By Ben Langlotz
|
December 7, 2022
|
Firearms, Opinion Pieces
|
0 Comments
HOW YOU CAN HELP ELON MUSK SAVE THE GUN INDUSTRY
It’s appalling when the President of the United States finally says out loud what we know Democrats have long been thinking about our rights and our industry:
“The idea we still allow semi-automatic weapons to be purchased is sick.
It has no socially redeeming value, not a single solitary rationale for it except profit for the gun manufacturers.”
-President Joe Biden, November 24, 2022
Contrast that to an old-school Democrat running for President in 1960, who said the following and was never criticized for it, even as he was running successfully for Vice President years later:
Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. This is not to say that firearms should not be very carefully used and that definite safety rules of precaution should not be taught and enforced. But the right of citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, and one more safeguard against tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible.
-Hubert H. Humphrey, 1960
Now, we know old Joe doesn’t really mean to include all the auto-loading firearms like the pistols that normal people carry for lawful self-defense, and every cop has on the duty belt. At least, not yet. He’s referring to the militarily-useful “tyranny safeguards” (the Humphrey nickname for our favorite rifles) that he’s undoubtedly happy to see imported into Ukraine to resist a powerful tyrannical government.
So how does this relate to Elon Musk?
Elon openly tells us he plans to save civilization. Not just by moving a population to Mars to ensure that the human race doesn’t die out due to a catastrophic event like a big meteorite, or nuclear war. Lately, he spent $44 billion dollars to buy a failing internet company, just to save our free speech rights. I’m talking about Twitter, that social media platform you and your company have never taken a shine to, because of its awkward and confusing interface, where you’re not quite sure if you’re doing it right. Until you get the hang of it, “It that all there is?” seems to be the normal reaction. If this is you, read on.
And I believe that America’s free speech right enshrined in our Constitution’s First Amendment is as essential to our liberty as is the Second Amendment we all revere. Without free speech, our liberty will fall, as insidious woke, communist, ESG, DEI, and other despicable acronyms infect our nation. Only the freedom to call out and criticize these viruses can eradicate them. Elon famously called out the “woke mind virus”:
“Woke” is the cultural life blood of literally every major media company, especially every Silicon Valley global behemoth. Where public records show that employee donations to Republican campaigns are unheard of – presumably not because there are no Republican employees, but because it’s career suicide to publicly donate.
Until now.
All it takes is only one free-speech mainstream forum that can’t be ignored. Fringe peripheral social media sites like Parler and Truth Social will never enjoy the “network effect” that is essential to influence, and have little more national influence than my own little newsletter. And now, Twitter is that site. Just as a generation ago Fox News was the mainstream site that for the first time enabled conservative voices to be heard without the filtration and bias of the old news networks, Twitter is that site. And at least right now, Twitter isn’t as reinfected as Fox is by the same old media biases. Last month shortly after election day, I was traveling and turned on The Five, a favorite of my father (a regular reader of this newsletter – Hi Dad!). I was appalled to see several participants falling all over themselves to make absolutely clear that everyone knew that no election fraud could possibly be happening, and making sure that everyone knew they would never make such allegations. I’m not making any specific allegations, but polls show that confidence in our elections is at an all-time low, and the truth requires scrutiny, not cowardice.
My answer to the question raised in the title is: Get. On. Twitter.
It’s not just another social media site to keep up with. It’s the ONLY one. It’s certainly the only one that has the liberals going apoplectic simply because they lost their advantageous bias against conservative ideas. But what really matters is that all it takes is one. Even if hundreds of others are controlled by liberal activists from within, all it takes is one exception to be able to openly discuss ideas in a free market. Where our ideas are superior, they are revealed so on a free forum, and the result is global. All it took was one little boy to shatter the mass delusion about the Emperor’s new clothes. And all it takes is Twitter to demolish the illusion of consensus on all the other sites.
So what’s your excuse for relying on Facebook? Do you think your current customers will stay long on that anti-gun, anti-conservative regime? I’m not calling for a boycott, and I still have my Facebook account and drop in occasionally. But start building your reputation on Twitter. Use Facebook to reach your followers and lead them over to Twitter. Link to your best Tweets. I trust that Instagram is a necessity, as is YouTube. But you should be ready for the next phases of Twitter as Elon fulfills his promise to make it the “everything app” that competes with them, as well as PayPal, banking, and more.
“But aren’t they anti-gun?”
Twitter has not changed its anti-gun (and knife) advertising policy. Yet. But they permit non-commercial gun-related speech, and they are your best chance to reach your customers with product information, entertainment, and your political principles without being throttled, suspended, or banned. I have hope that Elon will see that the ban on advertising lawful weapons is pointless and unprofitable, and in conflict with his principle of permitting expression that complies with the law. I also believe that a smart gun industry advertiser might well seek to advertise, and either find themselves a pioneer advertiser, or have a great PR hook as they make media hay out of a rejection. Why not have your company’s name in the CNN story about the gun company angry to be refused advertising by Elon Musk?
He’s a disruptor, and he’s our best hope for free speech.
See you at SHOT!
I’m delighted to say that I’m headed to SHOT 2023 after skipping last year’s masking madness. Send us an email if you’d like to arrange a visit and conference.
