Pro-Gun PSA Masquerades as Everytown Advertisement

Yesterday, Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control (which, I must point out, is VERY different than gun safety) group founded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomburg released a stirring advertisement to drum up citizen support for a new bill proposing some redundant, unnecessary, and useless legislation.

You can view the "disturbing" advertisement here. But just in case you're short on time (30 seconds is a lot to ask, I know) or suffer from severe chromophobia (that's an extreme fear of videos) or are too lazy to just click on the link, I'll sum it up for you.

Creepy man in hipster toboggan bangs on door.  Frightened mousy woman calls 911.  911 dispatcher asks if she has a restraining order.  Mousy Woman begs for help from dispatcher.  Creepy Hipster Dude kicks in door.  Mousy Woman informs dispatcher that she needs to come NOW.  Creepy Hipster grabs crying child.  Mousy Woman screams for hipster to "Get Out Of HERE!"  There is a pathetic physical struggle.  "I'm taking him!" declares Creepy Hipster.  He pulls a handgun from his trendy jacket pocket, points in frantic Mousy Woman's face.  Scene fades to black as you hear a gunshot and a crying baby (one much younger than the kid we saw in the video... but one that stirs a deeper and stronger emotional response).

It's all very frightening and disconcerting... and definitely evokes an emotional response.

Although, I'm not sure Everytown is stirring up quite the response they intended.  What Everytown HAS accomplished is a brilliant and compelling PRO-gun commercial.  Bravo.  Even the normally left-leaning liberal likes of The View talk show hosts were convinced by the advertisement that women need a gun in the house to protect themselves and their children.

Seriously, the NRA couldn't have presented a more compelling piece of pro-gun propaganda.

What this video proves (other than that the morons at Everytown are... well... morons) is exactly what pro-gun, pro-self defense, women's empowerment (the real kind, not the miserably whiny fake kind that feminism touts... which is really just wallowing in victimized martyrdom) proponents have been repeating ad nauseum for years.  When you are confronted by a deranged maniac determined to hurt you, you cannot rely on a flimsy piece of paper, 911, or the local police to stop your attacker.  Remember, when seconds count, the police are only minutes away.

The new legislation that Everytown is attempting to push for will supposedly keep guns out of the hands of abusive partners and convicted stalkers (like the guy in the commercial.  I knew there was a reason I didn't trust hipsters!).  But while Everytown is trying to toy with our emotions and get us all agitated about domestic violence, they seemed to overlook the laws that ALREADY COVER THIS.

The Firearms Owners Protection Act (FOPA) of 1986 and the Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban of 1996, under penalty of felony, already prohibit the possession of a firearm by:

1. Anyone that is subject to a court order that restrains the person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner (i.e. a restraining order)

2. Anyone who has been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.

Further the law also makes it a criminal act to "knowingly sell or give a firearm (or ammunition) to such persons".

So let's review.  Hipster husband/boyfriend/baby daddy presumably beat his wife/girlfriend/baby mama (which is against the law), violated a restraining order (which is against the law), breaks into and enters her home (also against the law), attempts to kidnap a child (you guessed it... against the law), possesses a firearm illegally per the above mentioned laws (obviously against the law).

So heaping a few extra laws on there for him to break helps this woman how?  The poor frightened Mousy Woman has mistakenly placed her trust in the wrong hands.  Laws and law enforcement officers are of little help to her when she's staring down the barrel of a loaded gun.  Better she should take her fate into her own shaking hands.  It would be better for her hands to grip the handle of a Glock 17 and not a phone and a useless restraining order.

Even hands gripping a Ruger are more useful than hands gripping a phone and a restraining order

Because the only reliable way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy (or gal) with a gun.  Had the woman been armed, the result of the dramatic confrontation would have been very different.  Either Creepy Hipster Dude would have fled and eventually been arrested for violating Mousy Woman's magic piece of paper OR he would have been shot in lawful self-defense.  Either way he would have realized that Mousy Woman wasn't the easy victim he thought she was.

Basically the best way to protect women is to give them the knowledge and the tools to protect themselves.  So thanks for the very effective, emotionally charged, and convincing public service announcement, Everytown.  Women everywhere will be wanting a gun... and good for them.