The NRA Is On A Man-Hunt For Mike Bloomberg’s “Fake Gun Owner”

The Awl
The Awl
Published in
3 min readApr 16, 2013

by Abe Sauer

The NRA has responded to the Mike Bloomberg-backed Mayors Against Illegal Guns by casting doubts on whether or not the “curious” man in the group’s latest pro-background checks ad is who he says he is — or AN ACTOR. Despite MAIG’s insistence that he’s a real West Virginia gun owner, one blog has offered $500 for anyone who can prove he is (or isn’t).

One of the NRA’s key questions is how a real gun owner would have such terrible “trigger discipline,” meaning, placing a finger on the trigger at any time before the exact second a shot is to be taken. “The NRA recommends Mayor Bloomberg use some of his money to sign this man up for one of our industry standard firearm courses,” intones the pleasantly voiced pro-gun female narrator.

But they’re right. That is embarrassingly bad trigger discipline and that man desperately needs an NRA safety class. In fact, if the NRA is handing out safety classes, we hope they invite Governor Sarah Palin to one, when they see her at the May 3 NRA-ILA Leadership Forum in Houston.

In May, Palin will speak at the event alongside such firearm dignitaries as Bobby “Fast Drawl” Jindal, John “The Mustache” Bolton, Rick “Seven Shooter” Santorum, Judge Jeanine “Play One On TV” Pirro, Glenn “One in the Chamber” Beck, Colonel Oliver “Secret Recipe” North and Governor Rick “[For Assistant to Complete]” Perry. The event will also feature the return of the NRA’s “Wall of Guns,” including a raffle for “your choice of firearm(s) from either side of the wall.”

Seeing as how it was just a couple years ago that “lifelong hunter” and pro-gun Governor Palin similarly demonstrated extremely poor trigger control during her Alaska hunt, we sincerely hope the NRA takes the opportunity to extend the former Vice Presidential candidate an invitation to one of its industry standard firearm courses.

And don’t excuse the reality show hunt as “just one mistake.” Your keynote speaker has demonstrated that she has no idea that her finger is “dangerously close to the trigger” on a number of gun-handling occasions.

But don’t take our word for it. After watching the Governor in action, even the pro-gun rights people over at the venerable Field & Stream recently called Gov. Palin “an extremely inexperienced shooter.”

Heck, invite Harry Reid and Dianne Feinstein and make it a bipartisan standard firearm course. We can clearly all stand to learn something.

Finally, and since the NRA raised the subject, we know that NRA Board Member Ted Nugent will be at the May event despite promises about Obama’s reelection and prisons v. graves. But, from the looks of it, the NRA might want to sign Mr. Nugent up for one of those courses as well.

Abe Sauer is the author of How to be: NORTH DAKOTA. Palin with gun via The Daily News. Nugent album cover via lp-covers.blogspot.

--

--