January 19 Is America's First National 'Gun Appreciation Day'
Don't have plans next Saturday? Well now you do, because January 19 is officially the first annual "Gun Appreciation Day". Survivalists and serial killers and whoever else owns guns are encouraged to "go to your local gun store, gun range or gun show" and appreciate your gun the best way you know how.
The push for Gun Appreciation Day is similar to Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day and other similar "counter-protests" staged by conservative groups recently. A spokesman for the Second Amendment Foundation does a fantastic job of sounding both paranoid and mildly threatening speaking with The Washington Post about the motivation for the frightful festivities:
"We need to ban politicians who assault our rights, not firearms that are used thousands of times a day to protect lives and property from criminal attack," said Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation.
In addition to guns, "patriots" are encouraged to bring their American flags, Constitution and a "'Hands off my Guns' sign." Phrasing like this is one of the most common tricks in the conservatives' wheelhouse: changing a debate from liberals vs. conservatives to traitors vs. patriots.
More than 23 people are killed by guns each day in the United States. In a way, someone out there is appreciating their gun, every single day of the year.
