The Rolling Stone War On Guns
BY Herschel Smith
7 years, 4 months ago
In 1980, the nation’s gun-violence epidemic hit close to home for Rolling Stone when John Lennon was gunned down by Mark David Chapman. For the magazine’s founder, the slaying in New York sparked a now-four-decade commitment on the gun issue. “It all started with Lennon,” says Jann S. Wenner. “That tragedy. Trying to make sense of it. Or make something good come out of it.” Within months, Wenner had launched the Foundation on Violence in America, a nonprofit that began a public-education campaign, including PSAs starring Oprah Winfrey and Walter Cronkite. But momentum quickly stalled. “It became obvious that the beginning and end of this was the NRA,” Wenner says.
So I guess nobody mattered except John Lennon. Nice people, they are. But what they ran smack into was us. The NRA is sometimes effective, sometimes not, and could be much more effective if they would end their stupid rating awards to politicians for poor voting records.
What Rolling Stone gets wrong on this is what all of the other progressives get wrong. We won’t let them take our guns, no matter what else obtains. The NRA thinks the way they do because we do, not vice versa. The NRA is merely a manifestation of our political power, but there is so much untapped power there.
Rolling Stone lost. Don’t put a pretty face on this, guys. It makes you look stupid.
On August 22, 2017 at 7:07 am, Heywood said:
Maybe they shoild stick to making up stories about the rape culture…..