded have protective effects of 73% and 70%, respectively, with regard to risk of both unintentional injury and suicide for children and teenagers.” In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics goes so far as to say that the “best way to keep your children safe from injury or death from guns is to NEVER have a gun in the home.”
Another critic of the video also pointed out that it just so happens the release of the gun safety PSA happened to coincide with President Obama advocating gun control organizations to be just as organized as the NRA:
“Honestly this is not going to change unless the people who want to prevent these kinds of mass shootings from taking place feel at least as passionate, at least as mobilised and well-funded as the NRA and the gun manufacturers are because the politics in Congress are such where even members of Congress who know better are fearful if they vote their conscience and support common sense measures like background checks, they’re worried they’re gong to lose.”
What do you think about the gun control video? What do you think are the best practices for gun safety when children are involved?