Hollywood – -(AmmoLand.com)- One of the biggest hurdles we face as we defend the Second Amendment is the fact that we are dealing with a culture that is somewhat hostile. It is not completely that way, but let’s be very honest – Eric Holder’s dream of “brainwashing” Americans against the Second Amendment has come a lot further than we want to admit.
Think about it like this: If you’ve held back on talking about going to the range when co-workers ask what you did over the weekend – or any other lawful activity involving your Second Amendment rights – you’ve experienced some of the cultural hostility towards the Second Amendment.
There are some situations that can be easily fixed. The present culture is not one of those. But it can be done. How do we know this? Because our opponents have managed to shift the culture themselves. Remember when people openly carrying rifles didn’t cause a commotion?
We’ve seen Hollywood and the media work very hard with anti-Second Amendment extremists over the years. The NRA didn’t get into the cultural engagement arena, and we’re paying for that now. There was once a small minority in the A-List who were pro-Second Amendment, including Charlton Heston and John Milius. Milius even made a movie, Red Dawn, that showed how our Second Amendment rights could have been relevant in the 1980s. Tom Selleck, star of Magnum P.I. and Blue Bloods, was a long-time member of NRA’s Board of Directors.
That is not the case today. Perhaps one of the biggest Hollywood names openly supporting the Second Amendment is Dean Cain, who played Superman for four seasons. Yet is he as iconic as Heston was in his day? Or even Tom Selleck? Meanwhile, today’s big stars are calling for gun control. The folks who make casting decisions are against our Second Amendment rights, too, and you can bet a blacklist is in place for those who are pro-Second Amendment.
But there are things that can be done to start moving things in a more pro-Second Amendment direction. This is a very long-term effort, and it will require patience. Some of it can be done locally. One thing is to be involved in local theater groups or encouraging family members with an interest to become involved. If they are properly educated, they can be excellent ambassadors.
Another thing you can do is to support pro-Second Amendment artists and performers, especially the local ones. How well they do can encourage others to follow that path, especially when they show courage in defending the Second Amendment. If they keep racking up sales, they will become more influential and will have an impact.
Yet another good thing is to encourage pro-Second Amendment authors and writers. When you think about how anti-Second Amendment extremists beat us regularly, it’s because many good writers in Hollywood turn their talents to assisting anti-Second Amendment candidates and issues.
The best approach, though, is to encourage those who are interested in working in the film, TV, and comic book industries to enter them. This is a long-shot in some ways – many will not become power players like JJ Abrams. But as they move up, they can at least counter some of the anti-Second Amendment messages coming from Hollywood.
Building a pro-Second Amendment culture is going to take a lot of time. It won’t be easy, but it is necessary.
About Harold Hutchison
Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.
Yes, Hollywood is one area that needs fixing but in my opinion a much bigger area is the entire education system – and at all levels.
I was at the eye doctor recently for a blurry vision problem in one eye. I learned of my vision problem at range qualification for employment. I found myself dancing around my explanation to the doctor of how I noticed my problem. It concerned me that I felt I had to hide the fact that I was legally using my right to shoot at the range.
One problem i think would help , teach are constitutional rights and are history in schools.
Pooch, many years ago I told my eye doctor that I shoot. I wanted to discuss the issues with near-sightedness as one ages; the sights on my handguns are not as clear as when I was younger. It turned out he, too, is a firearm owner. We discussed that issue and he suggested several ways to address that as one ages. I do admit that I was unsure of how he would react, but that was the main reason I was there. I figured that either he would be receptive or not, but I needed his advice. If he wasn’t… Read more »
The hypocrisy about Hollywood is that the biggest co-stars are Guns, lots of Guns. It’s always the hero who uses a Gun against a the bad guy with a Gun. Hollywood would fold if it weren’t for, you named it GUNS. So spare us the two faced B.S.
because the Second Amendment is non negotiable and no matter what these zealots promote, Guns are part of our culture both good and bad. Another bit of hypocrisy is their anti smoking campaign, remember the people blowing bubbles instead of smoking? Don’t do what we do, do what we say.
Too bad we couldn’t start a campaign for all actors who are anti-2nd amendment to relinquish their use of any weapons in any production (play, movie, tv show). Watch how fast and far their movie revenues fall!
I totally agree! Actors if they were smart would remain neutral if they are to be successful when portraying characters using guns. But when they use their celebrity status to push an agenda, I find their hypocrisy makes it difficult to watch any of their make believe. A lot of good actors make lousy advocates because they’re as dumb as a box of rocks. People who pretend for a living should never be taken seriously, but somehow they are given status like the geniuses they aren’t.
They like politicians act like they all read from the book of all knowing and knowledge and we the people are the ones dumb as a box of rocks. Boycott such actors and actresses who take part in undermining our country and constitutional rights
The sad thing is what we’ve been warned ÷against by President Reagan as the Nazis did don’t sacrifice freedom for safety we have done that already once with the patriot act I would hate to think the Nazi s have won but the more”safety “we choose the more freedom we lose
I taught a seminar at the Charlton Heston Celebrity Shoot one year. I was pleasantly surprised at the inter-action I had with a lot of “very familiar faces”. Many well known celebrities were were open about their gun ownership, and the use of them in a variety of disciplines. My little corner was somewhat different in that it was “aimed” at self-defense use of a handgun. Attendance was strictly voluntary and the questions that were put forth showed true interest, as did the brief gun handling and shooting instruction. They may in fact be a minority but there are people… Read more »
For the past 20 years I’ve been preaching that gun owners hurt the second amendment cause by being “in the closet” about their support. “Come out” and be proud of your support for gun rights. Put an NRA sticker on your bumper and organize a 2A PRIDE parade. 🙂
yeajh, and have your car/truck broken in to looking for the firearms the perps are certain are in there because you have some gun type sticker on it. Or, worse sometimes, some rotten copper lighting you up cause HE is certain you’ve got guns in there and HE wants to harrass you.
Don’t try and convince me it doesn’t happen. It does.
I’ve got NO stickers on my cars/trucks. No external clues….. and I won’t.
Exactly. Stay gray.
The communists took over Hollywood a long time ago! Nothing will change until people stop going to the movies..And then Billionaire’s Like Michael Bloomberg, George Soros, Ted Turner, Warren Buffet, They’ll bail em out…Heston and Selleck and others, Hollywood took over the NRA, Compromise after compromise, Selleck on the Rosie Odonnel show said he wasnt prepared, On the board of directors and he wasnt prepared and people fell for it.. when its not profitable to make a movie, Hollywood might come around to our way of thinking
As far as pro-2A Hollywood personalities, include Keanu Reeves (major 3-gun competitor), Chris Pratt who has argued for firearm and hunting rights, Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis, and Lou Ferrigno to name a few. There are even more who keep to themselves for the same reasons many of us do. As an industry exec since 2008, I can name another 5 actors and musicians I have sold guns to that are major collectors, shooters or hunters but do not publicly flaunt their positions. Some that would surprise most. Unfortunately, those who remain quiet and refuse to take a public stance fail… Read more »
You can affect that, in your position, by intelligent advocacy, and those you refer to could help, as well. As Hutchinson notes, we have to start using our intellect to influence the naysayers, and try to overshadow the neanderthal element among us who govern those anti-gunners their own ammunition. Sorry to say, our arguments, even when bolstered by facts and truth, are weak intellectually. We must beat them at their own game, which, considering they come with propaganda and fabrications, shouldn’t be too hard IF we get with it.
Damn phone. “give”, not “govern”.
Forget the mainstream media and Hollywood. They’re corrupt and openly hostile. If you want to start shifting the culture, get in YouTube and start making fun, engaging, and informative content. Channels like Demolition Ranch and Hickock45 have done more for the second amendment than the 2A luminaries you mention here.
If you want to change the culture, go where culture is happening and get engaged with it.
Growing up in RI we could ride around with shotguns and rifles in the rack in the back window of the truck, stop anywhere and nobody ever said a word about anything!! If we went hunting and came out of the woods way down the road and a cop drove by he’d give ya a ride back with no question asked! Times are not changing for the better in this country, people are becoming afraid of their own shadows, they don’t want you to have your own beliefs but want to make sure you have to follow their beliefs!! I… Read more »
Moral of the story? Use double exclamation points!! Everywhere!!
Yes, people are becoming afraid of their own shadows. Because power-maddened politicians of a particular persuasion are all FOR convincing everyone that they are “victims”, they don’t need any sense of personal responsibility, that the *government* should take care of ALL of us. It’s a load of malarky (or worse), and most people reading this forum know it. But these forces are strong and gaining a LOT of momentum, especially in the populous metro areas on the coasts. Don’t think it’s not coming your way — it is. Fight it.
Hollywood is a reflection of two things: money and failed public education. If you want to win back the culture the last place to start is Hollywood or media in general. In order to win back the culture we need to focus on a grass roots level spiritual and philosophical rebirth of “We hold these truths to be self evident.” That can only be done by breaking the progressive new left monopoly and strangle hold on publicly funded, publicly delivered universal indoctrination in the form of the current education model. Universal vouchers will allow real competition in to the field… Read more »
Roger that and well written!
Agreed, get rid of the “Department of Education” it’s a waste of Taxpayer money.
Thanks for a great posting, n r ringlee.
For those who haven’t served their country in the military — could you explains what the ASVAB is, and how that relates to “yellow footprints”?
ASVAB..test to get into the military. Yelling w footprints. When the bus full of recruits arrives at Pi(Parris Island)or San Diego,what they line up on..the start of it all!
Simper fi
Cultural engagement? In Hollywood? I live in LA and this is the first I have heard about culture in Hollywood. Hollywood’s only culture is money. Stop going to movies and stop buying video games. That might help. Nothing against Dean Cain and Tom Selleck, by the way. They could help by calling-out the absolute mind-numbing ignorance and hypocrisy of Hollywood, which, almost with fail, depicts firearms being handled with abjectt disregard for the undamentals of safe handling of firearms–especially when it comes to billboards for new movies (such billboard ads being ubiquitous in Los Angeles).
Stop buying videogames? But if those videogames use gun models, the makers of those guns get a portion of the profits. You are supporting gun manufacturers when you buy videogames with their guns/gun concepts in them. I would assume movies have a similar deal. You couldn’t use a can of coke as a pivotal point in your movie without ensuring Coke was ok with how it was used and/or the compensation for using their item. Weapons are the same way. Colt isn’t going to let you just use their brand in a pivotal way without some form of compensation.
Its the other way around, manufacturers pay to have their name on tv and movies or the item becomes a generic copy with no name, ever notice on the tv show gold rush that they have been putting black tape over chevy /ford emblems, even the heavy equipment names are now blocked out. Except when toyota was paying for ads, and every time they could include a “toyota” truck in the show they would, “lets get the toyota diesel to pull out the 100 000 lbs semi out of the mud !!” so fake !!! POS…
“Cultural hostility” AKA repression. A little or a lot, still the same thing. 2nd Amendment supporters have a stigma attached in popular culture. The men of a certain age, white-bearded coots with the army jackets and MAGA hats. Do you fit it? Fine, keep on truckin We need you. But many of us don’t fit the stereotype, and I blame the ones who don’t for NOT being as or more visible in the public eye. “Our Lives, Our Fortunes, And Our Sacred Honor”, this means at the peril of your career, financial objectives and social network. Risk. Not that into… Read more »
Yeah I fit, Is that why everybody is staring at me everywhere I go?
Now it’s starting to make sense. Lol.
Thanks.
(((((NOW)))))
Like I said, we need you. You speak up. Others don’t.
I will never surrender America’s true grit. You have my word.
Trying to get on Trump payroll right now to protect America but he is not listening and has yet to bring me on. Look what’s going on. He needs to immediately bring on real Americans yet he’s too busy playing gun control Monopoly games and combing his hair.
Awesome article. The silent majority can no longer afford to be silent.