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  • Salesforce Faces Employee Revolt Over NRA Ties

    Salesforce Faces Employee Revolt Over NRA Ties

    Salesforce has a problem on its hands, with a growing number of employees expressing their disapproval of the company’s ties to the National Rifle Association (NRA).

    In the wake of multiple mass shootings, Salesforce employees are taking the company to task for having the NRA as a customer. According to Business Insider, some 4,000 employees have signed an open letter demanding the company sever ties.

    “It’s not in our power to get background checks or other gun control measures passed by Congress — but we can effect change by ending our commercial relationship with our customer, the National Rifle Association,” the Salesforce employees wrote in their letter.

    The employees are hoping to prevail on co-CEO Marc Benioff, who has expressed support for increased gun control in the past. The employees are concerned over the prospect of the NRA using the Salesforce platform for continued fundraising and marketing efforts.

    “It is unconscionable to consider their use of Marketing Cloud to capitalize on mass shootings,” the letter continued.

    It’s unclear if Salesforce’s leadership will follow through on the letter’s demands, but the situation illustrates the ethical challenges companies are increasingly facing as employee activism continues to grow.

  • Taya Kyle, Widow of “American Sniper” Chris Kyle, Confronts President Obama Over Gun Control

    Taya Kyle, the widow of Chris Kyle, whose story made it to Hollywood with Bradley Cooper’s starring role in American Sniper, confronted President Obama Thursday over gun control. She told the president that gun control won’t prevent mass shootings like the recent one in San Bernardino, California.

    It was during an event in Fairfax, Virginia at George Mason University that Taya Kyle spoke up when the president walked over to greet her.

    “[What] we have to recognize is we cannot outlaw murder, because the people who are murdering are breaking the law, but they also don’t have the moral code that we have,” she said, according to CNN. “They can do the same amount of damage with a pipe bomb. The problem is that they want to murder. We want to think we can make a law and people will follow it, but by the very nature of their crime, they are not following it.”

    Taya Kyle went on to say she hopes the country will “value freedom” to bear arms.

    President Obama, who also took questions and comments from others during this town hall-type event, blamed the NRA for convincing citizens that the government wants to take away all guns. He added that if his plan was to ban all guns, he would have done so much earlier in his presidency.

    “If you look at where the areas are with the highest gun ownership, those are the places that the crime hasn’t dropped down that much,” he told Taya Kyle. “The way it is described is that we are trying to take away everybody’s guns. Our position is consistently mischaracterized…If you listen to the rhetoric, it is so over-the-top, it is so overheated.”

    The president added that he wants Congress to conduct better background checks to keep the country safe, adding that he has never owned a gun.

    “All of us can agree that it makes sense to do everything we can to keep guns out of the hands of people who would do others harm, or themselves harm,” he said at the time. “The fact that the system doesn’t catch every single person has to be weighed against the fact that we might be able to save a whole bunch of families from the grief that some of the people in this audience have had to go through.”

    Taya Kyle is the widow of Chris Kyle, who was shot and killed by a war vet with PTSD in February 2013.

  • ‘Guns for the Blind’ Video Even Too Much for the NRA

    For about three days, an official NRA website featured a video wherein a contributor offered a two-minute argument for arming the blind.

    NRA News, a website under the NRA umbrella, has a section of ‘commentator’ videos – described by the NRA as “opinions on the hottest issues of the moment.” Dom Raso, Navy SEAL and one of seven listed contributors, posted a video earlier this week about how blind people should have whatever guns they want. Every single blind person, all the guns.

    “Every law abiding, blind individual should be able to have whatever guns they want,” says Raso in his opening volley.

    He goes on to explain that if you don’t agree with that statement, then you “haven’t thought it all the way through and you don’t take your rights seriously enough.”

    Let’s allow him to explain his stance.

    “Do you think that because they’re blind they’re going to start shooting in every direction and kill everyone?”

    Well, no.

    “Fact is, it’s been proven that people that lack vision have an increased awareness of their hearing and spacial surroundings.”

    Ok man, you’ve lost me. I think we call this the ‘Daredevil’ argument.

    Check out the rest of the commentary below:

    If the NRA had its way, you would not have just watched whatever it is that was. In fact, the organization yanked it off the NRA News site late Thursday.

    Of course, three days online is more than enough time for the internet to make a backup.

    Videos from ‘commentators’ often display a “this video contains the opinion of an NRA News commentator and does not necessarily reflect the views of other individuals or organizations” disclaimer, but even with that, the NRA decided that the ‘give blind people guns’ argument was a bit much – even for them.

    Image via Thinkstock

  • Sarah Palin Will Never Run for Office; Here’s Why

    Hillary Clinton is running for President. Oh, sure, she hasn’t announced it yet. But all the signs are there: speeches to certain groups, third-party money-raising apparatus, little hints dropped by Bill Clinton on Twitter. Hillary can play coy, but no one in the Democrat Party believes for a second that she did not walk out of the offices of Secretary of State and right into a campaign meeting.

    But what about the other big female name in American politics? No, not Elizabeth Warren. She is going to run with Hillary for the VP job.

    We’re talking about Sarah Palin.

    Ever since John McCain plucked Palin from Alaskan obscurity and thrust her into the spotlight of big league presidential politics, Palin has been the darling of the Tea Party.

    Every time Palin turns up at some convention or another or even just on television or radio, speculation starts about whether or not she is running for some office again.

    And she always teases it.

    When asked if she is running for (fill in the blank), Palin’s usual answer is couched as “considering it because people have asked me to.”

    She has said that she would “never say never” to a presidential run. It depends on what “Americans really, really want in a candidate.”

    And now Sarah Palin has flashed that bit of political skin once again, this time before the NRA. Saturday during a Stand And Fight rally at Lucas Oil Stadium, Palin had choice words for anyone who thought guns should not be allowed in schools (“stupid on steroids”).

    She threw red meat to people who still believe that kids are not allowed to pray in schools — despite that myth having long been busted (students are free to pray in schools, only administrators may not lead prayer during school hours.)

    She said that all liberals are hypocrites.

    But her most incendiary line of the evening was about terrorists.

    “If I were in charge,” Palin said, inserting a pregnant pause for applause from the crowd, “[our enemies] would know that water boarding is how we’d baptize terrorists.”

    It was shocking enough on the surface of it, with it’s linking of water boarding torture with the Christian practice of baptism. But that pause was what she was masterfully playing.

    Sarah Palin likes to tease the idea of running for office. She likes to hear the applause of those people who buy tickets and fill seats and like her Facebook rants. But Sarah Palin will never run. Because if Sarah Palin actually put herself on the line again, she would have to answer questions, and not just the “gotcha” questions about policy and what newspapers she reads.

    She would be outside the bubble of her fans, and Americans who find her statements like this to be offensive would want her to be called out by a responsible press.

    It’s a pretty nifty career setup. Wink and hint that you might be, possibly, depending on what “the people” want, thinking about maybe running for something. Then collect speaking fees, write another book, and head back to the safety of a fan club.

    Contrast this with Bobby Jindal, a Republican who is making no bones about the fact that he is running. A man who breaks protocol to speak out against the President to further his own political aspirations. Whether you like his approach or not is subjective. He may be preaching to the choir, but he isn’t hiding behind it.

    Image via YouTube

  • Sarah Palin Talks Waterboarding, Baptism

    Sarah Palin Talks Waterboarding, Baptism

    Former Governor of Alaska and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin gave a speech at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention in Indianapolis Saturday, in which she’d sensationally discussed her opinions concerning the Obama administration’s policy on terrorists and firearms.

    Regarding her views on how she would deal with suspected “enemies who would utterly annihilate America – they who’d obviously have information on plots,” Palin said, “if I were in charge, they would know that waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists.” The NRA crowd erupted in applause as Palin commented, “Oh, but you can’t offend them (the terrorists), can’t make them feel uncomfortable, not even a smidgen.”

    Here is a clip of Palin’s speech:

    Palin was able to further rile the audience while espousing her perspective regarding the constitutional right to bear arms. The former governor urged those in attendance to fight for their gun liberties, and stated that their efforts are “needed now more than ever because every day, we are seeing more and more efforts to strip away our Second Amendment rights.” Palin sees the Obama administration as attempting to further control the American people by attempting to further control their guns.

    Palin, always a polarizing political figure, ruffled some feathers with her baptism comment, as seen on Twitter:

    The baptismal waterboarding comment isn’t the first time Palin found a way to draw attention to herself and induce reaction. Academy Award winner Matt Damon had chimed in regarding Palin’s 2008 vice presidential bid:

    Palin also explained in her speech that “If you control oil, you control an economy. If you control money, you control commerce. But if you control arms, you control the people, and that is what they’re trying to do.”

    The Tea Party, among others, appeared to endorse aspects of Palin’s presentation:

  • Bloomberg Funds $50 Million To New Gun Control Group

    On Wednesday, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that he’ll be setting plans in motion to spend $50 million towards tightening gun control.

    The billionaire philanthropist’s money will fund a campaign group that aims to reduce gun violence across the United States, with hopes to win over the “hearts and minds of Americans” on “gun violence prevention.”

    Vowing to take on the National Rifle Association (NRA), Bloomberg has moms, police officers, and mayors on his side with the creation of “Everytown for Gun Safety”, an advocacy group built on”grass roots” movements that supports gun violence prevention, responsible gun ownership, tighter gun laws for states, universal background checks, and battles gun trafficking. Currently, background checks aren’t mandatory for firearm sales at estate sales or gun shows.

    “This is the beginning of a major new campaign to reduce the gun violence that plagues communities across the country,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “There is no question that more needs to be done to tackle this deadly problem.”

    Bloomberg expects Everytown for Gun Safety to act as an umbrella organization for two smaller groups: Mayors Against Illegal Guns (which Bloomberg founded with then-Boston Mayor Thomas Menino (D)) and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, founded by Shannon Watts, a stay-at-home mother.

    Prior initiatives for mandatory universal background checks have failed; in 2013, Senator Charles Schumer (D) of New York authored a bill set on making background checks universally mandatory – he didn’t have enough support for the bill to face congress.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH8SRdZvvFI

    In an interview published Tuesday with The New York Times, Bloomberg said: “You’ve got to work at it piece by piece.”

    “One mom and another mom. You’ve got to wear them down until they finally say, ‘Enough.’ ”

    The backlashes haven’t stopped 16 states from taking initiative and strengthening requirements for background checks before gun purchases, Bloomberg told Savannah Guthrie of the “Today” show Wednesday morning.

    During his appearance on the “Today” show, Bloomberg said: “It isn’t about gun control.”

    “This is simply making sure that people that everybody agrees should not be allowed to buy a gun – criminals, minors, [and] people with psychiatric problems.”

    Currently, Everytown has 1.5 million members across the nation, with aspirations to garner a million more by the year’s end.

    Images via Wikimedia Commons (1),(2),(3)

  • Piers Morgan Bids Adieu With Shot at NRA

    Piers Morgan Bids Adieu With Shot at NRA

    Piers Morgan bid adieu to his television viewers on Friday, replete with a shot at the NRA and a plea for Americans to become more stringent about gun control. Morgan’s show was canceled due to low ratings. Critics say the British native is “out of touch” with American culture.

    “We gave everything we had and loved every minute of it. Well, almost every minute of it,” Morgan said before signing off for the last time.

    Morgan’s show was supposed to fill the open hole Larry King left with his retirement. Things didn’t quite pan out the way CNN had planned.

    During the last few minutes of Piers Morgan’s final commentary, the talk switched to gun control. He had in fact pre-empted his last show with a tweet that indicated he had something more to say before his official goodbye.

    Saying first that he respects Americans, the CNN host quoted something his brother, a colonel in the Royal British Army, once told him.

    “You always want an American next to you in a trench when the going gets tough.”

    “But that’s where I think guns belong, on a military battlefield,” Morgan said. “Not in the hands of civilians.”

    Piers Morgan went on to say that gun violence in America is “a disease.”

    “The gun lobby in America, led by the NRA, has bullied this nation’s politicians into cowardly [sic] silence even when 20 children are blown away in their classrooms,” he said.

    Long criticized for his anti-gun stance, Morgan once lost his cool during an interview with a woman whose brother died from gun violence. He crumpled up his papers and promptly ended the interview.

    During his sign off, however, Piers Morgan insisted that his beliefs were shared solely for the good of Americans.

    “I’m so pro-American I want more of you to stay alive,” he said.

    While many are opposed to Piers Morgan’s beliefs about gun control, it is interesting to learn what someone from another country feels about safety and violence. Were you a fan of his CNN show or did you think he was better suited to being a judge on America’s Got Talent?

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Piers Morgan Ends Show’s Run With Gun Control Plea

    Piers Morgan ended his CNN show’s 3-year run with a final shot at the NRA, pleading with the country to take another look at gun control policies.

    The cancellation of “Piers Morgan Live” was announced last month with Morgan admitting that his stance on gun control issues hadn’t made him very popular with many of his viewers.

    “Look, I am a British guy debating American cultural issues, including guns, which has been very polarizing, and there is no doubt that there are many in the audience who are tired of me banging on about it,” he said. “That’s run its course and Jeff (Zucker, president of CNN) and I have been talking for some time about different ways of using me.”

    Morgan gave one final plea on Friday night for Americans to see how politicians have been influenced by gun lobbying, referencing the shootings in Aurora and Newtown as instances when the laws should have been tightened but weren’t.

    “The gun lobby in America, led by the NRA, has bullied this nation’s politicians into cowardly silence even when 20 children are blown away in their classrooms,” said Morgan.

    It’s not clear where Morgan will go next in his career, although he said last month that he may have opportunities waiting for him in another aspect of the network.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Richard Cabela, Co-Founder of Cabela’s, Dies at 77

    On Monday, the hunting and outdoor sports worlds lost one of its leading supporters when Richard Cabela, the co-founder of outdoor gear retailer Cabela’s, died at his home in Sidney, Nebraska at age 77.

    In 1961, Richard, better known as Dick, along with his wife, Mary, and his brother, Jim, unintentionally started one of the most successful American businesses to date. After purchasing $45 worth of fly-fishing lures on a business trip to Chicago and realizing that the lures would not sell in his family’s furniture and home-goods store, Dick decided to sell the lures in a different manner – through the mail. Cabela’s first successful ad for selling the lures appeared in Sports Afield magazine and read: “FREE introductory offer!!! 5 popular Grade A hand-tied flies. Send 25c for postage and handling …”

    While the Cabelas did not make any money off of this promotion, they did learn a successful and efficient business tactic. When orders for the lures came in, Mary took all of the names and addresses and wrote them down on recipe cards, creating a database of potential future customers. Using this crucial information obtained from his lure promotion, Dick Cabela would purchase more fishing gear and showcase it in a 3-page mimeographed catalog, which would then be mailed out to those who had placed an order for Cabela’s original ad.

    This mail-order business quickly took off and led to the creation of Cabela’s catalog, which eventually evolved into the development of 50 retail stores across the United States and Canada. For the 2013 fiscal year, Cabela’s overall sales raked in $3.6 billion in revenue.

    Cabela’s retailers have actually seen a rise in business over the last 4 years, mainly thanks to President Obama. Following Obama’s second election, many outdoor enthusiasts and gun-rights activists feared that the federal government would begin to take away gun rights. As a result, sales of guns and ammunition exploded in 2012. These sales would account for approximately 1/5 of Cabela’s $3.6 billion in revenue for 2013 and would help raise the value of Cabela’s market shares by 92 percent.

    Aside from being a business mogul, Dick Cabela was also an avid hunter and gun-rights activist. In 2012, Cabela’s was honored by the NRA for being one of the first businesses to donate more than $1 million to the organization. When asked why he supported the NRA so fervently, Cabela would often reply, “Some of these countries have no freedom, and a lot of that comes down to the right to bear arms.”

    Not only did Dick Cabela bear arms, he also used them with great alacrity. Cabela was a big-game hunter who built a 15,000 square foot trophy room in his house, showcasing taxidermied elephants, giraffes, and rhinoceroses. When he heard that Africa was going to outlaw the hunting of elephants, Cabela responded by stating, “I told Mary, we’d better go shoot an elephant before we can’t do it anymore.”

    Dick Cabela is survived by his wife and 9 children, along with 2 sisters and 3 brothers.

    Image via YouTube

  • Gabby Giffords is Booed at Gun Show in New York

    While a gun show where numerous “Don’t Tread on Me” flags are hanging up doesn’t sound like an environment a woman who was shot and nearly killed would want to be in, that’s exactly where former U.S. representative Gabby Giffords was on Sunday.

    Giffords attended her first gun show in New York after being shot in January 2011. While the general reception at the show was described as welcoming, Giffords was met with some opposition. Not only was Giffords booed by some people, one man showed up with a sign that had a swastika on it.

    Giffords attended the Saratoga Springs Arms Fair with husband Mark Kelly and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman as part of her national campaign against gun violence. Giffords was there to highlight a new agreement that closely monitors the sale of guns at shows in New York.

    “Be responsible–Democrats, Republicans, everyone,” Giffords encouraged. “We must never stop fighting. Fight. Fight. fight. Be bold. Be courageous. The nation is counting on you.”

    While most people at the show were friendly to Giffords, whether they agreed with her stance on gun control laws or not, she was met with some opposition.

    Kenneth Hall described Giffords and Kelly’s presence at the gun show as a “publicity stunt.” Hall went on to say, “They say they’re Second Amendment supporters. I don’t believe they are.” Hall also brought a sign with a swastika on it that said, “gun control made the Holocaust possible.”

    Fortunately, even if others at the gun show ultimately disagreed with the former representative’s views, they were civil about it. Dealer Joe Albano talked with Giffords and her husband and was impressed with the couple. He said he was against the new gun control laws, but “If she can help us, fine. We’re doing everything right here. We’re legal.”

    The initiative Giffords is pushing is separate from the gun control laws New York passed earlier this year that expanded a ban on military-style weapons, limited the capacity of magazines, taxed bullets and created a registry. Giffords is promoting a national campaign that, among other things, expands background checks for gun sales.

    Image via Twitter

  • Wayne LaPierre, NRA: More Good Guys with Guns Needed

    According to Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the National Rifle Association (NRA), there is something that could have prevented the Navy Yard shooting that killed 12 people: more good guys with guns. The shooting occurred last Monday when former Navy Reservist Aaron Alexis opened fire at the Washington Navy Yard.

    “There weren’t enough good guys with guns,” LaPierre said during an interview with Meet the Press. “When the good guys with guns got there, it stopped…All the outrage this week–the first two days of the elite media and the politicians trying to stir this toward firearms–the outrage ought to be placed on an unprotected naval base.”

    LaPierre said that in addition to making sure the right people are armed to prevent such tragedies, that we also need to focus more on problems with the mental health system. The NRA expressed a similar sentiment during the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shootings last December.

    “The outrage ought to be placed on an unprotected naval base, on a criminal justice system…that doesn’t even enforce the federal gun laws when we could dramatically cut violence, on a mental health system that is completely broken, on a check system that is a complete joke in terms of stopping the bad guys,” LaPierre said. “Let’s do whatever we can, let’s fix the broken system right now.”

    President Barack Obama questioned whether people care enough about such tragedies to change their views during a eulogy he delivered for those who lost their lives in the Navy Yard shootings.

    Obama said that the issue isn’t “whether as Americans we care in moments of tragedy.” Instead, “The question is do we care enough? It ought to be a shock to all of us, as a nation and a people,” he said. “It ought to obsess us. It ought to lead to some sort of transformation.”

    While many people would like to see changes in gun laws, quite a few people were bothered that Obama used that particular moment to bring up such changes.

    Image via YouTube

  • NRA Joins Lawsuit Against NSA’s Phone Metadata Collection

    The NRA is not the first organization that comes to mind when I think of civil liberty organizations. Sure, they fight for Second Amendment rights, but they don’t really get involved with matters concerning the First or Fourth Amendment unless it directly affects gun owners. Well, they now feel that the NSA has crossed a line in that respect.

    The Hill reports that the NRA has joined the ACLU’s lawsuit against the federal government concerning the NSA’s phone metadata collection program. If you recall, the metadata collection program was the first revealed by the Snowden leaks, and showed that the government was collecting phone data from every call made on Verizon’s network.

    So, why does the NRA have a stake in this? Are they suddenly concerned about the privacy of every American? Well, not really – they’re concerned about the privacy of gun owners as they feel the NSA collecting phone metadata is the same thing as building a national gun registry.

    In its filing, the NRA says that Congress, in authorizing metadata collection, has authorized the creation of a gun registry program:

    “It would be absurd to think that the Congress would adopt and maintain a web of statutes intended to protect against the creation of a national gun registry, while simultaneously authorizing the FBI and the NSA to gather records that could effectively create just such a registry.”

    So, how would the NSA compile a gun registry with the metadata it collects under section 215 of the Patriot Act? Well, metadata tells the agency who a person calls and for how long. The NRA feels that the agency could use this information and point out who owns a gun based upon calls being made to gun shops and firing ranges.

    While I think it’s a little absurd to think the NSA wants to create a gun registry, I do agree with the spirit of the NRA’s concern. President Obama and other defenders of the NSA say that metadata doesn’t divulge any personal information and is therefore not a violation of the Fourth Amendment. As the NRA points out, that’s not entirely the case as the NSA could use that metadata to find out which Americans make calls to gun shops. That same technique could be used to find out which Americans make calls to any number of groups and organizations. From there, you spiral into the not-so-silly conspiracy theories of the government looking for signs of dissent based upon calls being made to protest organizations and anti-government groups.

    With the NRA’s backing, the UCLA has a lot more power behind its attempt to stall the government’s collection of phone records. Now we can only hope the judge in the matter understands the NRA’s example to be just that – an example of how telling metadata really is.

    [h/t: Bjoertvedt/Wikimedia Commons]

  • Ted Nugent’s Brother is For Expanded Background Checks For Guns

    Jeffrey Nugent, the former CEO of cosmetics company Revlon, doesn’t completely agree with his brother when it comes to the gun control debate. That’s normal for plenty of U.S. families, but Jeffrey’s views have made headlines because his brother happens to be Ted Nugent, the famous rock star who is well-known as a staunch conservative and hunting aficionado.

    Jeffrey penned an op-ed for the Washington Post last week, stating that he and his brother are long-time hunters and members of the National Rifle Association (NRA). He also writes that he and his brother own “a large number of guns.” However, he states that the NRA and his brother are wrong on the issue of expanded background checks, saying, “Irresponsible gun owners are bad for everyone.” From Jeffrey’s op-ed:

    And I agree with Ted that our constitutional right to bear arms should not be undermined. I want all those who are qualified to purchase a gun to be able to do so. But — and here is where I part ways with my brother — not everyone is qualified to own a gun, so expanded background checks should be a legislative priority.

    I believe strongly that expanding and improving mandatory background checks will keep a lot of people who aren’t entitled to Second Amendment rights from having easy access to guns. As of today, a convicted felon can find a gun show or a private seller and buy a firearm without a background check. That loophole should be closed. Every gun transaction must include a thorough background check. Why would responsible gun owners want to protect people who threaten not only our safety but our gun rights?

    Ted Nugent has replied to his brother’s essay with his own opinion piece published on Newsmax on Sunday. Ted salutes his brother for standing up for his views, but calls those views “dead wrong.” From Ted’s op-ed:

    Passing expanded background checks would do nothing to curtail or suppress thugs or psychos from accessing weapons and committing mass murder, carjacking, the nightly shootouts in Chicago or a gangsta shooting at the Mother’s Day parade in New Orleans.

    Paroled thugs or bug-eyed psychotics could not care less about any gun laws. The bold and ugly reality is that they will always gain access to a weapon. I believe at his core, my brother knows this.

  • Ex-Girlfriend Target Gets NRA In Trouble

    “The Ex”–a gun target made to look like a scantily-clad woman that “bleeds” when shot–has many people outraged after it debuted at an NRA convention over the weekend.

    The target is made by Zombie Industries, the company that makes a “Tactical Bleeding Zombies” line, and many are questioning the wisdom of allowing men to shoot at something designed to replicate a specific type of person.

    “This is outrageous and dangerous,” Laura Cutilletta, a senior staff attorney at the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said. “Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women in the United States. This reprehensible product stokes the fire of relationship violence which already claims far too many of our mothers, daughters and sisters.”

    The company insists they never meant any harm with the target and have changed the name of the product to “Alexa Zombie”.

    “The intention of the company was never to discriminate against women or promote violence against women,” said marketing director Roger Davis.

    The convention was rife with controversy not just because of the targets, but also because of a comment Glenn Beck made comparing NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg to a Nazi.

    Images: ZombieIndustries.com

    (image)

  • Glenn Beck Nazis Image Overshadows NRA Speech

    Glenn Beck is well-known for using hyperbole, conspiracy theories, and provocative imagery to keep himself relevant to conservatives. However, during his keynote speech this weekend at the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) Annual Meeting, Beck went full-on Godwin’s law, characterizing New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg as a Nazi.

    According to a report from New York news station WABC, during the presentation Beck showed a satirical advertisement for New York City that showed Bloomberg, who is Jewish, giving a Nazi salute. Predictably, the Anti-Defamation League has criticized Beck’s presentation, calling it “insensitive and deeply offensive.”

    The NRA has been battling gun restriction legislation since the Newtown shooting. In order to increase the legitimacy of their positions, the organization has been cleaning house and distancing itself from some of the more radical elements of the U.S. gun culture. Though Beck’s hour-and-a-half speech was largely filled with mainstream pro-gun arguments, his Nazi imagery could end up overshadowing the NRA’s meeting.

    Last week’s NRA convention also gained attention this week after the organization requested a company called Zombie Industries remove a mannequin shooting target that resembles President Obama from its booth.

    Beck’s Nazi Bloomberg reference occurs at around the 58-minute mark in the video of the speech below:

  • NRA: Bleeding Obama Target Mannequin Banned From Convention

    It’s no secret that the NRA doesn’t agree with the gun legislation President Obama has endorsed in the wake of the Newtown school shooting in December. However, a political disagreement isn’t the same as a threat, even when the topic is gun rights. To prove this, the NRA has gone to great lengths to distance itself from a few of the more disturbing aspects of the U.S. gun culture.

    This week, BuzzFeed is reporting that the NRA has asked Zombie Industries to remove a specific mannequin target from its booth at the NRA Annual Meeting last weekend. A booth-worker for the company told the publication that an NRA representative asked them to remove the mannequin because it looks too much like President Barack Obama.

    Zombie Industries sells mannequin targets styled to look like zombies. The targets are life-sized and “bleed” pink goo when shot. The questionable mannequin is dubbed the “Rocky Zombie,” and does resemble the current U.S. president, despite being a bright shade of green.

    Zombie Industries sells over a dozen different zombie mannequin target models, including a boar, a wolf, a kangaroo, a clown, a “nazi,” and a “terrorist” that greatly resembles Osama bin Laden.

    The company’s zombies were featured last year in an episode of the Discovery Channel reality TV show Sons of Guns:

    Zombie Industries has also posted some demonstration videos to YouTube:

    (Image courtesy Zombie Industries)

  • 8th Grader’s Gun T-shirt Leads To Arrest

    According to reports, an 8th grader in West Virginia was suspended and arrested after wearing an NRA t-shirt to school, which says: NRA: Protect Your Right” and features a picture of a rifle.

    The shirt apparently caused an argument between the student, Jared Marcum, and a teacher at Logan Middle School. Yahoo News reports:

    Police confirmed that Marcum had been arrested and faced charges of obstruction and disturbing the education process after getting into an argument over the shirt with a teacher at Logan Middle School, which is south of Charleston.

    There is no apparent language banning such shirts in the school’s policy.

    Here’s an interview from CBS 13 with the student and his father, who are both, obviously, pretty unhappy:

    WOWK 13 Charleston, Huntington WV News, Weather, Sports

    The father, Allen Lardieri, has pledged to do everything in his legal power to “make sure this does not happen again”.

    The school has remained quiet.

  • That NRA Ad About President Obama’s Kids Gets a Funny or Die Response

    As you may have already know, the NRA has released an ad that attacks President Obama because his kids have armed Secret Service to protect them.

    “Are the President’s kids more important than yours,” asks the ad. “Then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools when his kids are protected by armed guards at their school?”

    Here’s that ad:

    And here’s the response from Funny or Die, who argues that the security needs of the President’s family and the average family are different and comparisons are irrelevant.

  • NRA Back on Facebook, Gives Statement on Newtown Shooting

    Shortly after the tragic shootings in Newtown, Connecticut that left 26 innocents dead, the nation’s largest and most powerful gun lobby decided that a social media blackout was the way to go. The National Rifle Association stopped tweeting, and they unpublished their Facebook page making it inaccessible to everyone except page admins.

    Today, they’re back on Facebook and the organization has made their first public statement on the Sandy Hook elementary shootings.

    They posted a short statement to their 1.7 million Facebook fans just a few minutes ago, saying that they will offer “meaningful contributions” to ensure this “never happens again.”

    The NRA is made up of four million moms and dads, sons and daughters – and we were shocked, saddened and heartbroken by the news of the horrific and senseless murders in Newtown. Out of respect for the families, and as a matter of common decency, we have given time for mourning, prayer and a full investigation of the facts before commenting. The NRA is prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again.

    They also posted an image that says, “There’s never been a more important time. Join the NRA.”

    They’ve also announced that they will hold a national press conference in Washington DC on Friday. Time TBA.

  • NRA Social Media Blackout Continues Following Newtown Shooting

    The National Rifle Association is a non-profit group whose main goal is the protection of the second amendement. It’s the most powerful and influential group with this stated mission, and therefore is the first to be mentioned whenever the country starts talking about guns.

    And right now, as I’m sure you know, this country is talking about guns.

    Following the mass shooting at the Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut that left 26 innocents dead (including 20 children), guns have been at the center of the discussion. That means gun rights, gun control, gun culture – you name it. The killer is reported to have used an AR-15 style rifle – a style that’s becoming popular with people who execute these mass shootings (think Aurora movie theater and Oregon mall). It’s also simply one of the more popular weapons among American gun owners in general. All the guns in his possession were apparently purchased legally, and those guns were able to fire off hundreds of rounds in a short period of time.

    These are the gun facts surrounding the tragedy, but Americans will not be able to agree on their significance. Gun rights/restrictions is one of the most devise issues around. And immediately following a tragedy as terrible as Newtown, emotions run hot, leading to incredibly heated debate.

    And apparently, the NRA wants no part in the debate, or at least doesn’t want to host that debate (at least for now). Shortly following the first reports of the shootings, the NRA hid their Facebook page.

    Just one day before all of this, the NRA had posted a celebratory message to their members boasting that the Facebook page had just hit 1.7 million likes.

    As of this morning, the page facebook.com/nationalrifleassociation is still inaccessible. Users attempting to access it will be directed back to the homepage.

    It appears that the NRA has chosen to unpublish their page, which page admins can do from the permissions settings. Unpublishing a page makes it only visible to admins. It would seem that the NRA knew that silence on the issue would not truly remove them from the unavoidable debate – at least not on Facebook. And they were right, Their wall would have become a message board for pro-gun and anti-gun activists to bicker back and forth. Even if the NRA would have disabled posts from users on their wall, users would have been able to use past NRA posts to conduct the flame war.

    The NRA is taking a slightly different approach on Twitter – opting for the silence. The NRA’s account is still up and running, but there hasn’t been a tweet since early last Friday, hours before the shooting occurred. Though the NRA can still receive plenty of mentions (both positive and negative) from other users, they are much less visible than on Facebook. In short, it’s harder to escalate a flame war through Twitter mentions than through Facebook comments.

    We’ve reached out to the NRA for comment on their social media blackout and will update this article accordingly.

  • GoDaddy CEO Links to More Footage From Controversial Elephant Killing

    GoDaddy CEO Links to More Footage From Controversial Elephant Killing

    Every time we think GoDaddy has tried to put to rest the controversy over CEO Bob Parsons killing an elephant, Parsons brings it back up. This time he has tweeted a link to a a cover story for NRA digital magazine America’s 1st Freedom, which reports in line with Parsons’ own defense for his actions.

    Do you think Parsons was right or wrong to kill the elephant? Comment here.

    Clearly there are people standing up for both sides of the argument. PETA has been the most vocal opponent, and much of the piece is for all intents and purposes attacking that organization. It’s not just animal rights activists that were outraged by the elephant killing, however. Many people claimed they were pulling their sites from GoDaddy domains, and some of GoDaddy’s competitors took advantage of this by offering special deals (with donations to elephant-related causes) for switching to their respective services.

    Parsons has staunchly defended his actions from the beginning, in the press, on Twitter, and even in unrelated GoDaddy press releases (which were about donations to Hope for Haiti), though interestingly enough, GoDaddy never put out much in the way of damage control following the outcry over the video – no press releases directly about the incident, though the video was later heavily edited to give it a completely different tone. More on Parsons’ defense here, and in the NRA article.

    The video has even drawn parody on YouTube:

    Regardless of where you stand on Parsons’ elephant-killing ways, it seems clear that the whole thing has done little to help GoDaddy in terms of PR, which is why I find it fascinating that Parsons keeps bringing it back up, rather than letting the story disappear into the past. It seemed like they were finally focusing their PR on charitable donations, but Parsons recently tweeted the following, bringing the elephant back into spotlight:

    @DrBobParsons
    Bob Parsons    Nice to see someone telling it like it is. I’m on front cover of NRA magazine. Love the NRA! http://x.co/XSHo 5 days ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    WARNING: GRAPHIC ELEPHANT BUTCHER IMAGES BELOW

    It gets more interesting, when you look at the actual article and find a different video with more footage from the elephant outing. There’s no AC/DC soundtrack in this one like there was in the other one before it was edited, though I have to wonder if this one has been edited as well. Before editing, the other one also showed many villagers wearing GoDaddy hats. This seems to be lacking in this video as well. It’s not embeddable (if you have a link to embeddable version, let us know, but you can see the video in its entirety in the article here), but here are a few screenshots. Please note that all captions are from the actual video. We did not add these.

    Elephant Butcher

    Elephant Butcher

    Elephant Butcher

    Elephant Butcher

    Elephant Butcher

    Elephant Butcher

    Elephant Butcher

    Elephant Butcher

    Elephant Butcher

    Elephant Butcher

    Elephant Butcher

    Since tweeting the link to the story, Parsons also tweeted a link to a new GoDaddy video where he talks about how to make good decisions.

    Is Parsons helping or hurting GoDaddy’s image by continuing to bring up the elephant? Tell us what you think.