NRA should steal script from MPAA
The National Rifle Association has missed out on an exceptional opportunity to do the right thing while still fighting for their guns. While it’s not too late for this plan to be implemented, it is certainly less likely while members and leaders are shouting things like “From my cold, dead hands” and “the Second Amendment is sacreder than the Bible.”
However, here is the secret ingredient for the NRA to succeed while still looking good in the public eye and coming out “on the right side.” All the NRA, or gun manufacturers, have to do is form a ratings system that everyone follows. The precedence has already been established in the film industry with the MPAA and its rating system.
Even though the First Amendment, which must be one sacreder than the Second Amendment, guarantees the freedom of speech, as movies gained popularity in the 1920s, there was threat of government censoring movies for poor morality. Before the code was implemented, movies could show anything they wanted: nudity and violence being the largest offenders of the American Public. Six major Hollywood studios got together to head the government off at the pass.
They had the Constitution on their side, but they didn’t let that stop them from creating a publicity campaign to win Americans over and into the movie house. By instituting a rating system and some precursory restrictions, the MPAA and Hollywood was able to continue business as usual with no government regulation and with the blessing of the public.
Do the ratings work to restrict movies? No, not in the sense that they stop anyone from seeing a particular film. Children under 17 still get into theaters or see the movies on the DVD, and many teens will see porn before they are “old” enough under the law. However, they give parents the feeling that they have control over what their children see. They can at least be informed about the content of the movie before the child goes to see the film. It also gives society and government someone to blame. If the film is marked rated R, why did you let your child see it? You should take responsibility for that child.
The same thing could happen with guns and the United States. Make up some ratings based on the speed at which a gun can kill 10 people by an average shooter: the higher the speed the more qualifications the gun owner must have. These qualifications can be regulated by the NRA and bring it an additional source of income. They can also be pointed to as a way to tell society that the NRA and its members are being responsible. They are trying to make everyone safer. Sure, the ratings will have the same actual effect as those for movies, but it will be a nice way to cover up the sheer lack of care about anything other than money. Because in the end, the sale of guns, just like the sale of movie tickets, is about money, and gun ownership and the NRA need a corporate makeover stat.
However, here is the secret ingredient for the NRA to succeed while still looking good in the public eye and coming out “on the right side.” All the NRA, or gun manufacturers, have to do is form a ratings system that everyone follows. The precedence has already been established in the film industry with the MPAA and its rating system.
Even though the First Amendment, which must be one sacreder than the Second Amendment, guarantees the freedom of speech, as movies gained popularity in the 1920s, there was threat of government censoring movies for poor morality. Before the code was implemented, movies could show anything they wanted: nudity and violence being the largest offenders of the American Public. Six major Hollywood studios got together to head the government off at the pass.
They had the Constitution on their side, but they didn’t let that stop them from creating a publicity campaign to win Americans over and into the movie house. By instituting a rating system and some precursory restrictions, the MPAA and Hollywood was able to continue business as usual with no government regulation and with the blessing of the public.
Do the ratings work to restrict movies? No, not in the sense that they stop anyone from seeing a particular film. Children under 17 still get into theaters or see the movies on the DVD, and many teens will see porn before they are “old” enough under the law. However, they give parents the feeling that they have control over what their children see. They can at least be informed about the content of the movie before the child goes to see the film. It also gives society and government someone to blame. If the film is marked rated R, why did you let your child see it? You should take responsibility for that child.
The same thing could happen with guns and the United States. Make up some ratings based on the speed at which a gun can kill 10 people by an average shooter: the higher the speed the more qualifications the gun owner must have. These qualifications can be regulated by the NRA and bring it an additional source of income. They can also be pointed to as a way to tell society that the NRA and its members are being responsible. They are trying to make everyone safer. Sure, the ratings will have the same actual effect as those for movies, but it will be a nice way to cover up the sheer lack of care about anything other than money. Because in the end, the sale of guns, just like the sale of movie tickets, is about money, and gun ownership and the NRA need a corporate makeover stat.