After-action Assessment:

Cherod M. Jones

Professor McCue

English 101

7 July 2017

Gun Advertising Persuades Gun Ownership

Gun control is one of the most controversial contemporary issues in the United States. The topic of gun regulation and oversight seems to have been further exacerbated by the fact that the issue has been politicized beyond all reasonable proportion. This politicization has led to people digging in on this matter and adopting radical positions, as opposed to working together for a rational approach to gun ownership. Nonetheless, a causal glance at the issue makes it glaringly evident that the United States needs better gun control laws. This is even more important when considered in the context of the recent mass shootings that involved the use of automatic weapons. Gun advertisers have marketed guns to citizens not to increase the safety of individuals, but to increase their own profits.

Gun ownership can be divided into three categories according to a time when they were used; guns as a status symbol, guns for safety and protection and guns as an expression of a “fundamental” right (Pollay 23). In the years following WWII, gun adverts sought to portray guns as a status symbol, an item comparable to a car that ever family ought to have. In fact, showing children how to use weapons was advertised as a duty of a proud and responsible parent. Guns at that point were advertised as an item whose ownership was traditional to an American home and a status symbol (Matthews).

The next stage in gun advertising can be identified beginning around the 1970s and lasting until the 1990s. It was marked by an increase in crime rates, especially in the inner cities (Spano and Bolland). Therefore, gun manufacturers decided to capitalize on this and began advertising guns as the ultimate defense for the “inevitable” carjacking, mugging and home invasion that might happen to people (Matthews). A shift in advertising can also be seen with the emergence of women as a significant customer base as advertisers changed to target female buyers. Gun advertising in this instance was based on fear and used very effectively. At this point, scholars began questioning the ethics of fear-based advertising with research showing that women were more likely to be in dangerous situations when they had a gun as opposed to without one. This meant that women owning guns were at a greater risk of harm than those without guns (Gorovitz 36). Furthermore, guns were noted for being more “efficient at killing than protecting” (Gorovitz 36). On the other hand, statistics were published highlighting the fact that gun-owning victims used their guns to scare away criminals more than two million times a year (Gorovitz 38). This period can be considered to have ended in 1996 with repeated calls for the regulation of guns.

The next period of gun ownership is the current phase of gun advertisements that are mainly conducted by the NRA. They have created a narrative that the government wants to take away the guns of law-abiding Americans and as a result, limit their fundamental right to gun ownership (Cieply 3). The advertisements in this era have primarily focused on promoting an anti-government sentiment and to be against technological advancements. The conspiracy theory approach was spurred by a realization that most Americans are unlikely to buy more guns, and therefore, the adverts focus on persuading the few that buy the guns to buy many guns (Gorovitz 49). Gun advertising in this phase can also be seen as touting themselves as a symbol of masculinity.

In conclusion, unless the approach to gun advertisement changes and we have some discussion over the merits of gun control, it will require Federal action to limit unstable and criminals from accessing large caliber guns and ammunition. Gun advertising has been remarkably effective in both increasing gun ownership levels across America and heightening fear to increase profits.

Cieply, Michael. "Gun Violence in American Movies Is Rising, Study Finds." The New York TImes 11 November 2013: 3. Online. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/11/business/media/gun-violence-in-american-movies-is-rising-study-finds.html?_r=0>.

Gorovitz, Eric, James Mosher, and Mark Pertschuk. "Preemption or prevention?: lessons from efforts to control firearms, alcohol, and tobacco." Journal of public health policy (1998): 36-50.

Matthews, David. "How gun advertising in America has changed since the 1950s." 8 October 2015. Fusion. <http://fusion.net/story/210776/gun-advertising-changes-america/>.

Pollay, Richard, W. "The distorted mirror: Reflections on the unintended consequences of advertising." Advertising & Society Review 1.1 (2000): 1-12.

Spano, Richard and John Bolland. "Disentangling the Effects of Violent Victimization, Violent Behavior, and Gun Carrying for Minority Inner-City Youth Living in Extreme Poverty." Criminology & Penology; Sage Journals (2008): 45-47.