Opinion

Manasquan, NJ –-(Ammoland.com)- Over the last few years of my activism I've cultivated some friendly relationships with certain members of the local major media.

Over this past Summer I was involved in a conversation with one of them about the appalling dearth of neutral or positive news items about firearms, self defense and the shooting sports. His response was that management didn't feel it was worthy of their time, page space or efforts because ” NJ doesn't have a gun culture “

At the time , I accepted his reply for what it was, and not wishing to alienate this man, I moved on in the conversation. But over the last few months I've puzzled over his answer and formulated what I wish I had replied to him with at that time.

I realized I should have responded back to him with this question.

What exactly is the so called ” gun culture” or at least his and or managements understanding of what it is ?

I have a funny feeling I would have been met with the standard response, which is really more urban legend and a complete fabrication of the media and Anti Gun zealots, that the ” gun culture “ is populated by undereducated, bloodthirsty, redneck neanderthals.

As is always the case with the Anti Gunners, this ad hominen stereotype isn't based on facts, its a complete fabrication, designed to vilify and demonize a specific subset of society and make them the target of ostracizing by others in our society.

In truth, the so called ” gun culture “ is populated by people from every level of soc-economic status, education level , culture, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or any other of the myriad of categories of Citizens in the US.

I have met and often developed friendships with people that are ” shooters” from all across the spectrum, IT professionals, Doctors, Business Owners, Attorney's, Blue Collar workers, Psychologists, FireFighters, Nurses, Hairdressers,Atheists, Church goer's, straights, gays, American born Citizens and Immigrants etc, etc , etc.

In short, there is not a single demographic label in existence that doesn't count Second Amendment supporters and firerams owners among its populace.

A 2000 report by a statistician found that firearms carry permit holders were LESS likely to be arrested for both violent and non violent offenses then the general public; http://tiny.cc/72ajm

I cant locate the study right now, since I recently went through changing over to a new computer, but I do recall seeing one released by; I believe the University of Tennessee, that found that gun owners tended to be more highly educated and more community oriented and responsible and their children tended to get higher grades in school, be more disciplined, have significantly less behavior problems and interactions with police then the non firearm owning public.

Normalization of Guns

The point to all this is, my erstwhile media acquaintance is laboring under a fallacy that there would be limited to little interest for pro firearms related articles amongst the general public, because of the misconception of what the so called ” gun culture “ actually is. This is something we need to actively work on changing if we ever hope to see regular neutral or pro firearms news reports in our regional and National media.

It seems like an insurmountable obstacle, after years of one sided yellow journalism masquerading as facts to an ignorant public. But it can be done, the tide has slowly started to change in our favor, clearly evidenced by the explosive popularity of several pro shooting/pro firearms/ family oriented TV shows that have stormed onto the scene recently on cable TV. Say what you will about some of the contrived drama of shows like Top Shot ( History Channel ), Sons of Guns ( Discovery Channel ) and American Guns, also on the Discovery Channel. The fact is this plethora of firearms centric TV programming on ” mainstream” channels and their attendant advertisers is significant evidence that the general public has an appetite for pro firearms related shows and the “ gun culture”.

This same public is finally starting to realize just how badly they have been lied to by the various Anti Gun Groups, and their enablers at places like the NY Times, MSNBC, ABC, CNN, the LA Times and others.

More articles, commentary and information by D Roberts available at That Every Man Be Armed.com