Gun On A Stick Banned from the Minnesota State Fair

by Mark Walters

U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- What in the heck is a “gun on a stick,” anyway? Well, you’ve come to the right place because I’ll tell you what it is. It’s not allowed anymore, that’s what it is. Ok, let me be a little more specific.

Every year at the end of August my travel begins to pick up when I attend a few regularly scheduled events as summer winds down and fall begins. My first trip is the annual trek to the Minnesota State Fair where I join my great Armed American Radio Twin Cities affiliate radio station, Salem Radio Network’s AM 1280 The Patriot for a live broadcast from the Minnesota State Fair. It’s a blast as I broadcast from the radio station booth, outdoors on the deck platform and under the stars on the midway. The crowds at the fair number in the hundreds of thousands and no matter the show airs early Sunday evening; the place is always packed.

If you’re not familiar with it, the Minnesota State Fair is visited by people from all over the world and runs for two weeks leading up to the Labor Day holiday weekend, when it comes to a close. It’s widely regarded as having the largest assortment in the world, of “foods on a stick” with each year bringing new and crazier ideas than the last. Well, a couple of years ago, AM 1280 The Patriot with their Operations Manager, Lee Michaels, himself a survivor of a violent armed robbery and a huge fan of Armed American Radio, came up with a unique idea to promote the show and my appearance at the fair.

He figured while thousands of folks would be eating a vast array of various foods stuck to and on sticks, why couldn’t they have a “gun on a stick” to be used as a fan? See, even though Minnesota is world famous for its brutally cold winters, it gets hot and steamy in August, and it’s not unusual for the temps to reach into the high eighties with matching humidity during the fair. I can vouch for that myself sitting outside sweating during the broadcast. The idea was simple yet provocative and would no doubt draw attention to the booth. A photo of the radio show and radio station logo’s printed on the front and a nice .45 caliber handgun printed on the back of a high gloss heavy duty paper. Staple it to a small wooden stick, and it becomes a fan that can be carried around and used to keep yourself cool in the heat while walking the fairgrounds! Brilliant! A fan on a stick with a photo of a gun and our logo’s. A “gun on a stick!”

People loved it, and the radio station gave out thousands of them in their promotional bags during the two weeks of the fair leading up to the Armed American Radio live broadcast. I signed a bunch of them for listeners who stopped by with their “gun on a stick” to hang out and watch the show. Let’s face it. While it’s a beautiful and creative way to promote the radio station and the Armed American Radio program, we knew there might be some blowback from the thought police and the anti-freedom folks who would be appalled at the idea of having even a picture of a gun at a state fair. An ingenious idea to say the least…unless of course, you’re an anti-gun, Minnesota liberal.

As we prepared months in advance for the event this year, I was excited to hand out more “guns” on “sticks.” I inquired about the promotion a few months back, and that’s when Lee informed me it wasn’t going to happen. Apparently, last year some kid dropped his radio station promotional goodie bag and all of its contents, including our fan. Upon closer examination, mom got a little bit upset that there was a picture of a handgun being distributed as a “gun on a stick” and complained to fair officials.

The result? Because of one angry mom frightened by a picture of a handgun attached to a stick and a PC group of fairground officials, none of the thousands of folks who enjoyed their “gun on a stick” fans can do so this year.

I look at it as a badge of honor. We’ve just proven, once again, how idiotic the anti-gun crowd is. No worries, I think this year I’ll head over to the Al Franken booth and see if I can scare those sissies, also. Shouldn’t be too difficult, for sure.

About Mark Walters

Mark Walters is the host of two nationally syndicated radio broadcasts, Armed American Radio and Armed American Radio’s Daily Defense with Mark Walters. He is the Second Amendment Foundations 2015 Gun Rights Defender of the Year award recipient and co-author of two books, Lessons from Armed America with Kathy Jackson (Whitefeather Press) and Lessons from UnArmed America with Rob Pincus (Whitefeather Press)