Images to use for University gun club posters? (UTRPC)

[MatthewVanitas]

Total stats for UT's revived Rifle & Pistol Club this semester:

500 unique visitors (approx 70% 1st-time shooter, approx 20% female)
80 dues-paying members

Not bad for starting from about zero back in September.

I'm getting some of the stalwarts together for a big recruiting push in January. That way we'll have time to form teams for matches, lay in a base for the future with midclassmen, and get a footing with the graduating class about to enter the working world.

In addition to our actual informational flyers, I was thinking to put up some attention-getting flyers just for awareness, with just the name of our club and the website. Preliminary research notes that, although all our info was on our earlier flyers, everyone just skimmed past it and went right to our website anyway, so no point in cluttering our flyers up.

Anyone got any catchy images that would look good in b&w 8.5x11", where we can slice out some text and put in "Rifle & Pistol Club! Come shoot at our on-campus range! www.blahblah.com"

Ideally, something not stereotypical, but something a little hipper or edgier that will increase our demographic spread. Something like this:



Ideas?

-MV

 

[SamTuckerMTNMAN]

rambo

low and slow



I helped head up a group at my college and we just kept it simple, focusing on the 'target' aspect of shooting, the skills of marksmanship, rather than violent defense, hard core stuff that freak out campus ninnies.

U know the feel of your campus, we had to play it cool to prevent riots and a marxist takeover of the quad....

In the end results were favorable. I might go back and spur a new generation on to the same calling!

good work and good luck
st

 

[Justin]

Ironically ripping off rah-rah Commie artwork is always a good idea.

After all, what are they going to do? Sue you for copyright infringement?

 

[SoCalShooter]

Glad to hear you got such a successful operation up and running. I fear however that here in the DPRK I and others would not be so successful on a college campus.

 

[chrisslamar]

I don't know which made me drool more, the thought of a college gun club or the fact that you have an onsite range. Mmmmm onsite range.

Being a college student I just have to give you mucho kudos for starting the group, and wish you nothing but the best of luck.

But in getting back to what you asked, I'd recommend tapping into your group. See if you have some graphics arts majors that wouldn't mind helping out in designing. It gets you an image and gets your group involved. If you don't have anyone PM me and I have some friends that are GA majors that would whip spmething up. best of luck

 

[strat81]

Hi Matt,
Glad to hear the club is growing. Might I suggest using different posters/ads in different areas of the university? Outside the men's locker room would call for a different poster than one near a sorority house. Anyway, from Oleg's site here are a few that I think aren't too confrontational:
http://www.a-human-right.com/s_beingprey.jpg
http://olegvolk.net/gallery/d/5329-2/defender.jpg
http://www.a-human-right.com/s_feminist.jpg
http://www.a-human-right.com/s_worth.jpg
http://www.a-human-right.com/s_reason.jpg
http://www.a-human-right.com/s_1in4-3.gif
http://www.a-human-right.com/s_doors.jpg
http://www.a-human-right.com/s_beready.jpg
http://www.a-human-right.com/bettys_kit.jpg

Kalashnikitty is also cool. Search THR for it, and maybe the owner will let you use it.

Also, if your school has a criminal justice department, have you spoken to them about collaborating on some kind of self-defense project or training of future officers that are currently enrolled? As chrisslamar suggested, try to enlist the help of the graphic arts department or even the marketing department. Something like this would make an excellent project for a marketing class.

Sometimes fear can be an excellent tool. Get crime stats for the city you are in, as well as campus crime, and let people know about them. See if you can get a CCW class on campus (if your state requires one).

And don't forget freshman orientation next year. Let them know the club and range exist and how great of a sport it can be.

 

[RockyMtnTactical]

Strat those are cool!!

 

[Oleg Volk]

Same file names without "s_" yield larger versions of the images.

 

[heypete]

Glad to hear you got such a successful operation up and running. I fear however that here in the DPRK I and others would not be so successful on a college campus.

You'd be pleasantly surprised: http://www.csmrc.org/. I started that at a local community college I attended before I left California and moved to Arizona. My successors are running the club and it's evidently quite popular. Alas, restrictive college rules ("no club activities - on or off campus - can involve firearms of any sort") prevent it from having official club shooty events, but it's not uncommon for folks to just organize outside of the club and head to the range.

It can be done. You'd be surprised at the number of gun owners in California, particularly amongst college-aged students. There's a ton more than you might think, but a lot of 'em keep their heads (and voices) down in public about it. Shame, really. But clubs and local ranges get folks out and chatting, which is good.

 

[MatthewVanitas]

here's a ton more than you might think, but a lot of 'em keep their heads (and voices) down in public about it. Shame, really.

I've always hated the "gracious, don't let anyone know you own guns!!!" school of gun ownership.

We have folks in the club willing to stand out on the sidewalk outside the gymn and hustle newbies into the range. The worst we have ever, ever gotten about that this year is a handful of kids who say: "we don't believe in violence" or the terribly confrontational "I don't know how I feel about shooting guns on a college campus".

No antis come to picket us, just a few twits roll their eyes.

I am very disappointed that almost no punk or commie kids come to the range. I've tried hassling them with "where's your revolutionary ethos?", "I thought you believed in DIY, but you're letting the state control the means of security?", "what, you don't read Mao?"

Sadly, this hasn't worked yet. I'll just label them twits, and be happy with the constant flow of foreign exchange students, mainstream Texan kids, and engineering students who flood our range.

We gotta get a toehold in the off-campus coops. Got a Turkish kid and French girl living in the German Co-op house, got to hit them up to be liaisons to the caring-n-sharing crowd.

-MV