Bad message by gun store?

Do images like these as sticker do damage to gun owners?

  • Yes

    Votes: 137 81.5%
  • No

    Votes: 31 18.5%

  • Total voters
    168
  • Poll closed .
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The basic point of the sticker is childish and stupid, and oddly banal.

But the design there is executed so very, VERY poorly that it inadvertantly sends a message that is horrificly negative, instead of just being vacuous.

Useless idea, carried out so badly that it becomes actively harmful.

What a mistake.
 
Sent:

I was informed of your "Man + Rifle = Dead" stickers by a post on an internet gun forum. I'd like to request that you withdraw these from your product line.

Ignoring any questions of the usefulness of the zombie craze, the design of these stickers is so poorly -- so terribly badly -- conceived that the only clear message is that a person and a rifle equate to a dead person.

The addition of the little biohazard symbol to the torso of the dying body (the TORSO? I thought zombies required head-shots? Again...just poor.) is difficult to see at best. It looks most like a ragged gun-shot wound! And even if the emblem was large enough to see clearly, most casual observers will not grasp the meaning.

So what you are selling is a bumper sticker that says to anyone who views it: "People + Guns = Dead People!"

What a terrible message to be sending. What a horrible disservice to the shooting public and the gun-rights movement! Especially in the wake of various highly publicized mass-shootings, this is in astonishingly bad form.

Please, for all of us who shoot, and all of us who fight for our gun freedoms, please DO NOT SELL this product!

If you want to make up zombie-themed merchandise, that's fine. You can do far better than this, I'm sure.
 
My opinion on it is just that the sticker itself is of abysmal quality. No effort was put into this at all. Even from a zombie standpoint it fails.

I don't know about politicizing it, or interpreting it as a 'bad message', but it's certainly a bad sticker.
 
I like trying to cover up an otherwise asinine design and purchase by throwing in the attempt at disarming (NPI) it with the word zombie, though no graphic correlation exists on the sticker.
 
Ambiguous.

Easily misunderstood by friends or misrepresented by enemies.

As much as I loath and despise zombies and prep for the zombie apocalypse (mostly by stretching my cheek with my tongue), this is not good P.R. for the zombie hunter community.

Besides, I have never seen a zombie actually wearing a biohazard tag. They're dead, they're all messed up, but they do try to be stealthy, and they don't advertise by wearing tags.
 
As much as I loath and despise zombies and prep for the zombie apocalypse (mostly by stretching my cheek with my tongue), this is not good P.R. for the zombie hunter community.

Besides, I have never seen a zombie actually wearing a biohazard tag. They're dead, they're all messed up, but they do try to be stealthy, and they don't advertise by wearing tags.

So, there's an actual zombie hunting community? Where does one get a zombie tag? Or are they considered predators and legally taken without a tag? How many actual zombies have these hunters taken, biohazard tag or not?
 
My take on this sticker: If I was anti gun I could put it on my car and all of my anti gun friends would see no problem with it. At first glance it look very anti gun.

This bumper sticker would be right at home on any anti gunners vehicle.
 
In response to beatledog 7 Post #32 (pressing tongue firmly in cheek)

Zombies are treated as feral hogs are treated under Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency rules. They are a pest to be eliminated. Sports hunting is not allowed, because that would be an incentive to maintain a sustainable population season to season. Landowners, their family, and their tenants may use any legal hunting method without a hunting license or game tag. With a special permit, a landowner, family or tenant may use illegal hunting techniques (hunting over bait, night hunting, etc.) and may designate up to ten third parties on their permit. Any trapped alive are not allowed to leave the property alive: by state law they must be killed if live captured.
 
I'm a big zombie fan. Not really so much on guns - I don't own any green guns nor have I shot any zombie targets (I do own a box of Zombie Max ammo just as a collectible), but I'm a big fan of the genre in film and such.

That said, I didn't know this sticker had anything to do with zombies until I read the header. To me, I saw "Man + Gun = Dead man". If someone who is already into zombies AND guns makes that association, I don't see it as a stretch that a lot of other people would too.

I don't think its a wise sticker to display. That said, people's right to display such things is as protected under the 1st amendment as our right to own the guns is under the 2nd. I'm not going to attack them on it - I just wouldn't display one.
 
Wow I thought that was supposed to be a dead guy with a bunch of holes in his chest.

Didn't even REALIZE that was a biohazard symbol until I read it on here.

Tasteless.
 
I, agree with those who feel this zombie craze need's to be stopped right now. But first we need to get rid of that dang rock and roll ''music'', and stop woman from wearing pant's.

On a slightly more serious note, as stated above, the concept, and execution are poor at best. Another word's FAIL.
 
That said, people's right to display such things is as protected under the 1st amendment as our right to own the guns is under the 2nd. I'm not going to attack them on it - I just wouldn't display one.

Well, that's an issue we run into a lot -- what is the 1st Amendment issue here?

The 1st Amendment says "CONGRESS shall make no law..." It, like the other Amendments, enumerates that THE GOVERNMENT shall not try to stifle your right to speak.

It does NOT say that what you say, or print, or sell, is immune from criticism or that you are immune from suffering repercussions of your decisions to write or say or sell something.

Sure, they have every RIGHT to print those and sell them. We have every right (and perhaps a "duty" to ourselves, our community, and our interests) to discourage them from doing so.

(Especially, considering that they most probably simply got caught up in wanting to produce a bit of zombie chachka and never stepped back far enough to realize what their sign really says to 99% of observers!)

The 1st Amendment and their right to free speech is in no possible way infringed by letters, emails, phone calls -- or if it came to that, by boycotts, protests and picketing!

Should the government step in and prevent them from printing this? ABSOLUTELY NOT. That would be a 1st A. violation!

Should WE, the shooting public, and their potential customers step up and try to influence them not to do such a stupid and harmful thing? ABSOLUTELY!
 
The zombie thing is thrown out of proportion. It's a cute way to sarcastically bring about the need for guns, blah blah, in a TEOTWAWKI situation, but should remain such. This sticker could be funny or cute if proper artwork was done, but as it is it is a complete failure. It is actually doing the opposite of what it was intended, I'm sure.
 
If they'd actually attempted to make the figure look slightly zombie-like, it might be better. Talking a "wet floor" guy and sticking a tiny biological hazard logo on him is just lazy and lame.

Terrible execution of a something that was a weak idea to begin with.
 
If someone hears back from the merchant, please share in here. I'd be interested in their reply.

I agree with others and see this as just a very badly designed sticker. I own "the ultimate zombie survival guide" and until I zoomed in I perceived the same negative message as others.

But for a merchant stocking thousands of items I see it as an easy mistake to carry a few crappy products. I'd just be curious to hear if they drop the product once it's pointed out to them.
 
Sam: I understand your point, and concede that the 1st Amendment actually protects your right to speak out against such signs too.

Personally though, while I know that it's only the government that has no LEGAL right to suppress expression, I believe that the spirit behind the law is still a good idea when applied to my reaction to private parties. A business has the right so say "no guns allowed here" without violating the 2nd amendment since they are a private entity. HOWEVER, I and most here would still consider that a bad idea and a violation of the spirit behind the 2nd amendment, even if that action itself doesn't run afoul of the law.

In a similar way, I don't typically care about what t-shirts, bumper stickers, or print ads a company publishes. Some I don't get, some I might find offensive, but I try to avoid letting my personal bias get me riled up about about it. By that same token I'm not even going to speak out against people speaking out against this (just to get recursive on the idea ;)), I'm just saying that I personally wouldn't display this sticker but neither do I care to contact the company and chastise them.
 
I certainly understand your point.

Does your willingness to speak to them on the matter change if you were pretty sure (as I am) that the error was unintentional and that they may simply not have realized what they were inadvertently doing?

That would seem to fall more into the category of helping them than acting AGAINST them via a boycott or something, in protest of a deliberate affront.
 
I posted "No," but with a caveat.

To a casual or new/prospective gun owner, they may be offensive or damaging.

But since most of us ackowledge that the 2nd Ad. is NOT about hunting or Sport Shooting (although neither is prohibited by the 2nd) but is about self and home defense, and ultimately guarding against government usurpation of People's rights, then I think these messages are "on target."

I dislike turning the gun rights message into a soft-soaped, politically correct "sensitive" message full of kittens, puppies, and fluffly bunnies in order to soothe the delicate sensibilities of the anti-gun offenderati.
 
Er....that's fine for what it is, but what do you think is "on target" about this sticker?

If we accept that the zombie thing is a moot point as that "message" is pretty unintelligible, are you saying it is sending the right message if it is read as "Man + Rifle = Dead Man?" It can't be "on target" because that WASN'T the message the maker was trying to send. Is it one YOU want to send?

Agreeing with you that the 2nd Amendment is not about "sporting purposes" but about defense of self and the nation, is there any value WHATSOEVER in a sticker that reads as "Man + Rifle = Dead Man?" Does that further the message somehow? Is it something that needs to be said? To anyone?

It sort of comes off as the old JOKE (meant to ridicule the NRA) of, "Guns don't kill people, I DO!" That's certainly not something that helps any of us.
 
The message I got from that sticker was man + gun = death. It sure will make gunowners look bad.
 
Despite all of the time I've spent on gun forums, I was entirely unaware that there was an internationally accepted "zombie symbol". As such, I see that poster as saying:

A man with an "assault" rifle equals another man dying. The dead guy looks like he has bullet holes on him, not a zombie symbol. Stupid poster, no real humor.

I was also not aware. I didn't even notice the symbol at first, and when somebody pointed it out and I looked, I saw a biohazard symbol. This thread is where I learned it is supposedly a zombie symbol.

If I didn't know that, 99% of the people who see that sticker won't know that.
 
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