Politicians And Their Guns

After the Newtown elementary school massacre, public figures have called not just for more gun control but to find a way to get Hollywood and video game makers to stop glamorizing violence. But some of the most prominent, most serious public figures in America â€" national politicians â€" have been glamorizing guns for decades. At The National Review, Charlotte Allen thinks that the Newtown shooting reveals how feminized American culture is, because no teacher or "huskier" child was manly enough to try to take down Adam Lanza. That sounds plausible, but… haha just kidding. It does not sound plausible at all, it sounds crazy. In fact, what makes American culture so different from the rest of the West is that the quickest shortcut to displaying your manliness is posing with a gun. This is especially true of our trusted elected leaders, who continue to feel the need to make up for hanging out with Gucci-clad lobbyists by posing for photos that show just how much they understand the real, authentic older white American male. They do this by staging photo opportunities for themselves, and the formula is simple: gun, camera, elected official, and maybe a nice drab backdrop. It is a bipartisan tradition. "We're going to need to look more closely at a culture that all too often glorifies guns and violence," President Obama said in a press conference announcing a gun commission Wednesday. Let's look more closely at those glorifiers who work in Washington, D.C.:

Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan signs a special edition Romney/Ryan Ithaca shotgun in Ohio in October:

(Photos via Associated Press.)

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal posing with a Henry lever action rifle at an Arkansas fundraiser in June 2012:

(Photo via Associated Press.)

Arizona congressional candidate John Gould promised to shoot Obamacare really hard in a June campaign ad. Despite this, Gould did not win the Republican primary....

Paul Ryan posted this photo on Facebook in April:

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich signed a a .306 Ruger American Rifle in New Hampshire in January:

(Photo via Reuters.)

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum shoots things with Iowa Rep. Steve King in December 2011:

(Photo via Associated Press.)

Republican presidential candidate John Huntsman tried to portray himself as the cool young hip candidate with photo-ops of himself playing pool, riding motorcycles, and, here in May 2011, holding guns:

(Photo via Associated Press.)

Here's a still from Rick Perry's video greeting to the NRA convention in April 2011:

The video showed Perry's skills at hitting a target in a calm, stable, sunny environment, seen here via GIF:

West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin shot a cap-and-trade bill in his Senate ad in October 2010:

Sarah Palin posed with a custom Henry rifle presented by the president of Henry Repeating Arms, Anthony Imperato, in 2010:

(Photo via Associated Press.)

Before that, Palin posted other gun pics on her Facebook page, though they appear to have been removed:

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee hunts pheasant in Iowa, of course, in December 2007:

Just in case you couldn't tell, this hunting trip was performed for the media:

(Photo via Reuters.)

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Sam Brownback looked charming as he wooed Iowans with an AR-15 in July 2007:

(Photo via Associated Press.)

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry shoots things with Ohio Rep. Ted Strickland in that very important swing state in October 2004:

(Photo via Associated Press.)

Kerry did a ton of gun photo-ops in what appeared to be an attempt to establish his manly man Real American cred. It did not work. Here he is in Wisconsin earlier in 2004:

(Photo via Reuters.)

Republican Sen. Bill Frist shoots things with Republican Senate candidate Lamar Alexander in September 2002 in Tennessee:

(Photo via Associated Press.)

Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan held aloft a 1964 Winchester rifle in Phoenix in February 1996:

(Photo via Reuters.)

George W. Bush goes dove hunting as a candidate for governor of Texas in 1994:

(Photo via Associated Press.)

Democratic President Bill Clinton goes duck hunting in Maryland in 1993:

(Photo via Associated Press.)

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