I was going to write about this earlier, but the fact is that when it is a hot topic and you have no time, it is hard to get ahead of those who write for a living. So, I’ll just preface a professionally written article with my two cents of analysis.

Public Relations is a hard thing for companies, but when they have the right atmosphere a PR stunt can garner them a lot of positive attention. We witnessed such a perfect PR storm this last week that it can’t be denied for what it really is. Many Americans applauded and ate it up, but my take is that many of those Americans are really naive to think the decisions were made based on some moral guide, superiority, or an actual political stand.

PR stunt Olympics

Companies this last week have been announcing they will no longer sell assault style weapons, raising sales ages to 21, banning bump stocks, etc., etc., etc. They are all basically designed to make it more difficult to legally buy these types of weapons or supplies. On the surface, this is a great PR win for the companies but it is really just a stunt for press attention.

Why do I say these moves are just PR stunts? Let’s be real here. There is no moral fortitude being used when it costs you nothing to make a stand. I don’t have real hard numbers here but I would bet if you looked over these companies financial statements you would find that gun sales are a small, small percentage of their overall sales. By extension, that would mean the sales of the specific weapons they are now demonizing are a fraction of a percent in their overall sales. If your PR stunt involves a small fraction of your overall sales, it doesn’t cost you anything to make a stand. But what it does do is help naive Americans think you are the greatest thing since sliced bread.

A few examples:

• Dick’s Sporting Goods/Field & Stream – the first of the big stores to announce the ban and restrictions. Let’s be honest, not the first place most people would think to go to buy a weapon! Dick’s sells more shoes, shorts, baseball gloves, and golf clubs than it sells guns. That’s their bread and butter, so guns sales is an afterthought for them. *Personal note – The firearm section in my local Dick’s is so small and limited that it is a joke to even think of shopping there. Most of the time, I forget they even have them.*
• Walmart – What are they known for? Everything under the sun (most of the time) at low prices. Yes, they have a small section of firearms but this is not your go to destination for firearms. They even admit they have sold these types of guns, but they just don’t sell. (That would be because people who are serious about anything don’t shop at Walmart, they go to a specialty store.)
• Kroger/Fred Meyer – Again, what are they known for? Clothes, groceries, and home goods. Firearms is not a major source of revenue for them. *Personal Note – I was actually surprised to see a small firearms section magically appear in our local store a few years back. It seemed totally random and out of the blue.*

Listen, a PR stunt is a PR stunt and there no real stand being taken here.

The fact is, there are laws on the books to keep bad people from getting guns and when they are followed they work a vast majority of the time. Are there ways around them and are they fool-proof? No. Nothing is perfect. I am not that naive. Could we do more? Maybe. But for me it comes down to “just because we can doesn’t mean we should.” These things are a slippery slope and are much like government entitlements (once you give them it becomes difficult to take them away), only in the opposite direction – once you take someone’s right away, it becomes difficult to give it back.

 

Check out the great article below which was published before I could publish my conclusions:

Gun-control proponents shouldn’t be so quick to praise corporations.

Source: Corporations only break with the gun industry when it’s cheap and easy – The Washington Post