Theories on Gun Control narratives within the media

There were two major historical events that led to the creation of narratives within the media to get Americans to disarm.

The broader anti-gun talk that most of us are familiar with gained legislative teeth shortly after President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. This led to bipartisan support for gun control. Then the media began to tell the everyday American to lay down his weapons. However, before Reagan’s assassination attempt the media was already demanding that lower income communities disarm.

A decade before, around 1971, the second amendment argument for gun rights that we know today was constructed in response to racial tensions in California. While Reagan was Governor of California there was great concern over the newly formed Black Panther Party taking advantage of seemingly never before used open carry laws. The Black Panthers open display of armed authority in the state capital and within their own communities (attempting to self police their own communities by openly threatening state police) was deeply concerning to unarmed white communities. The initial response was a legislative move to ban open carry and the sale of most firearms, but this solution clearly would not resolve the perceived threat that the black panthers already represented. Additionally it sent a pacifist message to the panthers. So those bills were quickly abandoned before any votes were officially cast in California’s state legislature.

Working to resolve the California dilemma, a number of NRA leaders out of Texas adapted a solution. They decided a call to action was necessary to arm white Americans to counter the perceived threat and not legislative action in the form of gun control. These actions led to a fundamental change in the NRA from a marksmanship organization to a kind of civil rights advocacy group, which became centered around the second amendment. The goal of the NRA became to counter the black panthers by informing Americans of their right to bear arms and to encourage them to purchase and display their arms. This new message out of the NRA was widely disseminated by the media.

So you could say a pro-gun narrative was created within the media with the intent to convince non-white communities to disarm via deterrence.

Between those two events narratives were created within the media to tell all Americans to disarm.

submitted by /u/johnsmithLUVSdick
[link] [comments]

source https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracytheories/comments/hea5y0/theories_on_gun_control_narratives_within_the/