Retired kindergarten teacher Norma Gentner sends this pic from the Las Vegas airport. Her letter is after the jump.
(How to send us stuff through MSNBC or Facebook.)
Ms. Gentner writes:
In the aftermath of the recent tragedy at Sandy Hook where 26 innocents lost their lives, I was shocked---shocked that a public place would continue to display and promote the business of "how to" use a REAL machine gun! A young boy who was studying the image captured me. . . .I quickly took out my camera to capture the moment. Seconds later he turned, imitating the poster's message with an animated rat-tat-tat!
P.S. Producer Mike sends this video of our visit to this very store and firing range. He's still got the target silhouette from Rachel's rounds hanging over his desk.
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Sick.
Honestly I don't find this sick. Yes they are using a woman's sexuality to grab attention for their ad, but that has been done by merchants for thousands of years. Every company has the right to advertise. While I don't agree with the way they are doing it, they aren't doing anything illegal here. And as an earlier poster pointed out, this ad is not the worst culprit of using women to sell....by a long shot. It is not as if she is naked, or even in a bikini, it looks like she is in a tank top and cargo pants.
Now before some of you lose it and call me a right-wing gun nut...I am completely for gun control; more strict than most liberals. I am all for universal background checks, low capacity clips, assault weapons ban, and I actually don't think civilians should be allowed more than one handgun and one hunting rifle if they so desire to own a gun. We have a standing army, we have no need for a militia.
However, living in Las Vegas and having been a customer at that very range, I can tell you that this store actually has a very beneficial buisness model. In the Late 90's and early 2000's, when we still had the assault weapons ban, this business was one of the places you could go to try your hand at firing military and banned gun models. A whats more, this is an indoor and underground shooting range. No stray bullets going off into the world like you get at outdoor ranges. I think that business model is more of what we should look for in an assault weapons ban. We can prohibit the manufacture and sale of these weapons for civilian purchase, but allow firing ranges to keep a couple on stock so that people can still use them in a safe and controlled environment.
We can't completely wipe out gun use. It is a valid sport that requires a great deal of skill. However, we can regulate it like we do other dangerous sports.
I frequently go to Vegas to visit my brother and I have been tempted to go to this gun store. It looks more fun than trips to Grand Canyon. But I find it difficult to pry myself from the casinos.
I'm not surprised at this ad. Women's bodies are used to sell anything and everything in this country. It's a shame.
That gun store has been in Vegas for a long time and advertises everywhere including the casinos. I would not attach any significance to the ad in the airport since it was likely contracted before the shooting. The shop is a merely a tourist attraction.
See, we really don't have to look very far to see exactly why "gun worship" in the US equates to these mass killings. What could be sexier than "a blonde woman toting a machine gun" - tragic that's what it is exploiting both women & guns!
These women exploit themselves for a dollar !
Sex has been used in advertising for quite some time now - because it usually works.
Would you pay attention to an ad with fat, beer drinking, scruffy looking male survivalist?
Funny thing is , is that these women do it and then women blame men for it !? Ridiculous , what are they republicans ?
This conversation is taking on a weird, condescending, judgmental tone...There is no one more qualified to make decisions about their mode of employment than him/her self.
@ Mike P.
A: Maybe, depends on the suggestive pose!
We got this in Reno, think it's a hundred bucks or thereabouts.
Honestly, if it weren't for the cash-and-carry policy, I wouldn't have a problem with this (well, other than the anxious masculinity bit, but guns hardly have the monopoly on that). If we could set up establishments were people could go to fire high-capacity, military-grade weapons in a secure location, I would be all for that. Liberals shouldn't lose sight of the fact that for a lot of people, shooting a gun is a pleasurable activity in and of itself, and there's nothing inherently bad about it, it's the whole "shooting other people" part that's bad. But I submit that if I could go to a private, regulated business and shoot a machine gun, or a submachine gun, or a tommy gun, or whatever other gun I've got a hankering to shoot at a target, we should be encouraging that with the caveat that No, you can't take the machine gun home with you, but if you want to try one out, you can do it in this secure room where there is no chance you'll hurt anyone else with it.
There is no cash and carry policy on fully automatic weapons. To legally own one requires special licenses that are not that easy to get and are not available in all states. However there are many venues in various states, Nevada being one, where you can go and fire a variety of machine guns, if you want to try it just go to Las Vegas, but you cant just walk in and buy one.
Then I really don't see the problem!
I'm perfectly fine with someone going to a closed range and shooting a machine gun at a target.
Then going home and leaving the gun at the range.
Bring lots of cash... It is Vegas...
Blonde hair..check(we are too shallow to worry over roots)
Nice, ahem eyes...check
Goofy smile...check
FOX "news" will be calling her soon!
Psst hey babe if you have a brain don't let on , they hate that.
Some years ago, I got to shoot machine guns- at real people! Also, mortars, grenades, and 105mm howitzers. And I got paid for it!
Ahhh yes the smell of meat burning as you grab the barrel without the mitten. The musical tone of 7.62s going off to mow the lawn. AAnd yes remember the high pay and wonderful benies like three hots and a cot(well rations and a chance to build a ledge on the back of your hole to sleep on).
I got cheated! I joined up in 75 and the dummies quit before I could go and join the fun.
Ah looooove the smell of napalm in the morning! It smells like victory!
Yeah, I had all the fun I could take, firing off full-auto weapons. It's why I haven't touched one in 47 years.
Okay, what am I missing here? We have a poster of a blonde "Babe" at an airport advertising a shooting range with machine guns, and we have a video of Rachel Maddow at the same range shooting machine guns, but the poster is "sick" and there is no comment about the video. Is it because the blonde is showing more cleavage? Do kids not watch TRMS or see magazine article pictures of Maddow at the firing range? Is it okay for news commentators to shoot automatic weapons in a controlled environment, but not blonde "Babes", or the rest of us? Huh????
Ahh perhaps the difference is like the Marlboro Man versus Joe the Camel versus the truth???
There is a segment, a group, OK some males, who get a big kick out of women posing with or shooting guns. You bring up an interesting point about Rachel... I wonder if these fellas enjoy watching her shoot, or does her politics and persona preclude such enjoyment...
Their worst nightmare--a gay liberal with a gun! Almost as bad as a minority with a vote!
AKA know thy enemy!
I fail to see the humor. Las Vegas has a high number of gun shows, lax gun laws, and an unknown number of people with concealed carry permits. Families live, work and go to school in Las Vegas amidst this craziness.
It makes for some cool cop shows though.
Some people live on flood plains,some live on the side of a mountain,others live in earthquake heaven(California)--and yet we consider ourselves an intelligent species?
Its not the shooting machine guns in a controlled environment.....Its the total lack of thought for others in putting this sign in such a prominant place at this time.
Smile! Out of sight means out of mind. It is better that we see the out of their mind gun nuts so we know with whom we are dealing.
This makes me physically ill.
Relax. Breathe deep and imagine yourself on a desert island.A gentle breeze a cool drink in your hand and a republican convention in town that nobody showed up for. Feel better?
Weapons. It seems that we as Modern Mankind can't think about much else. Weapons, of one fashion or another, are depicted in so many different ways and through so many media outlets, keeping track of it all would be more then most could handle.
Is one more or less 'evil' then another, though?
One may depict an attractive man or woman holding a firearm to encourage that playing with guns is 'sexy' or 'desirable'. The next might be an advertisement for a new movie or TV show coming back soon or just coming out. The next might be for The Military, of whichever Branch, Recruiting. The list could go on and on.
What we really need, as a GLOBAL COMMUNITY, is to change the way we think about Violence and Firearms, and work towards better Laws to govern the sale, distribution and advertisement of such, and the training of those who own them.
I grew up watching Combat,Rat Patrol and westerns. It ain't hollywood that breeds violence. When getting personel means twits tweeting or emailing it is as if they lose touch with reality and slip into a virtual world. Look at the stunts kids pull for kicks. They will jump off a dang cliff just to get noticed on youtube! They have no social restraints because they are no longer social.
You want to change things? I say we toss so called social networking. Quit letting our kids glue themselves to a phone or computer and force them to get a life!
I ain't no shrink so I guess I'll shut up.
Ain't that America.
I go to shooting ranges on a regular basis, there are always women there shooting alongside the men. In the winter they wear more clothes, in the warmer months they dress like they might be going to the beach, just walk down the Vegas strip some day, this is how women dress, quite often wearing far less than the woman in the ad, would it offend the sensibilities more if she was wearing a Bhurka? (sp).
I live in LV and have seen that billboard. It is located near a bank of slot machines. While waiting for a flight with my four under 12 kids and nephews, we were shooed away from the bank of machines since they can't be near gaming devices. They settled under the sign to wait. I found it ironic- still do- that the slots weren't kid friendly but this sign was.
It'd be a good ad .... for the military, especially since women can now serve on the front line.
If they let them dress like that I might just re-up. Shucks there is an age limit.Age discrimination! I ain't too old to pay taxes or vote so I ain't too old to join up. (uh,is that stop loss crap still in play?I mean you wouldn't force me to stay in would you?)
The only thing that bother's me about this image and some of the comments (not just on this article, but on the subject in general) is that what IS bothering other people is the "sexual" nature of it or the fact the company is not doing anything "wrong" or illegal. These may all be warranted facts/opinions, but deeper than any of it, is that it is completely acceptable simply because it is legal or because we have freedom of speech. People, just because we can, doesn't mean we should. Sadly, this little boy is already all too familiar...with his steady gaze, his imagination wandering...not yet about the sexual nature of it, but with "an animated rat-a-tat-tat!" Yeah...that's what bothers me.
Her boobs look like they can handle the kickback of a UMP45! Makes me all nothing, as a matter of fact it deters me from even looking a second longer at the ad. You missed the gay boat folks!
Rather tame for Vegas. Don't worry about the kid. They need to see the bad to understand the good - as we all do. Worry, instead, about the kid's parents and their ability to recognize, understand and prioritize the values they impart on their own children.
I always thought it was Sex Drugs & Rock & Roll! Not Sex Gunz & Six foot hole!