Pro-Gun Commercials

[Alan Fud]

I was driving down the highway at around 9:35PM EST earlier this evening listening to Pat Benatar singing "Heartbreaker" on 99.9FM "the Hawk" radio station when a commercial came on:

(para-phrased as closely as I can remember) ... "you are awaken from a sound sleep by the sound of glass breaking. as you shake the sleep from your eyes, you clearly hear the sound of footsteps and you come to the frightening realization that someone has broken into your home. you reach for the phone to dial '911' but it's already too late because the intruder has already entered your bedroom -- But There ARE Ways to Protect Yourself And Your Loved Ones. There are over 70,000,000 handguns owners in the United States" ...

I couldn't believe what I was hearing -- something POSITIVE being said about gun ownership ... and nearly drove off the road in shock.

The commercial went on to quote FBI stats on how the mere presence of a gun has often sacred an intruder away without a single shot having to be fired in a majority of cases thus protecting oneself and family; that a handgun is used by law-abidding citizens about once every 5 minutes to PREVENT a crime from happening; etc.; etc.;

The radio ad that I heard was paid for by the "Lehigh Valley Firearms Coalition" (John Brinson-President) ... can't find a website for them yet but after hearing that ad, I'm more than happy to become a dues paying member (as soon as I figure out how to contact them and sign up).

We need to see (& hear) more stuff like this. Why isn't the NRA (or some other national gun organization) running some ads like this on TV where words AND images could be used to make the message more effective to counter balance all of the negative things that we constantly keep hearing about firearms ownership?

 

[fjolnirsson]

Good question. Maybe we should ask. Perhaps pressure could be applied by the NRA members from this forum? I'm sure a lot of us belong to the NRA. Perhaps a large percentage of 10000 members? Maybe a mass mailing to them in support of this idea?

 

[whoami]

We need to see (& hear) more stuff like this. Why isn't the NRA (or some other national gun organization) running some ads like this on TV where words AND images could be used to make the message more effective to counter balance all of the negative things that we constantly keep hearing about firearms ownership?

From what I understand, mostly because the major markets where such ads would be most beneficial to the cause would never in a million years run the ad. The big networks (CBS, NBC, ABC, etc) wouldn't touch them, the major print media most likely wouldn't.......you can't force them to run the ads, so why put in the cost and effort to make commecials that will only air in already firmly pro-gun states?

 

[7.62FullMetalJacket]

The American Liberty Foundation (libertarian) has been making radio and TV advertisements for a few years concerning gun ownership.

http://www.armedandsecure.org/radioads.shtml

Also visit the TV adds

 

[Pendragon]

some radio stations will air them, but the big TV networks have policies against "issue ads" - they blocked a superbowl ad from moveon.org

 

[Ed]

In Little Rock now on the radio are adds about how North little rock Doesn't want you to carry in city parks, gets into it is our right to defend ourselves and if the police don't want us to carry there are they gonna be with us all the time to protect us? I like it.

 

[Ktulu]

How can anyone expect mainstream America to really understand the gun issue if they don't see pro-gun spots on TV?

 

[Greg L]

The big networks (CBS, NBC, ABC, etc) wouldn't touch them, the major print media most likely wouldn't.......you can't force them to run the ads

Actually you can force them to, they just have to be run as political ads for someone running for some sort of office. By law they can't turn away political ads (someone in the business correct me if I'm wrong). So, if we could have the NRA back someone running for local dogcatcher w/ a $3 million ad campaign .....

 

[ReadyontheRight]

JPFO has radio spots available, although I've never heard one on the radio.

http://www.jpfo.org/jpforadio.htm

I agree that the NRA should step up to the plate and start doing some preaching outside the choir. The big networks and print media may have some issues, but they also listen when money talks. Even if the big networks refuse to run ads, why can't they be broadcast on cable?

 

[Desertdog]

Personally, I like the idea of using radio ads instead of tv ads, since people often, probably more often than not, are in their cars and not apt to hit the remote as soon as a commercial comes on. For most of my tv viewing I tape the shows and cut the commercials when I watch the show. Saves a lot of time.
Another thing is the cost. You can probably run a radio ad a number of times a day for a month for the price of 3 to 5 spots of a tv ad.

 

[AZRickD]

You can do the same thing.

Back in 1997, in Tucson, www.brassroots.org ran a thirty-second digital spot on cable TV. It cycled through CNN, ESPN, etc. They wound up paying $4 per airing by going through a commercial broker. They must have had somebody on the inside pushing the spots because everytime an anti would come on TV, the commercial would follow.

Or you can go cheaper and raise funds for three or six months of billboard time such as ... this large one...

Or this small one that Alan Korwin of www.gunlaws.com (and TUG) put up in front of the Phoenix library for a few months for $600.

http://www.gunlaws.com/billboards.htm

Rick

 

[NewShooter78]

I like the idea of billboards. That on in the pic was awsome.

 

[ClonaKilty]

By law they can't turn away political ads (someone in the business correct me if I'm wrong).

Recalling my broadcasting law class, I think the law you're referring to only applies during an election year, for the candidates campaigning. It is sometimes mistakenly referred to as an "equal time" law but it isn't as simple as just seeing how many minutes of air time candidate x gave and giving candidate y the same. It has more to do with the impact of the air time given, and giving the opportunity to the other candidate to have an equivalent impact.

The application of the law is subjective and probably makes it useless.

 

[MicroBalrog]

http://www.armedandsecure.org

 

[Chip Dixon]

What radio station were you listening to at the time? I want to call them up and give them praise for allowing such a commercial to go on air. Damned if you'd hear anything like that in the media in the socialist state of MD. I'm glad I live 3 miles from PA, with media like that I might move up there eventually, it wouldn't be a big geographical and social change or anything.

 

[Alan Fud]

99.9FM (99.9 THE HAWK; 107 Paxinosa Road West; Easton PA 18040; Phone: 1-610-258-6155; Fax: 1-610-253-3384) - Classic Hits without the hard Rock on the evening of 3/17/2004 at around 9:35PM EST. The commercial was paid for by the Lehigh Valley Firearms Coalition (I would like to get info on this organization so I can sign up -- they seem to be doing some POSITVIE things in the pro-gun community around here).