I recently joined the forum for Pink Pistols in the San Francisco area, as I am interested in learning to shoot. As a result of joining this forum, I have received some NRA glurge, but I was happy to ignore it. Then I got this today:
A target? Are you kidding me? What is this clown thinking? Is there any other way to interpret this other than “it will be fun to shoot at Dr MLK Jr to observe his birthday!”?
Roddy
nothing much to say but that is fucked up.
Revised opinion: Yeah. I’d interpret it as clearly announcing the sender is a racist asshole. Given that King was killed by a sniper, it seems particularly offensive.
Depends on what you think about shooting pictures of dead people. I mean, you gotta put something up there, right? I think you’re jumping to the conclusion that shooting a picture = disrespect to the subject. It could just be a meaningless “OK, this week, instead of some random celebrity like we do every week, we’re shooting MLK.”
If this were just some guy in his backyard, that’d be different. But it’s a shooting club. So you can’t really look at their shooting things as a meaningful act.
I would think that there is about a 0.00034% chance that this club typically shoots at pictures of random celebrities/people each week, in a completely meaningless/random fashion.
eta: It’s possible that the club shoots at pictures each month of someone who they don’t like. That would just make them idiots. It’s also possible/more likely that this is a “special” picture shooting for them, which makes them racist assholes.
OK, full disclosure, I didn’t finish reading the whole notice. Way further down is this disclaimer:
Considering it’s the Pink Pistols, I think this is probably sincere. So I wish to change my pit to
I pit really poor judgment! (and the last part of what **Oakminster **said).
Is Pink pistols the gay branch of the NRA?
it’s the womans shooting group, in most areas.
As a shooter, and an avid proponent of human and individual rights, I’ve gotta call this offensive.
I just think it’s unbelievably bizarre that anyone, in this day and age, could be so stupid as to do something like this, if for no other reason than the bad PR.
The range I go to doesn’t allow targets with images of people on them and many others are the same.
I’d be curious what other individuals have been so commemorated. Take in your own picture of Charlton Heston and see if anyone says anything.
Actually…
And I agree that this is a terribly offensive e-mail. Roderick, are you planning on doing anything about it – like bringing the issue up at a meeting, or something?
Seriously? I could swear the Pink Pistols was a girls group back in Virginia.
Oh well, ignorance fought. Thank you, Poly.
It’s less of a jump than tiny, tiny bunny hop. Even with that happy little disclaimer, I gotta say that either these folks are incredibly clueless or somebody is using this as a cover to make a sick joke.
Either way it doesn’t exactly paint them in the best of light.
Or a picture of Harvey Milk.
Did they have Harvey Milk day, too?
ETA: drat you Arnold Winkelried! Out-typed again!
Hmmm… wonder if this woman from Awkwardfamilyphotos.com is a member. It was one of the stranger pics I came across.
And I must say that is an extremely offensive email, all the more so if it gay shootong club, shich should have some knowledge of prejudice and discriminationn,
Oh yeah, quite the tribute to shoot pictures of people in the head.
Please let us know who the next picture is. I think they should use Lincoln, and use a picture of the back of his head. Or Kennedy, sitting in a limo.
Do we know that the objective is to actually shoot Martin Luther King (or whatever other famous person they put on the target) or if these people are ON the targets but are not the targets themselves. You realize that there is space on the target that you are not supposed to shoot. There are many different kinds of shooting targets but most of them have space around the bull’s eye or areas you’re supposed to aim for. If it’s like a cardboard cutout of Martin Luther King that you’re supposed to aim for, well, that’s fucked up. If it’s like, a big white square with a series of rings in the center, and Martin Luther King standing off to the side or something, that’s not really the same, although it still strikes me as totally bizarre that they would put any human figures on the target. What exactly do these targets look like that they use? Does anybody know?
The email specifically says “The choices of the themes for the targets”.
I really wish there was a picture of this so I could see what it looked like. Either way, the choice of wording itself in the email is unbelievably poor.
Because I’m a closet optimist, I choose (a), simply because it seems as if this surprises the OP. If this were something he/she had seen a lot of, there wouldn’t be much of a question.
But I agree with the others. Suggest they honor some well-known conservatives and/or Caucasians in the same manner. Suggest they honor President’s Day with a Reagan photo and see what happens. If the intent is to honor rather than denigrate the person, then there should be no controversy.
“BAM! Aw, damn! Got 'im again! Hyeh heh heh!”
“Man, you’s off your game or sump’n tonight, Joe Bob!”
“Yeah, I’m all thumbs for some reason… Mr. Butterfingers… BAM! Aw no, right between the EYES! Heh heh!”
“Heh heh heh!” <belch>
As a member of the Sacramento Valley Pink Pistols, I will say that I am appalled at that target suggestion. That in no way represents anything that the Pink Pistols I joined was about.
