Women Against Gun Violence has launched a new "public service" ad that uses graphic images of severed fingers and sexual innuendos to convince millennials to stay away from firearms.
The message of "Keep Your Finger off the Trigger," is: you use, you lose, maybe even some of your body parts.
"Women Against Gun Violence urges you to 'keep your finger off the trigger' and keep guns off campus," the group says beneath its video, posted to YouTube April 28, where it attracted 4,226 views as of 4 p.m. Friday.
The Los Angeles-based Women Against Gun Violence then invites the viewer to "Learn more" at its website, wagv.org.
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The group also urges people to "PLEASE SHOW YOUR SUPPORT and sign our petition," at Change.org, a website on which anti-gun activists are fighting attempts to allow concealed-carry permits on college campuses.
Some of the things the singer in the PSA says you can do with less than 10 fingers:
- Picking at chicken pox.
- Poke a pup in the eye
- Flip the bird,
- Flick a turd,
- Bring joy to a girl (utilizes the old finger through a hole routine)
- Scratch your balls
"This may not be your dinner table video but it gets the point across, and it gets people talking which is the ultimate goal," says Josh Stepakoff, who is identified as a survivor of "gun violence" and the youngest board member of Women Against Gun Violence.
"The bold nature of the video aims to leave a lasting impression with millennials, a generation whose attention the gun violence prevention movement doesn’t have right now," Stepakoff said. "I want my peers, the millennial generation, to use their power to affect change, and I believe this PSA will help get them engaged in the conversation."
WND sent the video to several 2nd Amendment supporters and asked for their impression. The responses ranged from "sick," to "gross" and "pathetic."
"A rather vulgar and somewhat gross PSA in my humble opinion," said Jerry Henry, executive director of GeorgiaCarry.org. "I don't know if they think loosing fingers is supposed to be funny or not but the list of things they say you can still do with fewer fingers is certainly not comical."
While the images are stark, Henry notes the video never mentions any type of violence the group is trying to prevent.
"They, like all the other gun prohibitionists, blame the violence on guns when we all know that guns are not violent," Henry said. "People are violent and I see no way this ad addresses anything other than some poor soul losing his fingers and not needing any kind of rehabilitation to continue to use them. After all, when someone loses all of this fingers and thumbs, they can still pat you on the back."
Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, found irony in the PSA.
"What a pathetic, and poorly sung, ditty," Pratt told WND. "Gun owners don't put their finger on the trigger unless there is a powerful reason to do so."
Pratt said the ad's producers also show their ignorance of basic firearm safety that almost any legal gun owner would be savvy enough to know.
"One of the first lessons anyone gets when being trained to use a gun is 'keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot,'" he said. "I suspect they would NEVER want us to put a finger on a trigger. I am sure that was George III's wish, as well as the cops during the Battle of Athens and the BATF/FBI agents trespassing on Cliven Bundy's Bunkerville, Nevada, ranch. Gun owners would also put their fingers on their triggers if attacked by the Baltimore thugs so beloved by President Obama."
"Of course, the gun owners I know would not want to go near the socialist utopia of Baltimore," Pratt added. "Avoidance is another of the first rules of gun training. Oh, and I'll be happy to stay away from the morons in the PSA."
Alan Gottlieb, executive vice president and founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, called the PSA "anti-gun bigotry at its worst."
"I think it is such poor taste that it is a waste of their money and will have no impact," Gottlieb said. "Young people today are too intelligent to take this PSA seriously."
Henry said he predicts the ad will be about as effective as an earlier one financed by anti-gun billionaires that urged children to break the law numerous times by stealing their parents' gun, taking the firearm to a gun-free zone at school and then turning it over to their teacher.
"These people certainly know how to impress and bestow good behavior on our children," he said.
Other WAGVÂ initiatives stir the pot
From its "GunsSuck Initiative" influencing billboard companies to move billboards that "depict and glamorize gun violence," to its "role-playing" initiatives, the Women Against Gun Violence is not bashful about pushing its agenda in the public square.
According to its website, WAGV works with parents in a role-play setting to "teach parents when, what, and how to ask their neighbors and others if they have a gun in the home and what safety precautions are taken."
The group also says it works with L.A. Schools to distribute gun locks to the community and materials "explaining the important of keeping guns locked up and the legal consequences if you do not."
Its materials and brochures include "Talking With Your Children About Guns," "ASK Your Neighbors About Guns," and "Lock It Up," all available in Spanish and English.