SAF founder Alan M. Gottlieb
By Alan Gottlieb
The current flap over the appearance of a handgun in a Matt Damon movie poster seems like political correctness run amok, even considering recent violent acts in Dallas, Baton Rouge and elsewhere.
It’s a movie poster, after all, not a declaration of war. And frankly, it strains credulity that somebody’s sensitivities are so offended that they might vandalize these posters. Such nonsense goes beyond the pale, and one might be compelled to suggest that these “gun critics” need some adult supervision and time-out counseling.
Perhaps the more serious consideration here is not the willingness of anti-gun zealots to destroy the film posters, arguably taking a swipe at the First Amendment rights of the film’s producers. In the firearms community, the greater offense is that Damon has made yet another film in which the storyline racks up a body count, while statements the actor made in the Sydney Morning Herald recently about gun control suggest he doesn’t like guns at all.
If Damon and other actors feel so strongly about guns, they ought to stop appearing in films that use violence as a cornerstone of the plot. If the tens of millions of honest gun owners in America, and especially the millions who are licensed to carry, behaved like the characters in such films, the whole country would sound like Chicago’s South Side on any given weekend.
Mr. Damon is a talented actor, and he’s certainly entitled to make a living at his craft. And he shouldn’t surrender his free speech rights because of his profession. Acting is, after all, a form of expression that tests one’s personal skills, not unlike competitive shooting, for example.
However, it seems more than a bit disingenuous to portray characters who use firearms in self-defense or even offensively, and then turn around and suggest that the constitutional right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms should be eroded or erased altogether. Typical gun owners are not prone to the kind of movie violence one sees on the silver screen.
People who willfully destroy movie posters because they depict violence are engaging in a form of violence by their vandalism. They just won’t admit it. People in the firearms community frequently note that some of the most violent thoughts come from anti-gunners, who have suggested such things as shooting or killing gun owners who have harmed nobody.
The greatest irony is that in real life, Damon evidently shares the sentiments of the anti-gunners who are offended by his posters. This minor tempest could provide Damon an opportunity to re-think his philosophy, or at least wonder about people who think like he does.
Anybody who believes they’re scoring points by defacing a movie poster is at best delusional. Maybe these people think that the millions of law-abiding gun owners are as impulsive and unstable as they are themselves
Alan Gottlieb is founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation.
