In an attempt to be relevant for a cause that’s increasingly irrelevant, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence lets everyone know they oppose self-defense with a new video. At the risk of driving up their hit count:
The production values look pretty good, so I really hope they spent a lot of Joyce money on it, because the polling says this probably won’t shift the center of the debate much, and is as likely to motivate our side as theirs. I want people to realize these people are extremists who do not believe in your right to self-defense… period. This gets that across.
For a more detailed takedown of the video, see Legal Insurrection (h/t Miguel)
Hard to believe that they disabled rating and comments.
“…the polling says this probably won’t shift the center of the debate much…”
I (we) have observed in the past that something polling cannot measure is the motivation behind an opinion — something that usually works in our favor.
Something that worries me is, I did a walk-through of a local “African-American Day” festival this past weekend, and was a bit surprised by all of the “Remember Trayvon Martin” T-shirts I saw in the crowd. For us the Zimmerman/Martin case already is old news. For their community, it is still a cause fresh enough to wear on their backs. We can celebrate the courtroom win for self-defense, but I am less confident that it is going to be a net political win, over time.
Good point.
This ad is really just an example of the anti-gun crowd trying to piggyback on the much more vital racial resentments plaguing our nation; resentments which Obama, the Left, and usual suspects of racial demagoguery are deliberately stirring up to seize power, to cow political opponents, and to enrich themselves.
The anti-gun crowd tries to play the race card. It’s about all they have left.
What? If anything, this only justifies higher capacity magazines! By the looks of all those bodies, this guy was hopelessly outnumbered!
Of course. The anti-gun crowd has always thought of armed self-defense as immoral vigilantism. They just want to take the next logical step and make armed self-defense illegal.
I wasn’t sure where they were going with the video, but when they went “indoors”, I expected a break-in of some sort. In many ways, the video emphasizes what I understand about the Zimmerman case–that he was put in danger by a thug, and he defended his life.
Of course, I understand that the video is going to resonate with those who thought Zimmerman was evil, particularly because that was what they were trying to show…but Sebastian is right: this video probably isn’t going to have the effect that CSGVBKVDM* is going to expect it to have.
*Coalition to Stop Gun Violence Because Knife Violence Doesn’t Matter
As always, these reinactments cut the phone call off after “we don’t need you to do that”. They certainly can’t depict him standing around talking to a dispatcher for 90 seconds when he is supposed to be chasing a scared boy or drawing his gun on him.
“Laws Should Protect Victims”
From the group who attempted to empower lynch mobs to murder Zimmerman before he could get wrongfully charged, and then acquitted!
http://www.weerdworld.com/2012/lynch-mob/
CSGV we remember!
Wonderful! They are pouring money down a rat hole. They do not understand the law any more than they understand guns. CSGV has bought into the media interpretation of “stand your ground”.
The antis believe “stand your ground” is something new and was invented in Florida by the Koch Brothers. But abolishing the duty to retreat has been ongoing since the Indiana Supreme Court decided Runyon v. State in 1877.
They are pouring money into a losing horse. Do not get in CSGV’s way.
Talk about exploitation….. WOW!
I wish there was a prostand your ground video about me when I was at Widener in 1994. Two black males, one with maroon hoodie and one with navy blue hooide, both Carhart hooides attacked me outside my dorm and put a gun to my chin. The male pulled the trigger twice and then they both laughed. I was 18, on a college campus, and from NJ. Unarmed and after the gun didn’t go off, really really pissed. But hey, we all know who’s son that could have been.
WOW doesn’t even begin to cut how bad an idea this ad is.
A good ad would be one that made the other side say, yea, that could be a valid point. Something like someone panicking and hitting their own kid or whatever.
A bad ad would be ineffective to your own side and beyond despicable to the other.
They should have included footage of a bunch of peckerwoods dressed in confederate flag t-shirts and hats, standing around a BBQ pit while cooking a black baby. That might have been just as subtle….
Stand your ground and shall issue should be the law of the land. As it stands anyone who defends him or herself is branded a vigilante. What a crock of crap…