Merchants of Death

The following article was bought and paid for by GUNS & AMMO a couple years back, but the Legal Department for their new owner balked at publishing it, presumably out of concern that some of the companies mentioned might take legal action.

That don't worry me none, as I have plenty of backup from media sources to substantiate each and every statement. Anyone wants to sue me over this, let's party.

Editor Lee Hoots graciously gave me permission to use it as I see fit. I see fit to let it see the light of day right here on my new blog.

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Merchants of Death
By David Codrea

The visitor conduct sign posted at entrances to The Block at Orange, an open-air Southern California mall featuring trendy shops and restaurants, reads like a contract. Among the numerous terms and conditions: rules against smoking, skateboarding, and, of course, guns—even if permitted and concealed. Violators will be asked to leave and prosecuted for trespassing if they refuse to comply.

One wonders what The Block would do should a violent criminal not heed their posted prohibitions and consequences. Or if they assume responsibility for the safety of their customers—with attendant liability should they fail to provide it. A stroll through the maze of colorful storefronts and kiosks reveals no visible security presence to ask, although there’s no shortage of smokers sitting on benches or extinguishing butts in conveniently placed urns located throughout the premises. Meanwhile, over by the surf wear shop, three adolescent boys are practicing flamboyant skateboard dismounts.

“FATAL STABBING RAISES CONCERNS AT THE BLOCK,” reads the Orange County Register headline. “[O]fficers and unarmed security guards broke up a fistfight between two groups [who] then moved about 200 feet away…where the fatal melee took place,” the report says, also citing “two rapes in 2000 [and] 50 misdemeanor assaults with 24 arrests.”

“Unarmed security guards.” Clearly, they can’t protect their customers and evidently would prefer them being raped, brutalized or killed instead of lawfully armed. And some companies aren’t satisfied to merely impose such stupid, life-endangering rules—some enthusiastically work toward criminalizing gun ownership.

Dannon Yogurt, for example, was a sponsor of the so-called “Million Mom March” (although analyses of event photos estimate a more plausible attendance number at around 40,000). Its parent company, the French dairy, snack and bottled water giant Danone, is a model of globalist expansion—so its affinity for UN-style “small arms control” is not surprising.

Then there’s Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, a homegrown experiment in corporate social(ist) engineering that has supported a variety of left-leaning causes, including funding gun control through sales of their “Peace Pops” bars. It figures— with heart disease the leading cause of death in this country, you wouldn’t expect an ice cream company to focus on that threat. They are so hostile to guns they seemingly can’t even acknowledge the word— when new CEO Perry Odak came on board from “U.S. Repeating Arms Co. (Winchester) and Browning,” their press release described it as “a manufacturer of outdoor and recreation sporting goods.” And after Ben & Jerry’s railed against the chemical dioxin as “one of the most toxic substances in our environment today,” JunkScience.com performed an analysis of their “World’s Best Vanilla” ice cream, concluding it contained 200 times the EPA’s standard daily dose (in reality not a hazardous level, but certainly an example of the hysteria they promote, as well as proving them profoundly hypocritical).

Nobody doesn’t like Sara Lee? Really? Because the activist conglomerate, which includes prominent brands among its holdings like L’leggs, Hanes, Ball Park, and Hillshire Farm, sure doesn’t like gun owners. Their foundation named Sarah Brady one of its “Frontrunners” in 1997 and awarded her $50,000 for her “humanitarian” work toward rendering their customers vulnerable to attack. That same year, the FDA reported a recall of cakes, pastries and muffins because “the products may contain small quantities of sifter wire.” In the wake of this came a listeria-tainted hotdog and deli meat scandal that left 21 people dead, caused three miscarriages, and resulted in over a hundred people being sickened. This was followed last year by a Class I recall (“a health hazard situation where there is reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death”) of its Bistro Collection Pecan Tart Trays.

There’s an old bumper sticker that says “Ted Kennedy’s Car Has Killed More People than My Gun.” Perhaps it’s time to create one that says “Sara Lee Has Killed More People than the Manson Family.” And to wonder why they don’t focus on controlling their product quality instead of our guns.

There are other ways companies sabotage the Second Amendment. Many have issued employee disarmament policies in response to legislative concealed carry reforms. And many, like the Blockheads at Orange, have posted signs forbidding armed customers on their property.

These are but a few examples. Names like Levi Strauss, Disney, Toys-“R”-Us, Hyatt, Time-Warner, 7-Eleven, and many others, also figure prominently. A complete list would be impractical to compile, and there is no space to print it here, but NRA-ILA has compiled a pretty thorough one on its website. If you’re not on the Internet, you should be—much serious grassroots activism takes place there, and it provides alternative news sources free of mainstream media anti-defense bias. Just don’t sign up with America Online (a whole ‘nother story in itself).

The point being, there are plenty of products and services gun owners purchase every day where parent company policies endanger our liberty and our lives. We owe it to ourselves to know who they are and to shop accordingly. Remember that profit margins are usually small, and most companies can’t afford to lose even a percentage point to their competitors (it’s widely speculated that a gun owner boycott helped force Kmart into bankruptcy). It just doesn’t make sense to reward such businesses with our patronage—especially when they turn around and use the money we pay them to undermine our right to keep and bear arms.

As does “educational” toy retailer Zany Brainy, recipient of the Million Mom March’s “Apple Pie Award” for sponsoring a “Violent Toy Turn-In”. While such ridiculous events no doubt help them live up to the first half of their name, such brain-dead posturing should guarantee that informed gun owners find another place to buy toys.

One can only hope the Million Moms get their pie from Sara Lee. And maybe serve it with a (healthy?) scoop of Ben & Jerry’s…