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.

QuistAmmo

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.

QuistFinger

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.

QuistMuzzle

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.")

QuistPicture

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