12/14/2013

Gun control advocates try to pressure gun makers through making people divest from them and generally make it so that they can't do business

People don't like demonstrators in front of their business.  It isn't too surprising that people will do what they can to keep from being harassed.  This pressure takes many forms.  Authorize.net, which is owned by Visa, won't handle the credit for companies that deal with guns.  Bank of America is forcing gun makers not to have accounts at their bank.  My concern is that these actions are driving gun makers out of business.  From the New Republic:
. . . Proponents of sensible gun control are increasingly turning to the approach used to such effect against apartheid South Africa and the tobacco industry and more recently also deployed against the fossil fuel industry. They are trying to force change by pressuring gun manufacturers themselves and, more specifically, the people, firms and institutions that invest in them. This shift is out of recognition that the manufacturers not only profit from the spread of firearms but have become increasingly central to the National Rifle Association and other groups that fight new gun regulations
The first target of the main pro-divestment group, Campaign to Unload, is Cerberus Capital Management, the private-equity firm that owns the Freedom Group, the big gun conglomerate that makes, among many other brands, the Bushmaster .223 semi-automatic rifle that Adam Lanza used to gun down 20 children and six educators in  Newtown (The company is also known as Remington Outdoor Company). Campaign to Unload held an inter-faith protest outside Cerberus’ headquarters on Monday and plans much more in the weeks ahead. “When the political process becomes stalled, stigmatizing the industry helps loosen up the process,” said Jennifer Fiore, a Washington, D.C. resident who recently joined Campaign to Unload after helping lead Moms Demand Action, a nationwide group that sprang up after the Newtown shootings and now counts more than 120,000 members online. “Manufacturers are part of the problem, part of the reason why legislation has stalled, and we’d like to see the manufacturers and industry as a whole embrace what the public would like to see.” . . . 
It sure looks as if the divestment campaign’s initial goal—to, as Fiore put it, make Freedom Group a “hot potato”—is working. . . .
This is only part of the problem.  Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has put political pressure on banks to stop doing business with firearms manufacturers. 

There are other boycotts that have taken place:
Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, which organized a successful campaign this summer to pressure Starbucks into banning guns from its cafes, is preparing a similar effort aimed at McDonald’s, founder Shannon Watts told POLITICO. 
It’s part of the larger political shift from gun control advocacy groups, and the recognition that like much of Obama’s second term agenda, gun control is buried under the reality of a divided Congress. . . .

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3 Comments:

Blogger MaverickNH said...

Again, "The Bias Against Gun" by the media over-reports on these pro-gun control organization that are, in themselves, small and poorly funded. The Mothers Demand Action claims 120,000+ online members, which is coincidentally their Facebook "Like" count. NRA, has just short of twice the "Like" count of Mothers, but over 30-times the card-carrying, money-contributing members.

Groups like Mothers Demand Action are simple media-bait, that serve to give the media a basis to repeat the many bogus statistics that are debunked in this blog. I got nary a rise from NH-NPR for lambasting their story about the four members in NH (that 4, as in 2+2), that was chock full of half-truths (like referring to polls immediately following Newtown without reference to more recent polls showing waning support for gun control), until I directly questioned whether the journalist who authored the article was either knowingly dishonest or incompetent. Her editor jumped to her defense in the comments section - a rare intervention - saying the article was "straightforward journalism" and that more such stories would follow. The media don't like being called biased, it seems.

12/14/2013 1:08 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Two can play that game. Why don't we (the many many of us who would like to remain free) organize a boycott of organizations and cities who want to disarm us by any means - fair or foul. I, personally, wouldn't set foot in Chicago because of that bastard Rahm Emanuel and his efforts to make the US into another UK. (And, I was born there).

Molon Labe!

12/14/2013 5:20 PM  
Blogger MaverickNH said...

It took a few days for NHPR to decide to post my comments revealing revisions of the article favorable to the Mothers Demand Action organization http://nhpr.org/post/new-hampshire-mothers-join-national-effort-tighter-gun-control-laws

Comment 1: Members of the media don't like being called biased, or having it suggested that they are using their position to further a partisan position on an issue. When NPR hosted a program on media bias, it was rather laughable that they biased the discussion based both on time given to each side as well as on those invited to participate. http://newsbusters.org/blogs/t...

The political bias of journalists has been so well studied, it must be part of the curriculum for Journalism majors in college http://archive.mrc.org/biasbas...

On the matter of gun control, the media have an undeniable bias against guns http://newsbusters.org/blogs/g... http://www.amazon.com/The-Bias...

So a "straightforward journalist" might well simply be displaying the bias co-opted by generations of journalists, editors and media outlets. Look in the mirror people - if you write biased articles, excusing the ends as justify the means, then admit it. At least to yourselves. Denials in print just further diminish your credibility.

Comment2: Ah - revised the 12/11/13 article, I see.

WAS: New Hampshire Mothers Join Others In 34 States Demanding Tighter Gun Control Laws "...one of about 125,000 moms in 35 states who have joined forces to...."

NOW: New Hampshire Mothers Join National Effort For Tighter Gun Control Laws :...one of about 125,000 moms who have joined forces..."

Did they get Facebook "Likes" from those other 15 states, or is the revision simply to gloss over only 70% states have "online members"? It's hard to claim 80-90% of people support stricter gun control when not a single mom in 15 states even registered a "Like" on Facebook, eh?

A 12/14/13 article from Pioneer Press (MN) says: "On Saturday, a group called Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America is organizing 50 events in more than 35 states to honor victims of gun violence." http://www.twincities.com/news...

So yes, it looks like the revision of this article from 70% of states to a "National Effort" was a deliberate effort to magnify the impact of the Mothers Demand Action organization. Fifty events, fifty states... whatever...

Maybe that revision to a "National Effort" is designed to offset the added caveat "that Groat, Hegarty, and a small crowd of other moms will gather in downtown Durham this Saturday, to ring bells and make noise to demand change." Makes it seem like it's a bigger thing elsewhere, even if small in NH? I'll wager that the number of reporters attending these 50 events almost outnumbers the number of Mothers demanding action...

12/18/2013 8:58 AM  

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