Gun Porn

[Curtism]

The same store that offers up this display at eye level puts opaque plastic covers over magazines such as Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Vanity Fair and other women’s magazines in the checkout lanes, leaving only the headers visible. Does anyone else see a disconnect here? Who are we trying to protect by covering up cleavages of models and starlets while we have such vulgar exhibits directly above the sports magazines and a few columns over from video game rags and comic books. Helllooo!



This vid is from another grocer.

How’s this for an idea? Sell gun porn such as this at places that sell firearms and get them out of everyone else’s face. Not as any sort of long term solution so much as a fairly simple, common sense place to start curbing this culture of violence-gone-wild.

(I should mention that the (admittedly crappy) videos were shot just days after the mass murder in Colorado and in the three or so weeks since then, number of gun porn mag’s on display dropped by about 1/3 at one store and almost ½ at another. So the stores have either been catching flack from other customers or, they know it’s bad business practice to exhibit such material at places where families shop. )

[ChrisBen]

I've been known to read an occasional gun rag. They stock whatever sells. Try movin to a new town in say, the middle of Tennessee, and finding WBmag. It can be done.

[Rum_Pirate]

How’s this for an idea? Sell gun porn such as this at places that sell firearms and get them out of everyone else’s face. Not as any sort of long term solution so much as a fairly simple, common sense place to start curbing this culture of violence-gone-wild.

(I should mention that the (admittedly crappy) videos were shot just days after the mass murder in Colorado and in the three or so weeks since then, number of gun porn mag’s on display dropped by about 1/3 at one store and almost ½ at another. So the stores have either been catching flack from other customers or, they know it’s bad business practice to exhibit such material at places where families shop. )

Maybe they sold like hot cakes?

[Curtism]

I've been known to read an occasional gun rag. They stock whatever sells. Try movin to a new town in say, the middle of Tennessee, and finding WBmag. It can be done.

WoodenBoat, the 5 or 6 copies they stock monthly, is usually located right above the Home Defense mag with only the header showing. Deesgusting I tell ya!

[Curtism]

Maybe they sold like hot cakes?

Oh, I'm sure they are, or, they're throwing a lot of them away each month. Care to venture a guess when these type of magazinenes started enjoying such a bold presence in the rack?

[B_B]

...They stock whatever sells...

This is partly true - smaller stores stock what their distributors send them to stock.

Our local pharmacy carries whatever comes from the distributor - I found and liked Dwell magazine, then the distributor changed the stuff they send and no more Dwell (despite my request); when the distributor dropped Lats and Atts the pharmacy wouldn't engage another distributor despite having sold out almost every issue of Lats sent to them...it was just 'too much trouble' dealing with another distributor.

[Phillip Allen]

vulgar?

[Mad Scientist]

Slight thread drift...I was in a 'corner store' in Trondheim, Norway, years ago - they had the hardcore porn mags on the lowest part of the magazine racks - so that kiddies in strollers could see them, I guess. This was stuff that can't be sold here, except maybe in an 'adult novelty' store.

Tom

[Meli]

how hard core?
My kids grew up in Amsterdam (age 6 and2)
We lived just off the Waag next to the red light district.
my daughter used to ask "mum.. why are those ladies in the window only wearing their undies?
I used to say they were advertising

This stuff goes over little ones heads. I'd rather they see non violent porn than guns glorified.

[Domesticated_Mr. Know It All]

I'll take gratuitous sex over senseless violence any day, but what do I know?

[purri]

It's just Panda'ing for the right to arm Bears.

[Donn]

I spent a lot of years dealing with the people who stock magazine racks in grocery/drug/general stores. Their computers decide what goes on the racks. They're called IDs (Independent Distributors), and their business is to control footage on magazine, newspaper and mass market paperback racks in this sort of store. They pay absolutely no attention to the content of the stuff they put on the racks, only the return generated by the space given. If they put out 5 copies on Tuesday, and 3 come back the following Tuesday, they replace it with something else.

Usually, a smallish town will have only one ID to rack their space. If they decide to go to another source, they have to receive, unpack and display new stock, and pull, pack and return unsold stock themselves. Small retailers aren't equipped to do this sort of work, so they generally accept the service of their local ID, who does all the stocking and return pulling for them.

[PeterSibley]

Slight thread drift...I was in a 'corner store' in Trondheim, Norway, years ago - they had the hardcore porn mags on the lowest part of the magazine racks - so that kiddies in strollers could see them, I guess. This was stuff that can't be sold here, except maybe in an 'adult novelty' store.

Tom

Indicative of a culture or two. Every night TV programs depict a dozen murders, some quite deviant ,some just bloody. No nudity though, it might upset delicate sensibilities.

[Phillip Allen]

Indicative of a culture or two. Every night TV programs depict a dozen murders, some quite deviant ,some just bloody. No nudity though, it might upset delicate sensibilities.

it occurred to me that it's more uncomfortable/obvious to hunker down to look at the magazines than to stand up... it might be helpful to keep the adolescents from standing at the racks... ?

[Curtism]

As soon as the rack was built....

It was right around the time the economy started to tank and the rumors were being spread that the president was going to take away our guns.

[Curtism]

Slight thread drift...I was in a 'corner store' in Trondheim, Norway, years ago - they had the hardcore porn mags on the lowest part of the magazine racks - so that kiddies in strollers could see them, I guess. This was stuff that can't be sold here, except maybe in an 'adult novelty' store.

Tom

Not really a drift since the topic deals with what is displayed . . . and where.

Used to be you could get Playboy, Penthouse and other similar mags at just about any convenience store. The last time I looked for a copy of Playboy, a couple years back, I had to go to an adult novelty store.

[Curtism]

I spent a lot of years dealing with the people who stock magazine racks in grocery/drug/general stores. Their computers decide what goes on the racks. They're called IDs (Independent Distributors), and their business is to control footage on magazine, newspaper and mass market paperback racks in this sort of store. They pay absolutely no attention to the content of the stuff they put on the racks, only the return generated by the space given. If they put out 5 copies on Tuesday, and 3 come back the following Tuesday, they replace it with something else.

Usually, a smallish town will have only one ID to rack their space. If they decide to go to another source, they have to receive, unpack and display new stock, and pull, pack and return unsold stock themselves. Small retailers aren't equipped to do this sort of work, so they generally accept the service of their local ID, who does all the stocking and return pulling for them.

Thanks for the info, Donn. An old friend used to work for one of those outfits here, Sun News or some such, and they served most of the local retail shops that sold magazines. I'll have to get in touch with him and see if he's still in touch with the folks he worked with, maybe find out more about how this is distributed now days.

I've noticed that, out of the three main grocery chains in this area, there is one chain that doesn't carry these sorts of publications. They offer most all of the other magazines and sporting mag's like Feild and Stream and some fishing mags, naturally.

[Bob Cleek]

They are there because they sell. Why do they sell? Well, because a bunch of hand-wringing nellies have gotten all sorts of silly laws passed. (E.g.: CA's prohibition on interchangeable magazines on semi-automatic rifles, outlawing semi-automatic "assault rifles" solely because of their looks, etc., etc...) Guys who are interested in guns (just as guys who are interested in boats) like to soak up knowledge about the subject. When products started to become unavailable in one place or another, the people interested in firearms couldn't check out the new developments and designs in their local gun shops or by seeing some other guy with one at the local firing range. Indeed, the "politically correct" anti-firearms climate has in many circles made gun ownership itself something akin to colecting "kiddie porn." It's no surprise that the manufacturers support such publications with their advertising bucks and firearms hobbyists buy these magazines because now in many instances it is the only way a civilian hobbyist can keep abreast of developments in the field. If these people who think outlawing firearms is going to make their lives any safer would have STFU, those magazines wouldn't exist and the sickos who go "postal" would be getting their wood from girlie magazines like normal guys.

[David W Pratt]

Perhaps they think adolescents are better able to deal with pictures of guns than near naked women, just a thought