The New York Times on Saturday published a bogus “research” article about the firearms industry’s marketing tactics.
According to their so-called “investigation,” the firearms industry is taking advantage of Americans and stoking fear, particularly amongst women and young men.
But what they’re really doing is taking aim at female gun owners like me.
From the article (emphasis is mine):
Gun companies have spent the last two decades scrutinizing their market and refocusing their message away from hunting toward selling handguns for personal safety, as well as military-style weapons attractive to mostly young men. The sales pitch — rooted in self-defense, machismo and an overarching sense of fear — has been remarkably successful.
Firearm sales have skyrocketed, with background checks rising from 8.5 million in 2000 to 38.9 million last year. The number of guns is outpacing the population. Women, spurred by appeals that play on fears of crime and being caught unprepared, are the fastest-growing segment of buyers.
In the eyes of the three men that wrote this article, women can’t possibly be afraid of their safety.
It just has to be some kind of marketing ploy the gun industry utilizes to sell more firearms and get rich. Pesky capitalists!
But seriously… this logic is appalling.
Most new gun owners are female
Women are the fastest demographic of new gun owners – and for great reason! More women are realizing their safety is in their hands and when seconds count, police are minutes away. They have a choice to fall victim to their circumstances or hope and pray help will arrive in time.
No one is “play[ing] on fears of crime,” as the authors claim.
For many of us, past experiences are the reason we’re gun owners. Many of us have fallen victim to sexual assault, domestic violence, or a combination of the two.
We’ve lived through scenarios where we were unprepared and, quite honestly, were naive. One experience was enough to change our thinking and outlook.
The recent surge in crime is another reason so many people are now utilizing their Second Amendment rights.
The riots at the start of the pandemic sprang up all across the country. Kenosha, Wisconsin. Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was no longer isolated to big inner cities like Portland, Seattle, and Minneapolis. It was now hitting the suburbs and suddenly, Americans woke up and realized that type of violence could easily be on their doorstep at any moment.
Constitutional Carry is growing
Of course, the New York Times was also shocked to learn about a thing called “Constitutional Carry” – or what the media likes to deem “permitless carry.”
…guns rights groups have pushed an aggressive legislative and court agenda. For instance, it soon will be legal to carry a hidden firearm without a permit in half the United States.
Constitutional Carry is big, especially for women who purchase a gun for an immediate need. For example, a woman may have left a violent situation where a partner was abusive. She decides she needs a gun for immediate self-protection.
Constitutional Carry allows her to carry her firearm concealed in public without permission from the government, a legislative policy that can – and does – mean the difference between life and death for some women.
These “journalists” can claim they researched the gun industry and its marketing tactics, but all they really did is blab on and on about how they believe impressionable Americans, particularly women, are being negatively influenced by the firearms industry.
In reality, they’re disregarding women’s safety concerns as paranoia and making us out to be delicate flowers that are incapable of defending ourselves and our loved ones. They’re taking aim at us and our beliefs – and we’re taking note.
