NRA Goes After a Female Gun Control Advocate as Only the NRA Can
Shannon Watts, the head of the pro-gun-regulation group Moms Demand Action, is a mom. The National Rifle Association hates Watts. So it wrote a blistering profile of her. And dressed her up as a cutout mom with kitchen and housekeeping accoutrements, because moms oughta know their place!
The pics in this post are from angry gun guy Dave Kopel's angry anti-Watts article in the September issue of America's 1st Freedom, which is sort of like the September issue of Vogue, if Vogue were owned by pro-gun Bircher-types and Jean-Paul Gaultier designed .308 assault weapons with optical rails.
The story itself is typical of Kopel's single-minded blather, in which he finds it impossible and misleading that a proper "stay-at-home mom" could also run a consulting business while at home. No doubt Moms Demand Action, which is well-financed, has a whiff of Astroturf. No doubt it's also a rich indictment coming from the NRA, which purports to be the mouthpiece for America's estimated hundred million or more gun owners, while claiming (without proof) actual membership of 4 million, pulling strings on legislation nationwide, strong-arming politicians with its campaign dollars and endorsements, and downplaying its financial and political ties to the firearms industry.
From there, it deteriorates into a series of grumpy grunts that tell the reader more about Kopel than his subject, like when he expresses scoffing disbelief that any responsible person can assert—as Watts does—that the Second Amendment is fine, and certainly some guns should be legal, but having five times more licensed gun dealers than McDonalds franchises in America is a bad thing. (Pro tip, Dave: You can favor legal access to lots of things, like pot and abortion, while believing limits are reasonable and fair.)
Kopel's got every right to offer his melange of facts and frothy outrage. Perhaps it'd be a different piece sans art. But it's telling that the NRA can't take aim at its political enemies without blowing an orchestra's worth of dog whistles: the anti-gun left, bankrolled by that New York City billionaire named Bloomberg! And his attack dog, that lady who ain't a lady all, where's her feather-duster and ironing board!
But Kopel wants to make clear he's not saying all ladies are a problem, just the crotchety ones who don't know their place. As proof that authentic momhood exists, he cites "Julie Golob, captain of Team Smith & Wesson and author of 'I'm An NRA Mom' in our June issue. A mother of two, Golob is giving a voice to thousands of NRA Moms who aren't recognized by the national media."
(Yep, there are none of those in the national media.)
Golob says that unlike those other nasty knee-jerk breeders in pantsuits, the "NRA MOM stands up for freedom—and the Second Amendment rights that guarantee all of our other freedoms."
You got that, moms? Get with the gun program. Or get back in the kitchen!