Gun sales skyrocketing in part due to zombies?

[Thorn]

Then there are zombies--zombie movies, zombie comics, zombie novels, zombie TV shows. Americans' fascination with all things zombie, Parsons says, has grown to such proportions that arms manufactures now have come out with zombie-specific firearms and ammo. Products include a line of Zombie Max ammunition (slogan: "just in case") made by Hornady Manufacturing. "We can't keep it in stock," says Parsons. "It comes in a cool, colorful box with a Zombie on it."

There are more than a dozen manufacturers, says Parsons, making zombie riffles, some with a picture of a zombie on them The two position on a zombie rifle's safety, instead of being marked "safe" and "fire," are labeled "dead" and "undead."



Gun maker DPMS Panther Arms is taking sign-ups now for its fifth annual zombie shoot, "Outbreak: Omega" set for June 23. "DPMS' Outbreak: Omega," says the company's website, "is the Original Zombie Shoot, and the largest. It is a non competitive 3-gun style fun shoot. All are invited to come and try your hand at killing Zombies. Tons of Prizes...followed by a HUGE after party!"



Attendees don't actually shoot Zombies, which, last we heard, don't actually exist. They shoot targets that are zombie stand-ins.


http://news.yahoo.com/gun-sales-booming-doomsday-obama-zombies-193929184--abc-news-money.html

[AcesandEights]

So an even larger push for guns as fantasist toys, eh? I'd prefer if they were buying airsoft, then.

[Sammich]

I hope that all of the first time gun owners get basic firearm safety and use instruction and not rely on what they saw on some t.v. show or movie. Otherwise, it would be the equivalent of handing over car keys to someone who has never driven before but thinks he is a professional driver because he watches NASCAR every weekend.

Speaking of gun stupidity in movies, flipping a revolver's cylinder open and closed may look "cool", but keep doing it and all it will result in is a bent crane, timing problems and an expensive trip to the repair shop. Just remember that after shelling out $600+ on a Smith and Wesson.

[Thorn]

1008

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8Zn0dw5-sIQ/TqSRgBc0eCI/AAAAAAAADfA/bBtJGHm8hSc/s1600/ZombieMax-223-REM-Pkg_beauty+copy.jpg
Ammo...

[Christopher Jon]

Gun sales skyrocketing in part due to zombies?
Maybe gun control isn't such a bad idea.


Speaking of gun stupidity in movies, flipping a revolver's cylinder open and closed may look "cool", but keep doing it and all it will result in is a bent crane, timing problems and an expensive trip to the repair shop. Just remember that after shelling out $600+ on a Smith and Wesson.
Next you're going to tell me I shouldn't be cocking my weapon before each shot.

[EvilNed]

I'm saving this article.

I think I've automaticly won every pro-gun control and anti-capitalist argument ever. It's like a perma-win. A cheat code.

[Sammich]

You are for gun control and for fascism?

[krisvds]

Anything for a quick buck huh?

Luckily zombiefans are all peace-loving, educated, and waaaaaay above such cheap marketing tricks to up sales. Phew!

[Tricky]

I'm just glad we have gun control in the UK, I'd be very worried that fantasists are actually buying guns because they somehow think a zombie outbreak is going to happen. That alone is reason enough for them not to have firearms & be pointed in the general direction of a padded cell....

[EvilNed]

You are for gun control and for fascism?

Yes and No.

[Danny]

not surprised in the slightest. Its no secret that theres a group of people enraptured by the romanticised idea of zombies as the 'anti social lazy mans apocalypse'. No more people to judge them or poke fun at them, they can grab a shotgun and "be the hero" and lets be honest in reality a brisk walk is all you need to get away from a typical romeroesque zombie.
I suppose its like how everyone says the columbine types are driven to murder because of horror movies and such. when any rational person knows its the other way round and certain people are predisposed to gravitate to such content for altogether different reasons than most. Not everyone watches a zombie movie and then furiously cry-jerks it for 40 minutes whilst thinking about how secure their home is and how many guns they could have to become "the law of the wasteland". not everyone, but a few do.

luckily this is the only forum inspired by this sub genre of horror that ive ever seen that is pretty much free of them.

[Rumsfeld]

A professor of mine theorized that the belief in the existence of the chupacabra resonated towards people who felt that their national government was not providing help and adequate support to their local governments, hence the idea for local militia's to band together and hunt down the chupacabra that was killing local farmer's sheep. I'm curious if there might be any correlation between this and people who are buying guns to fight off a zombie invasion.

[SymphonicX]

Fucking hell.

I mean really.

[Mike70]

funny how 40,000 people in the US alone (who knows how many world wide) are killed by cars every year but no one talks about banning them.

cigarettes kill over 300,000 people a year (again, in the US alone) just from lung cancer and cost the world's health care systems billions of dollars every year but no one seriously talks about banning them.

alcohol leads to hundreds of thousands of deaths world wide as well. we all know the idiocy that ensued when it was banned.

there just isn't the kind of violent crime over here that some of you imagine america to be. that's an image created by vile journalists. there are over 11 million people in my state. last year there were 600 murders against 1,400 suicides. over twice as many people killed themselves than were killed in violent crimes.

[EDukes]

Personally I think that gun ownership should require a license that at the least makes a requirement out of attending a mandatory firearm safety class every 5 years. If you fail to take the class, then you license is revoked, which comes with your firearms being revoked as well. I don't think this is to much to ask, especially considering a written and drive test is required to operate a motor vehicle (which I think should also be a mandatory requirement every time you get your license renewed). There's a lot of people out their who need to be educated by a professional, and are too lazy to pursue that education on their own time.

[Trencher]

I'm saving this article.

I think I've automaticly won every pro-gun control and anti-capitalist argument ever. It's like a perma-win. A cheat code.
Well that is one thing cheat codes and communism have in common, they both dont work in real life.

[Tricky]

Nobodies talking about banning guns here, just about better control of them so that Blades11, One Goh, Shawn Tyson and others that are known to have temper/mental issues would find it a lot more difficult to get hold of them. I know criminals can always get hold of them if they really want them, its exactly the same over here, but at least quick tempered vindictive spiteful people dont have them in their pockets at any given moment. The idea of people stockpiling weapons because they've seen a few episodes of The Walking Dead horrifies me!

[SymphonicX]

Nobodies talking about banning guns here, just about better control of them so that Blades11, One Goh, Shawn Tyson and others that are known to have temper/mental issues would find it a lot more difficult to get hold of them. I know criminals can always get hold of them if they really want them, its exactly the same over here, but at least quick tempered vindictive spiteful people dont have them in their pockets at any given moment. The idea of people stockpiling weapons because they've seen a few episodes of The Walking Dead horrifies me!

Well said, Tricky. My thoughts exactly.

To further my thoughts it's also worth considering that on face value, a box of bullets designed for zombies has just a small novelty value. What companies are doing is capitalising on this novelty value - but in doing so are creating a very spineless and dangeruos industry of selling deadly weapons as novelties/toys.

The idea of a shotgun behind glass with "break glass in case of zombies" is fun, it's outright meant as a laugh - but it's not meant for the mass market.

It seems these bullets are. To make matters worse they're brightly packaged, and attractive to kids - sorry but it's true. The box looks like something seen in Toys R Us but we all know the real damage that can be caused to lives by seeing these things in that way.

It further goes to desensitise the US population to more violence. Sure violent movies exist and those who are nutty will gravitate towards that, but my concern is by packaging and promoting deadly weapons in this way, as a fun item and a novelty, it is detracting from the real and constant danger of having these things at large in your society.