Rob Quist TV ad
Bad Example for Montana
There are numerous and some serious problems with the TV gun ad
by Montana congressional candidate Rob Quist:
1) Quist keeps his ammo in his shirt pocket. No
experienced rifleman or real cowboy would ever do that. Every
time he'd bend over, that ammo would fall in the dirt.
2) Quist has his finger on the trigger when he's not intending
to shoot. EVERY kid who ever took Hunter Safety knows that
this is a violation of the essential Rules of gun safety. This
is dangerous and a bad example for youth and others.
3) Shooting a television set? Only a punk would do
this. It leaves a mess of broken glass and possibly hazardous
waste to pollute and clutter the environment. That's
littering! Pack it in, pack it out. But it's guaranteed
that Quist never retrieved all the junk from this TV-for-TV shoot;
only the larger pieces, at best.
4) Muzzle direction? Quist points his rifle directly at
the cameraman AND every viewer, another obvious violation of
essential Rules of gun safety and another very bad example.
Both Quist (who approved this ad, it declares) and the director
appear to be clueless about gun safety and the impact of this ad on
others, especially youth looking for an example to follow.
5) Shooting at picture of a real person. Quist shoots at
a picture of Quist, readily identifiable, on the TV. This
practice is prohibited at most responsible shooting ranges because
it's bad PR for the gun-owning public. (From the published Range
Rules of the Deer Creek Shooting Center: "11. PROHIBITED
TARGETS: Targets intended to depict real, identifiable, individual
people are prohibited.")
6) Beyond the target. Every rancher has had to repair
fence wires cut by bullets from irresponsible shooting. It
happens. Quist shooting at the fence beyond the target is
another Rules violation (Be sure of your target and what's beyond.)
7) Eye and ear protection. Quist ignores the standard
requirement for eye protection and ear protection when shooting,
another bad example.
8) Then there's Quist's rifle. It looks awfully clean
for an allegedly third generation rifle. I have a Winchester
Model 94, .30-30 that belonged to my father that's not nearly as
pretty and unblemished as the one in the Quist ad, because mine was
actually used. Is this really a third-generation rifle, or
actually a new rifle only obtained as a prop for the ad shoot?
Quist ("APPROVED BY ROB QUIST.") and whoever designed this ad appear
to be pretty clueless about firearms in the real Montana
world. They seem to have gotten their information about guns
from the artificial world of TV and movies.
The ad producers would likely say, "Gary is just sniping about
irrelevant details. This is supposed to be about the
message." NO! Gun safety is absolute, at least within
the genuine Montana gun culture. Real flesh-and-blood people
get shot and die because clueless and careless others don't follow
the Rules of gun safety. As for any "message," the "message" I
get from this ad is: Irresponsible, uninformed, unreal,
untrue, disingenuous, fake.
Those of us who diligently try to educate others about the essential
Rules of firearm safety are frustrated by public figures and
would-be leaders who so flagrantly violate The Rules, and violate
good land stewardship, as a bad example to others. Anti-gun
people claim they're for "gun safety," yet they freely violate The
Rules to publicize bad examples, thereby promoting dangerous
practice, not gun safety. They are dangerous to Montana.
Gary Marbut, president
Montana Shooting Sports Association
http://www.mtssa.org
Author, Gun Laws of Montana
http://www.MTpublish.com
Expert, state and federal courts, firearm safety, self defense, kids
and guns
http://www.Marbut.com/Expert