I don’t live in Alabama and I’m not a registered Republican. But if I were, this ad would convince me not to vote in the primary for Dale Peterson for Agriculture Commissioner.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU7fhIO7DG0[/youtube]
Somebody who’s been a Marine, a cop, and a farmer ought to know elementary gun safety. Yet when Peterson takes out a rifle near the end of the video, he puts his trigger finger inside the trigger guard. I realize that the gun in the commercial is just a prop, and was almost certainly unloaded. However, the Agriculture Commissioner should model good behavior, and the viral ad itself, with over a million views, is a model of unsafe and irresponsible gun handling. Perhaps most of the viewers know better than to handle a gun in the dangerous manner than Peterson does, but at least some viewers won’t know that what Peterson is a violation of gun safety rules; some of them may think that he’s showing the normal way to carry a gun, and some of those viewers might one day attempt to carry a gun the way Peterson does. Accordingly, Peterson’s ad itself increases the possibility of accidents from unsafe handling of firearms.
Jon S. says:
David,
I first saw this video a couple weeks ago, and while I find it amusing I noticed the same thing you did. One of the fundamental rules of gun safety is do not put your finger inside the trigger guard until ready to fire. This is one of the violations (and inaccuracies) one often sees in movies and television.
June 1, 2010, 12:23 pmUrso says:
Driving through Alabama this weekend, I was amazed to see that the majority of political advertisements go out of their way to mention that the candidate owns a gun/is a hunter. Is that really relevant to being, say, state treasurer? Apparently, the answer is yes.
June 1, 2010, 12:24 pmAnonsters says:
The real question, though, is whether he believes that every word in the Bible is literally true?
Oh, Alabama politics. :)
(Roll Tide!)
June 1, 2010, 12:29 pmZK says:
It’s a lever-action gun with the hammer down. Violating the trigger guard (and many other rules) with a decocked lever gun is a habit that pre-dates the invention of Col. Cooper’s rules.
Would I do it? No. But I think he gets a pass here.
June 1, 2010, 12:33 pmVlad Konings says:
I’m trying to figure out why a candidate for Agriculture Commissioner needs to brandish a rifle. I suppose we’ll soon have candidates for dog catcher brandishing a condom or a candidate for county assessor boasting about his homemade apple pie.
June 1, 2010, 12:33 pmFrank Drackman says:
Lighten up, thats just a Daisy BB gun.
June 1, 2010, 12:34 pmAnd how are you supposed to shoot anyone if you don’t put your finger inside the trigger guard???
Lets make a deal, I won’t try and understand how Massachussets voters sent a drunk waterhead to the Senate for 47 years, and you don’t try and analyze Alabama politics…
Frank
geokstr says:
Mr Kopel, your criticism looks more like the type you’d hear from a leftist:
Trying to improve your street cred with the left on this blog?
June 1, 2010, 12:34 pmLouie says:
Yay, Frank!
June 1, 2010, 12:35 pmArthur Kirkland says:
I am no gunslinger, but I saw this video a few weeks ago and the protaganist’s handling of that gun (especially when he swung it around, aiming at the viewer) reminded me of the way my father’s drunken hunting buddies would swagger around the woods, waving guns indiscriminately (while clutching six-packs, stumbling over rocks and logs, and looking for the salt licks they had placed) like dim-witted Looney Tunes characters.
I can recall thinking, at roughly 10 years of age, that those men were dangerous fools. I can recall thinking, a few weeks ago, that this candidate is a caricature of a drunken, gun-swinging fool.
In Alabama, however, pointing a careless rifle back at the voter might be a winner.
June 1, 2010, 12:36 pmAngus says:
The Right wing blogs seem to love this guy, and I’ve seen some commenters at places like Hot Air only half-jokingly proposing a Palin/Peterson ’12 ticket. Doubling down on dumb, I guess.
I still don’t get what “thugs and criminals” have to do with the Ag Commissioner’s budget…or why his ad has so many annoying cuts in it.
June 1, 2010, 12:42 pmDonP. says:
Winchester ’92 clone, my guess is a Rossi?
Good politically savvy gun choice. Not one of the those threatening “black rifles”. Antything Roy Rogers or Jimmy Stewart might carry can’t be all bad.
The finger in the trigger guard is a definite no no, but only among gun owners that have a tendency to beat up their own. Gun control “people” are too ignorant (small i) of the rules of gun safety anyway.
But I’m ready to give Good Ole Boy Dale a pass, assuming it was probably the 34th take or so and he was getting tired. Anyway he didn’t shoot the horse.
June 1, 2010, 12:49 pmmary jane says:
Looks to me like that finger on the trigger (OK, in the trigger guard) is a figurative message that he’s a no messin’ around straight talkin’ and straight shootin’ take no prisoners kind of real man for the job at hand. Vid staging, tho’ not terrifically responsible.
Still, were he the real deal (smart enough, not corrupt or racist) beyond the fun bluster, I’d vote vote him, despite his wearing a ridiculously starched and pressed shirt in the Alabama sun. Unless his jeans are creased…
June 1, 2010, 12:59 pmCalderon says:
Man, talk about one issue voting.
June 1, 2010, 1:03 pmSteve says:
No wonder the horse looked so concerned.
June 1, 2010, 1:03 pmTed S. says:
Just to devilcate for a moment, isn’t that part of the point DK was making? You’re familiar enough with guns to know the style, and the potential consequences (or lack thereof, in this particular instance) of handling it in a particular way. There are plenty of people out there that aren’t so familiar, and might view that as an appropriate way to handle any gun.
June 1, 2010, 1:04 pmNoonan says:
+1. Are you being serious, here, Mr. Kopel? The ad is ridiculous, granted. But your critique, if genuine, may be even more ridiculous.
June 1, 2010, 1:11 pmArthur Kirkland says:
Not so far as we know, anyway. An editor might have omitted that footage from a campaign ad.
Unless it was a liberal horse. That might play in ‘bama.
June 1, 2010, 1:13 pmPersonFromPorlock says:
So, worst case, he’s a jackass who don’t know nuttin’ about nuttin’. Have you noticed who runs state governments?
June 1, 2010, 1:15 pmDG says:
It doesnt matter if its a prop or presumably unloaded. People have been killed with guns thought to be props and guns thought to be unloaded. If you can’t trust this guy with a firearm, how can you trust him with elective office?
June 1, 2010, 1:17 pmDangerMouse says:
You’re right. The only people we can trust with elective office are people who drive drunk off a bridge and leave a woman to drown to death by failing to alert the authorities.
June 1, 2010, 1:25 pmathEIst says:
As long as the accident occurs in Alabama!?
June 1, 2010, 1:25 pmJoeBlow1078 says:
Not only does he have his finger in the trigger guard, but he swings the muzzle around half-hazardly, sweeping awful close to the camera man. I think it is a problem for two reasons:
1) Mr. Peterson was a marine and a cop, and as a result, has received instruction on proper handling of a firearm. That instruction didn’t take. This suggests to me that he is not very rigorous person and likely was not very good at either job. I prefer people who can learn something (e.g. how to handle a firearm) and then use that knowledge.
2) The errors bring home the point that the gun is being used as a prop.
June 1, 2010, 1:31 pmRPT says:
Because gun safety is only for leftists?
June 1, 2010, 1:31 pmAngus says:
This inspired me to do a little internet searching on Dale to see if he’s really as different as he said, and found he’s had his own little military service scandal like Blumenthal and Kirk. The ad leaves the impression that he served in Vietnam even though he was careful to phrase it as “during” Vietnam, when in fact he stayed stateside the whole time. Technically accurate, but highly misleading. How many people who watch that video draw the conclusion that he was a combat veteran?
June 1, 2010, 1:37 pmrogervzv says:
What crap. It is a great ad. Some people are just dying to hold conservatives to a level of perfection that no one can achieve. It is an ad for politics, not gun safety. Besides, he is trained to put his finger within the trigger guard safely. Maybe he was getting ready to blow away some bad guys, who knows?
June 1, 2010, 1:43 pmCharlie says:
You know why you don’t know that Dale Peterson isn’t a combat veteran? Thugs and criminals! If they can keep you in the dark, they can do whatever they want with Dale’s campaign biography! And they don’t give a rip about Alabama!
June 1, 2010, 1:47 pmTacomaJoe says:
I guess anyone who mishandles a prop must be a dangerous, redneck, nutjob undeserving of anyone’s vote.
Whereas, we erect monuments to the likes of Ted Kennedy whose recklessness resulted in a woman drowning while Teddy stumbled home to sleep it off.
June 1, 2010, 1:51 pmA.W. says:
On the other hand, rap videos probably save hundreds of lives a year by convincing people that gangstas should turn their guns sideways to look cool. Its like a public service.
Btw, awesome ad.
June 1, 2010, 1:51 pmMartinned says:
It’s the oxigen theory of political discourse: Because Obama and the other leftists are in favour of oxygen, it is the duty of every right-thinking conservative to be against it.
June 1, 2010, 1:53 pmCJColucci says:
I’m not an Alabamian, but I would be willing to bet that most Alabamians are rationally ignorant about the respective qualifications of the various candidates for Agricultural Commissioner and about the details of the job — not to mention somewhat puzzled about why the office is elective in the first place. Even under those circumstances, however, it must be clear to all but the densest voters that nothing in this ad advances anyone’s understanding about why this guy ought to have that job. Somebody is playing somebody for a bunch of rubes.
June 1, 2010, 1:53 pmSebastian says:
That’s funny. I didn’t notice that when I watched it before, but sure enough… finger on the trigger.
June 1, 2010, 1:54 pmmary jane says:
At least when he was walking away, his finger warn’t in the trigger guard.
Someone should alert him about this problem and suggest he do a service in his next spot by mentioning his lapse and educating viewers as to safe gun handling.
Most of us try to look at character, record, platform and associates of candidates before voting, instead of taking their TV chest-thumping, dagger-throwing, tear-jerking and scare-mongering seriously.
June 1, 2010, 1:58 pmDavid Newton says:
I’m a conservative and I consider that ad to be the height of gun irresponsibility. I have only ever been to a shooting range once with a friend of mine. It was drilled into me to never, ever, ever hold a gun with a finger on the trigger unless ready to fire. It was similarly emphasised to me that a gun should always be pointed either at what you intend to shoot at or the ground. It should not be pointed at someone and it should not be pointed into the sky due to what stray bullets can do when they come back down to the ground.
This guy is just plain careless and considering his background he is showing distinct unsuitedness for high office. As others have said, he has been trained in how to handle firearms and he is treating a firearm (even if it is a replica or prop) without due care and attention. That shows a failure to absorb proper doctrine and a failure to follow basic safety principles. Another friend has a phrase for what happens when someone with that kind of attitude handles a firearm: negligent discharge. Not accidental discharge, but negligent discharge with the distinction being accidental and negligent being the main point.
June 1, 2010, 2:03 pmPapa Bill says:
Much ado about nothing. In a lever action rifle with the hammer down it’s a non-issue safety wise. It seems more telling that you used a single non-issue to damn the man’s entire candidacy. Shouldn’t the debate be on what he said rather than where his finger was? I mean, that worked for Bill Clinton and he got a pass so it should work for the man from Alabama just as well.
June 1, 2010, 2:08 pmgeokstr says:
No, because if it wasn’t a finger in a trigger guard, you’d be criticizing this ad for something else irrelevant to the substance because that’s what you do.
And, leftists are the only ones who should never be trusted with guns, anyway, because the first thing they’d try to do with it is force everyone else to hand in their gun.
June 1, 2010, 2:11 pmJimbob says:
I’m not sure there’s even a trigger in that gun.
June 1, 2010, 2:19 pmFred from Des Moines says:
Most of us try to look at character, record, platform and associates of candidates before voting
Most? The American People elected Obama.
June 1, 2010, 2:21 pmAnton says:
Mr. Kopel. You’re overstating the matter a tad, bordering on Drama Queen hysteria.
Accordingly, nothing…. An ad may show someone driving with their hands not placed in the recommended 10-to-2 position. It does not follow that such an ad would increase the possibility of automobile accidents.
You’ve experienced a case of the vapors, my good man. Lie down, and arise when you feel better…
June 1, 2010, 2:23 pmAngus says:
And he looked (and still does) better than the other guy!
June 1, 2010, 2:23 pmNat Whilk says:
So even prop guns should never be held with a finger in the trigger guard when pointed at someone? Somebody ought to tell Clint Eastwood. (I’ll let you Google up your own images.)
June 1, 2010, 2:24 pmDukeboy01 says:
Seriously? You guys are getting your panties in a wad over a two- second display of improper gun handling technique with what was surely an empty firearm?
Lighten up, Francis…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrllCZw8jiM
June 1, 2010, 2:26 pmrachel says:
“if it wasn’t a finger in a trigger guard, you’d be criticizing this ad for something else irrelevant” Geokstr
Yes, but what if his horse were named Trigger on top of this?
June 1, 2010, 2:27 pmJay says:
Yes, because Dale Peterson and Ted Kennedy exhaust the possibilities of people who may be elected to public office.
June 1, 2010, 2:29 pmFrank Drackman says:
Like Marines, Cops, and Farmers are known for their safe handling of weapons/tools. I’ve treated a Marine Officer who accidently shot himself in the thigh playing with a Ruger 9mm, a Farmer (his friends call him “Gimpy” now) who did a number on his foot with a Winchester 270, “y’see we were ridin down this bumpy dirt road, when the gun just went off” and another cop who shot himself in the Butt-ocks with his backup 380 automatic.
June 1, 2010, 2:29 pmOK, I’m from Alabama.
Roger the Shrubber says:
I had the same reaction as DK when I saw this ad.
It’s one thing to hold a gun with your finger on the trigger when you aren’t trying to fire it — violating one of the most basic rules of firearm safety — but it’s quite another to do so while proclaiming your qualifications borne of police and military service.
I wouldn’t vote for this guy with… a gun to my head.
June 1, 2010, 2:30 pmFrank Drackman says:
Oh, Mary Jo Kopechne, didn’t drown, she was asphyxiated.
June 1, 2010, 2:31 pmTomHynes says:
He says “I will name names and take no prisoners” while discussing his opponents and holding a rifle.
Is that a criminal threat? If a high school goth did it on his myspace page would it be a threat?
June 1, 2010, 2:32 pmSpecast says:
Really? The thing you find off-putting is where he puts his finger?
June 1, 2010, 2:33 pmGary Foster says:
The post was definitely overwrought about a finger in the trigger guard of a lever action rifle with the hammer down. Perfectly safe. If that’s all you can find to have your east coast sensibilities offended then it does not take much.
Is his commercial a bit over the top? Sure. But after all, this is Alabama and he is preaching to the choir. So what?!
My advice? Chill.
June 1, 2010, 2:40 pmArthur Kirkland says:
Just as pointing an unloaded weapon at someone’s face is perfectly safe, and consequently an unobjectionable practice?
June 1, 2010, 2:47 pmDG says:
{You’re right. The only people we can trust with elective office are people who drive drunk off a bridge and leave a woman to drown to death by failing to alert the authorities.}
Your snark is obscene. Kennedy should never have won an election after killing that woman.
June 1, 2010, 2:48 pmFrank Drackman says:
I know y’all aren’t doctors but Mary Jo was asphyxiated, NOT drowned, there’s a difference.
June 1, 2010, 2:52 pmGordo says:
Perhaps this ad might make a few people think about requiring that gun owners undergo gun safety training, just like automobile owners have to undergo driver safety training.
But I have a feeling the second amendment absolutists infesting this thread don’t agree with me.
June 1, 2010, 2:53 pmgullyborg says:
I guess every actor in every movie or tv show who ever held a gun for a movie or tv show, and put a finger on the trigger, should be barred from office.
Anyone feel like going back over every second of Ronald Reagan footage?
Seriously, this is ACTING for an EFFECT. The effect is “I mean business and I’m ready for action.”
Get a grip.
Trigger finger nazis. I hate trigger finger nazis.
June 1, 2010, 2:54 pmFred from Des Moines says:
Fiction, TV story-telling, not a real problem. Let’s fantasize:
Come and listen to a story ’bout a man named Dale
Pros’prous Bama farmer always fed his family quail
Then one election he had his finger on the trigger
and, oops!, shot Juan his neighbor’s illegal digger
(finger slipped, it did, a catastrophe)
June 1, 2010, 2:54 pmDG says:
{So even prop guns should never be held with a finger in the trigger guard when pointed at someone? Somebody ought to tell Clint Eastwood. (I’ll let you Google up your own images.)}
You do know that people have been killed during film shoots using supposedly unloaded, “prop” weapons? Brandon Lee, shooting The Crow, is the classic example of this. Died instantly.
June 1, 2010, 2:54 pmDilan Esper says:
Mr Kopel, your criticism looks more like the type you’d hear from a leftist
I don’t get this at all. To me, this looks like classic “Dukakis in a tank” criticism. I.e., if you want to show you are big on guns and weaponry, than you need to make sure you don’t end up looking ridiculous.
I wouldn’t make this a voting issue personally (but then I wouldn’t vote for the guy anyway), but I totally get how an NRA type– especially one who supports better gun safety education as a way to reduce unnecessary gun violence, as a lot of NRA types do– would be miffed at this ad.
June 1, 2010, 2:54 pmMike P Wagner says:
I don’t know when Cooper’s rules were stated, but in the early 60s, the NRA taught me the “Three Commandments of Gun Safety”. I know the NRA has reformulated its “commandments” a number of times in the last 50 years, but here’s what I was taught 5 decades ago:
1) Never point the weapon at anything you don’t intend to shoot.
2) Know your backstop, and what’s behind it.
3) Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot.
That ad violated #1 and #2 – I presume slinging the muzzle of the weapon all over the place, including covering the poor innocent horse, was supposed to look “cowboy”.
I find negligent gun handling very annoying – especially when done by pro-RKBA folks. That kind of moronic gun handling causes “accidents” that give legislatures the opportunity to require me to have all kinds of “safety” mechanisms I don’t need, don’t want, and which may get me killed if they don’t work when I really need the weapon.
Not only would I not vote for this guy for dog catcher, if I saw him coming towards the range I was shooting at, I would pack up and leave.
I swim in some pretty liberal waters, and it’s not unusual – in my experience – to have a fairly “anti-gun” liberal begin to go through a change of mindset about guns when he or she experiences safe gun-handling first hand.
When someone who’s heard their whole life about guns “going off” and killing innocent bystanders goes out shooing with me, and they see that we can have spend a couple of hours shooting and having fun – and the muzzle has never been pointed in a direction where a discharge would hurt anyone, and neither they or I have ever had a finger on the trigger except when the sight picture was clear – an attitude can begin to change. Often that’s the first time I have a rational discussion about gun safety with someone who’s been “anti” their whole lives.
I have had a formerly “anti-gun” friends come to me (after a safety class and a range session) to scoff about a newspaper report of a gun that accidentally shot someone all by its lonesome.
Idiotic gun handling by allegedly “pro gun” folks sets our cause back.
I need to quit talking about this, I am really getting angry.
June 1, 2010, 2:57 pmCopyright Lawyer says:
Independent of his mishandling of the gun, it is more than a little bit shocking that someone like the guy in that video might actually end up holding a state office. He seems like a character from the Dukes of Hazzard.
At the very least, this video should make those who support a robust reading of the 10th Amendment take pause.
June 1, 2010, 3:05 pmmary jane says:
Was the man’s finger “on the trigger” as some of you keep jumping up and down about? You know, it really isn’t easy to slip and move the finger onto and pull the trigger when it’s behind the trigger, though in the guard.
He didn’t walk with his finger in the guard, which is good safety since people do trip and jerk, etc.
June 1, 2010, 3:05 pmThe Unbeliever says:
It’s a fair “gotcha”, prop gun and technically safe notwithstanding. But this is just silly:
Really? You seriously think people who don’t already know standard gun safety are going to buy a gun and emulate him?
Does watching lawyer shows like Boston Legal, Private Practice, and (the last 30 min of) Law & Order increase the possibility that lawyers will make wild, nonsensical, or otherwise dumb arguments?
June 1, 2010, 3:06 pmDave Hardy says:
“It’s the oxigen theory of political discourse: Because Obama and the other leftists are in favour of oxygen, it is the duty of every right-thinking conservative to be against it.”
Pure oxygen can damage your lungs, and put you at risk for a house fire. It is highly reactive, and forms several toxic chemicals. If it combines with hydrogen, the resulting substance kills hundreds of people per year due to its accidental inhalation. If oxygen atoms combine with a single carbon atom, the result is a deadly gas.
It’s no wonder that the Socialist-in-Chief is so much in favor of oxygen.
June 1, 2010, 3:06 pmNat Whilk says:
Sure, I’ve heard of Brandon Lee’s death. Hollywood hasn’t drawn from that event the conclusion that pointing prop guns (with finger on trigger) at other actors should now be off-limits. Are you saying that it should?
June 1, 2010, 3:13 pmMike P Wagner says:
Look carefully right before the credits come up, when he swings the gun up on his shoulder in a manly manner – the middle, ring and little finger are in the lever – the index finger is on the trigger.
I don’t know of any modern rifle (or handgun for that matter) that has room for a finger behind the trigger. In front of the trigger, yes – but not behind the trigger.
I am not an expert, and there are a lot wacky weapons out there, so I may be wrong. But none of my rifles – including a lever action – have that kind of space behind the trigger.
And we haven’t even started talking about muzzle control…
Mike
June 1, 2010, 3:18 pmNat Whilk says:
http://ndn2.newsweek.com/media/65/reagan-actor-politician-gun-celebrity-politician-BK02-vl-vertical.jpg
June 1, 2010, 3:20 pmJack Marshall says:
My late father, old soldier, drill sergeant and WWII hero, would fly into a rant when he saw this mishandling of firearms, in movies, TV, and especially in real life. I know just about nothing about guns, but he made sure that I knew where to put my finger.
June 1, 2010, 3:24 pmMartinned says:
QED
June 1, 2010, 3:27 pmThe Unbeliever says:
You left out a few words: they’re “in favour of government regulated and taxed oxygen”.
You might find a few hardcore extremists who are against oxygen itself, but you can safely ignore them. They’re just environmentalists who went so far out into left field, they wrapped around the political spectrum again and popped up on the right-most edges.
June 1, 2010, 3:42 pmDangerMouse says:
I’d think so. Don’t forget another idiotic lawyer show that involved nonsensical arguments, Alley McSlut.
June 1, 2010, 3:43 pmMike P Wagner says:
Just for reference, the man that drummed the “Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot” rule into my head spent his youth backpacking in Puget Sound. He was my dad, and he went east to Seattle University.
Some of other cardinal outdoor rules I learned from him:
Always leave the campsite cleaner than you found it.
Always leave enough wood at the campsite for the next man’s first fire.
Nothing’s lower than a hunter who wounds an animal, and doesn’t trail it.
Maybe all that sounds pretty East Coast to you, but he thought of it as part of a nebulous thing he called “the code of the West.”
The lever action in my closet is a Marlin 39 AS I inherited from him. I just got the AS back from the factory – I was getting it re-blued and refinished before I pass it on to my son.
June 1, 2010, 3:43 pmmary jane says:
Mike P Wagner,
I looked carefully and still am not convinced his finger is on the trigger itself when he hoists it to his shoulder. Obviously, this spot was shot in multiple takes, b/c next he’s walking away with his fingers out of the trigger guard.
Bad form on especially his part and also the ad’s producers who probably shouldn’t be fired over this breach. He should shoot a new commercial aimed at voters and talk gun safety… lock, stock and barrel.
June 1, 2010, 3:45 pmDilan Esper says:
Mary Jane hits her target.
June 1, 2010, 3:47 pmDangerMouse says:
But he did win, repeatedly, notwithstanding your or my opposition. Hence, the rage regarding improper handling of an unloaded prop falls flat. What’s really going on is that they see a Southern Republican and rant and rave, as if merely being one is enough to be condemned. The gun is a red herring. They did not rant and rave about a northeastern blue blood killer freely roaming the Senate corridors. Their moral outrage is selective.
June 1, 2010, 3:50 pmmary jane says:
Oh, you’re right, Mike P Wagner, about no finger space behind the trigger. Had to look at my shotgun that I haven’t shot for a couple of years. My bad.
And the candidate’s. I still think his handling the trigger is more a dramatic device, but not a good one.
His opponent has a little ammunition here, don’t you think?
June 1, 2010, 4:00 pmMike P Wagner says:
Maybe we are seeing different things. I paused it, and from 0:55 to 0:57 into the clip, his finger looks to be very clearly on trigger while the gun is pointed who know where. There is sunlight on his finger tips, and his index finger is definitely – to my eyes – on the trigger.
June 1, 2010, 4:00 pmDavid Newton says:
If they boast about their training in jobs involving gun-handling then whilst they should not be barred from office, their qualifications, character and intelligence should be seriously questioned. It’s like a chemist walking into a lab and eating a sandwich: seemingly innocent to those without laboratory safety training but clear to those (like me) with such training that it is a violation of the most basic of laboratory safety precautions.
June 1, 2010, 4:02 pmthe Colonel (ret) says:
Funny, I thought the same thing. Keep your finger straight and off the trigger until ready to fire…
That guy was clearly a commissioned officer. No enlisted Marine would be so careless.
June 1, 2010, 4:03 pmJasonF says:
Even if he did display poor gun safety, there are a lot of people who display poor gun safety. They are entitled to a little representation, aren’t they, and a little chance?
June 1, 2010, 4:07 pmelizabeth says:
“It’s like a chemist walking into a lab and eating a sandwich… violation”
Yech, but marshmallows over a bunsen burner, yummy, if you follow tong safety.
June 1, 2010, 4:11 pmdr says:
By “they,” you mean David Kopel?
Because he’s the only person I’ve seen raise this particular objection. Though you seem to have conflated him with that sliver in the Venn diagram connecting the “Big supporter of Teddy Kennedy” circle and the “Concerned that Dale Peterson is a bad role model for 2A rights advocacy.” I think that sliver is smaller than you think it is.
June 1, 2010, 4:18 pmArthur Kirkland says:
Does anyone understand the “white flag with a red X” on Dale Peterson’s website?
June 1, 2010, 4:31 pmMark Horning says:
It’s a lever gun, with the hammer down. You could bang on the trigger with a hammer and it wouldn’t go off. You have to manually cock it to do anything.
(still a bad habit though)
June 1, 2010, 4:59 pmKenneth Brooks says:
So you are hell bent on ostricizing someone who puts a finger on a trigger, but you’ll turn a blind eye to an entity that has wrought more destruction on this country than any other organziation excepting the possibility of General Sherman. Hypocrite!!!! If you ask me your priorities are all wrong.
June 1, 2010, 5:04 pmRoger the Shrubber says:
Just so we’re clear, I can’t complain about this idiot proclaiming cop and Marine bona fides while mishandling a firearm, because…. I didn’t rant and rave about Ted Kennedy?
Is it okay if I merely detested Kennedy, criticizing him at least twice a day, or do I have to have ranted and raved?
I need to know, because I’d really like your permission to talk about what a poser this Dale Peterson is. I also need to know what the rules are for critizing anyone else that you like.
June 1, 2010, 5:05 pmfor what it's worth says:
That might be, oh, I don’t know… the flag of Alabama, perhaps.
June 1, 2010, 5:08 pmRoger the Shrubber says:
I’m a pretty hard core RKBA guy, but I’d have no problem with mandatory gun safety training, provided it wasn’t used as a pretext for gun control.
The comparison with autos isn’t perfect, however, for at least two reasons: (1) you have no constitutional right to keep and operate an auto, and (2) there’s no reason to think that autos are being regulated in bad faith by people who really want to just ban autos.
June 1, 2010, 5:12 pmSteve says:
So you are hell bent on ostricizing someone who puts a finger on a trigger, but you’ll turn a blind eye to an entity that has wrought more destruction on this country than any other organziation excepting the possibility of General Sherman.
The ACLU? The NCAA? Help me out here.
June 1, 2010, 5:50 pmSeaDrive says:
What’s the cosmic, or perhaps psychic, link between this ad and Ted Kennedy? Why no mention of, say, Dick Cheney (who had a gun accident) or Mayor Bloomberg (who does his damnedest to propagate falsehoods about gun safety and gun control)?
June 1, 2010, 6:59 pmBart says:
“Somebody who’s been a Marine, a cop, and a farmer ought to know elementary gun safety.”
A farmer?
Maybe a marijuana farmer, but otherwise I’m not sure I see the connection.
June 1, 2010, 7:18 pmFrank Drackman says:
and he’ll put his eye out!!!!!
June 1, 2010, 7:37 pmAngus says:
Shooting all those wascally wabbits? Seriously, reading this guy’s webpage reads like Elmer Fudd trying to take on politics. Bemoaning the drop in the number of small farmers and trying to reverse that? He might as well campaign on a promise to roll back the automobile and bring back the horse & buggy. There’s just not a need for that many small family farms anymore. They are still viable, but there’s no going back to 40 years ago.
June 1, 2010, 7:47 pmHenry Bowman says:
Gosh, Dave, it is a political commercial, and the guy is supposed to look tough: ready to shoot down his opponents.
Who gives a damn about whether he owns a gun or not? Lots of folks own guns (especially rifles) and almost never use them! In Alabama, I suspect that it’s likely he would hunt with a shotgun.
Of course he should have his finger in the trigger guard — but why would one make a decision about agriculture commissioner on that basis? It would be silly.
June 1, 2010, 8:23 pmHenry Bowman says:
Sorry, in my previous comment, I [of course] meant to say “…Of course he should not have his finger in the trigger guard…”
June 1, 2010, 8:24 pmTGGP says:
Ignoring the gun thing, I give him kudos for his “betchew didn’ know that” education of voters on the overlooked power of ag department monies. Whether recipients of that largesse are “thugs and criminals” may vary depending on your state.
June 1, 2010, 11:47 pmJohn Herbison says:
Flouting gun safety? Perhaps he aspires for a future Republican National Convention to nominate him for Vice-president.
June 2, 2010, 12:13 amKen Brooks says:
I am talking British Petroleum wreaking destruction upon this country like nothing seen since General Sherman. I could care less about a man putting a finger on a trigger. Do you realize the area of death caused by British Petroleum is three times greater than that caused by the largest nuclear bomb ever detonated. After over 100 years the British have finally succeeded in destroying the Gulf Coast. Where is Colonel Jackson when you need him. What has happened at the hands of BP is nothing less than a crime against humanity. Oil rain has been reported over Florida. Benzene containing rain. Christ you gotta love Big Oil.
June 2, 2010, 12:29 amHamstonian says:
…and Dale Peterson goes down. He comes in third in a three way Republican primary. The gun safety issue probably proved decisive.
June 2, 2010, 12:30 amThe Unbeliever says:
Actually, there’s a legitimate complaint that it’s nearly impossible to run a small family farm as a farm, not as a high profit operation. The layers of government regulation are complex and often contradictory, and the cost of complying with them can be prohibitive to the underlying job of actual farming.
I highly recommend reading Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal (excerpted from the book), written by the guy who runs Polyface Farms. He discusses how the regulatory system, local as well as federal, is slanted towards industrial scale operations. It’s one thing to merely benefit one party over another, but the system makes an activity de facto illegal based on the scale of the actor’s operation.
Of course, no one has a right to have their chosen profession remain profitable in the face of changing industry or economic climate. But small farms aren’t only a story of “times have changed”; there are very specific regulatory barriers that are cumulatively killing their viability. I can’t think of a policy reason why government should actively encourage the death of small farms, and I certainly think it’s a relevant topic for a candidate to bring up.
June 2, 2010, 2:26 am…Is it off-topic to discuss an Agriculture Commissioner candidate’s agricultural policy in a thread that ignores his positions and knocks his gun handling instead?
Bill Poser says:
I’m a northern liberal with grave doubts as to whether Alabama should have been allowed back into the Union, but even I don’t have that low an opinion of Alabamans. If they shoot horses, they aren’t even human.
June 2, 2010, 2:42 amBT says:
It could be worse, you could be in Cook County, Il and watch the commercials for the jokers for local office trip over themselves howling about how “anti-gun” they are and how they will get all of the guns off of the streets, etc, etc. And they would then be backed up by the editorial boards of the Tribune and Sun Times, the police chief…I think you get the point.
June 2, 2010, 7:50 amEx-Bama says:
Peterson lost the GOP primary:
Agriculture Commissioner – GOP Primary
June 2, 2010, 9:41 am2826 of 2843 Precincts Reporting – 99%
Max Runoff Cands=2
Name Party Votes Vote %
McMillan, John GOP 150,437 37%
Grace, Dorman GOP 144,747 35%
Peterson, Dale GOP 116,541 28%
Bama 1L says:
Wow, Peterson lost big. Tim James (the guy with the “We speak English” ad) may or may not make the runoff for the gubernatorial nomination. It looks like viral ads did not guarantee electoral success this year.
June 2, 2010, 10:00 ammary jane says:
Based on the reaction here, when I run for office, I’m going to run with scissors in my ads.
June 2, 2010, 10:53 amSonicfrog says:
Yeah, John Eric Hexum and Terry Kath also thought the gun wasn’t loaded…..
June 2, 2010, 11:40 amTed says:
Except car companies. Oh, and finance companies. Oh, and internet companies. Oh, and farming companies. I’m probably missing some other tiny, insignificant industries, but yeah, totally agree…free-market baby!
June 2, 2010, 12:21 pmTed says:
And if you’re a Tea Party candidate, your defenders can interpret your running with scissors to mean being in a hurry to cut the red tape of government.
June 2, 2010, 12:25 pmmary jane says:
Or, running with scissors could be:
Libertarian don’t tell me what to do since I’m the only one affected enlightened self interest
Democratic people are dumb, damaged and helpless so of course I act out and rely on Obamacare, OSHA and social services but where’s the commission on irresponsible TV antics state paternalism and social protest
Republican the Constitution says I’m free to express myself and if God doesn’t protect me (but He will since I go to church and temple) I’ll take myself out of the gene pool social darwinism (life insurance policy and will in order)
June 2, 2010, 1:40 pmmack says:
Family farms aren’t too big to fail – and regulation on top of regulation, until life itself becomes illegal. Now which party is it that champions corporations and big business and big government over individuals – oh, that’s right both of them.
June 2, 2010, 4:20 pmFranklin says:
It is worthy of note (or maybe not) that in this spoof of the Peterson video, the spoof actor does NOT put his finger on the trigger of the (very clearly fake) gun he’s holding:
June 2, 2010, 6:33 pmhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/19/dale-peterson-mocked-in-s_n_581421.html
Jul says:
David Kopel you loser.
June 2, 2010, 10:27 pmian says:
All I took from this ad was the guy had some notion that the duties of the Agriculture Commissioner entailed the use (or misuse) of firearms, and that the Agriculture Commissioner pursued and prosecuted thugs, common criminals, and illegal aliens, and that he was well suited to the role of defender of family farms because of his military background.
June 13, 2010, 7:19 pmChrista says:
My first response to this ad was the same line of thinking as this blog post. In fact I cited this post on my FB page to argue this point. I was wrong. That’s a lever action rifle – it is 100% safe to hold it that way. Here is a video of a man (who holds it the same way) shooting a lever action while standing on a tightrope – it will display the mechanism of the rifle and why it is that this is perfectly safe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dCEfropRwk Sometimes having some (but not all) of the facts can work against you.
July 28, 2010, 10:15 amChrista says:
1. his age combined with the time of his military and police training mean that he has a different understanding of firearms than the modern semi-automatic which requires what we call “trigger discipline”
2. That is not a firearm which requires “trigger discipline” – it is physically impossible to accidentally pull the trigger on a lever action rifle
July 28, 2010, 10:20 am