Capitalizing on HoodieGate, the NRA demonstrates yet again that they have no shame, and won’t rest until every man, woman, child, and zygote is armed to the teeth:
We want concealed carry to fit around your lifestyle – not the other way around. That’s why we developed the NRAstore™ exclusive Concealed Carry Hooded Sweatshirt. It’s the only garment of its kind we know of! Made from a pre-shrunk, heavyweight 50% cotton / 50% polyester blend, we’ve taken a standard 9 oz. fleece sweatshirt design and added a full-body polyester lining for added warmth, durability, wind resistance and weight distribution. Inside the sweatshirt you’ll find left and right concealment pockets. The included Velcro®-backed holster and double mag pouch can be repositioned inside the pockets for optimum draw. Ideal for carrying your favorite compact to mid-size pistol, the NRA Concealed Carry Hooded Sweatshirt gives you an extra tactical edge, because its unstructured, casual design appears incapable of concealing a heavy firearm – but it does so with ease! Includes drawstring hood, cotton/spandex ribbed cuffs and waistband, two front pouch pockets and a discreet black zipper. Includes one Velcro® holster and one Velcro® mag pouch. Colors: Black, Navy. Made in USA.
Oy vey.
Imagine if Trayvon Martin had also been carrying a weapon?
Maybe the way to get these gun-nuts to come to their senses is the fear of armed Negroes running willy-nilly across the nation.
Meanwhile, Geraldo tried desperately to de-stupid himself but manages, as expected, to re-stupid himself in the process:
Geraldo Rivera is apologizing for his “hoodie” remarks about Trayvon Martin that touched off a media firestorm last week, saying, “I have obscured the main point that someone shot and killed an unarmed teenager.”
“I apologize to anyone offended by what one prominent black conservative called my ‘very practical and potentially life-saving campaign urging black and Hispanic parents not to let their children go around wearing hoodies,’” Rivera said in an email to POLITICO Tuesday, citing a piece in the National Review penned by Thomas Sowell.Rivera said that “by putting responsibility on what kids wear instead of how people react to them I have obscured the main point that someone shot and killed an unarmed teenager,” and that he was offering a “sincere and heartfelt apology” to anyone he may have offended in his “crusade to warn minority families of the danger to their young sons inherent in gangsta style clothing; like hoodies.”
Shorter Geraldo: I’m sorry if anyone was offended. Mistakes were made. But not really because Some Black Guy totally agrees with me; and besides minority parents, stop letting your children brazenly walk the streets outfitted in gangsta gear. Hoodies are murder! MURDER, I SAY. But seriously. I’m sorry — sorta. Did I mention that hoodies will totes get you killed? Also, they’re racist. Hoodies are The Real Racists™. Wait, what were we talking about?
Jesus, take the wheel and then stand your ground.
(h/t Think Progress)
[cross-possted at ABLC]
Raven
So fuck it, get armed.
John S.
Genius. Once they sell a ton of those things, then they CAN claim that people wearing hoodies are a dangerous menace.
dmsilev
In other hoodie news, Congressman Bobby Rush gave a House floor speech wearing one. Or at least he tried to; the professional asshole/Republican who was serving as acting Speaker had Rush removed from the House chamber for “inappropriate dress”.
Also, free clue to the asshole in question: White guys from Mississippi should probably avoid the phrase “Members need to remove their hoods or leave the floor”, especially when addressing black folks.
tjmn
Holy shit on toast. Next will be teeny, tiny handguns to arm the zygotes in utero.
Satanicpanic
Geraldo is starting a “life-saving campaign” for minorities by going on a news channel whose viewership is almost exclusively white. A likely story.
wrb
Arm the negros!
Arm the teenagers!
Get off my law..(BLAM!)
People need to start standing their ground against grouchy old people.
Brachiator
Fixed for accuracy’s sake.
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wrb
I hate this paragraph squishing.
Clark Stooksbury
Don’t forget Ron Paul and Mitt Romney are selling hoodies as well.
daveNYC
I don’t get the ‘may have offended’ phrasing. People were offended, that’s the deal. Why not just say ‘people who were offended’. Sounds so much better. Still doesn’t get Geraldo off the Wanker for Life list.
Mark S.
I’d like to apologize for that statement I was totally right about. I feel this has been a distraction from what this tragedy is really about: black teenagers should expect to be killed for what they wear.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
Can I get a concealed-carry totebag? Because I’m guessing the tactical advantage of surprise would be even better that way. Nobody expects firepower coming from a totebagger. “Say, did you see the latest David Broo..BLAM! BLAM! EAT LEAD MUTHAFUKKA!”
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
I don’t think the NRA wants only white people to be armed. Their goal is an arms race. If white people know blacks are armed, they’re going to be extra scared and want to buy even more guns. Nothing but win for the lobbying arm of the gun manufacturers.
Tom Q
How far in the weeds is Geraldo (rhetorical question, I know) to think quoting Thomas Sowell absolves him of the racist tint? Thomas Sowell, Dick Armey’s favorite philosopher. Why not bring in Alan Keyes while you’re at it?
Mnemosyne
Gangsta style clothing.
gmf
Well, I think if we’ve learned anything from this whole tragedy it’s that young black males should carry handguns at all times for self-defense.
Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor
Funny coincidence, “Geraldo”: Every time I see an aging white tv pundit sporting a 1970s Porn ‘Stache, I have to contain my instinctual urge to pound his face into foamy pink slime with a tire iron. Especially once he starts saying stupid things.
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I sincerely hope “Geraldo” will join me in my personal, potentially life-saving campaign against this very dangerous facial hairstyle.
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As far as the latest in NRA fashion goes… I hope it’s a top seller, and that they’re sure to wear their nice new hoodies around professional law enforcement as much as possible. Preferably while making lots of sudden, suspicious movements.
Poopyman
@tjmn:
Not really. The NRA hoodie is available in black and navy and in sizes from M to XXXL, so it’s definitely aimed at the manly man. Or at least to the larger examples of the species.
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Gotta pay extra for those tent-sized hoodies, though.
Mark S.
Thomas Sowell: Making racists feel better about themselves for over 40 years.
lgerard
now with
extra tactical edge!
Martin
Hmm. Why do I think if Obama 2012 was distributing these to volunteers that it would become quite scandalous.
Bludger
Stay Classy, NRA
lamh35
Geraldo, Your Apology Is Bullsh*t! by Russell Simmons
chopper
and who couldn’t use a little ‘extra tactical edge’? when i’m doing backflips off of fire escapes trying to get away from commie nazi alien robot agents, i look for the comfort of Reebok(tm) sneakers.
bemused
I wonder how Gerald’s son feels about his dad’s, cough, apology.
liberal
@Raven:
More precisely, get armed, execute all the NRA officials in FL with no one watching, then claim self-defense.
Cargo
Ever wonder how the restrictive gun laws in places like California got passed in the first place? It wasn’t liberals. It was because Black Panthers in the 60s were open-carrying and buying up assault weapons. That put a scare in white asses with a quickness.
If Trayvon Martin had been carrying a gun, then the Neighborhood Watch would have been “justified” in shooting him, as he had a “dangerous weapon”, and the entire tenor of the national debate would be different (there wouldn’t be one). If he had returned fire, then the battle would have determined who was the superior marksman, and the penalty for not practicing a few hours every weekend would be death.
In the NRA’s perfect world, every trip to the corner store would require constantly checking fields of fire, jumping from cover to cover and being ready at any time to return random fire from any other passersby.
the fugitive uterus
sooo, basically this is a “shout-out” outfit. cuz if someone sees you wearing a hoodie, they’re going to feel threatened and pull out their gun and shoot you. and, of course, if you’re not dead, you can shoot back with your hoodie-concealed weapon!
Morbo
As the joke on TMWRNJ went: “And it is his refusal to accept incontrovertible evidence that would later land [Charlton] Heston the job as spokesman of the American National Rifle Association.”
TG Chicago
Sorry if I’m late on this, but here’s a photo of Geraldo and his buddy Bill O’Reilly — both wearing hoodies:
29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1coejpprP1rssd6zo1_400.jpg
It’s a gang! Open fire!
Mark S.
I didn’t think it was possible, but Geraldo’s apology is actually less sincere than Rush’s.
chopper
@TG Chicago:
THEY’RE COMIN’ RIGHT FOR US!
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
Uh, no. America gets nervous when nonwhites are armed, but see handguns and rifles as the birthright of Real American White People(tm).
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For example, when black athletes violate sports league rules and have handguns even in a locker room, does the NRA come to their defense? I haven’t seen it. Nor much in the way of comments from even rabid white sports fans, defending their rights to have their guns.
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Real White Americans with Guns(tm) are patriots defending America. Nonwhites with guns are criminals.
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Satanicpanic
@Cargo:
Great, we’d all be living Call of Duty.
jibeaux
@Mark S.: I think that was the least sincere apology I’ve ever seen from anyone, including me or my siblings forced into it. It took the whole “I’m sorry if you were offended” crap and added a whole ‘nother layer of “but a black dude said you shouldn’t have been so suck on that.”
pragmatism
@the fugitive uterus: if american apparel made it, they would call it the “self fulfilling prophecy”.
liberal
@Cargo:
Sullivan Act apparently dates to 1911.
Brachiator
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
My local public radio station is having a pledge break. Too bad nobody thought of this as a premium.
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MattF
In fact, an actual apology is not all that complicated, you just never hear one. For the record, an actual apology has three parts: 1) ‘I did x‘, 2) ‘x was wrong and I regret doing it’, 3) ‘I am doing y to insure that x doesn’t happen again’. Easy-peasy, folks.
Nicole
@liberal:
And the reasoning was still the same:
“Many believe the act was to discriminate against immigrants in New York, particularly Italians, as the first person arrested under the law was mobster Giuseppe Costabile [1]. Whether this was part of the law’s intent, it was passed on a wave of anti-immigrant rhetoric as a measure to disarm an alleged criminal element. The police granted the licenses, and could easily discriminate against “undesirable” elements.”
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sullivan_Act
gaz
They stole my product. I already made one, and it comes with a blackface mask. For teh extra scaries…
liberal
@Nicole:
Not saying it’s not true, but do you believe everything coming out of Cato?
Furthermore, it could easily be argued that the current legislation for liberalizing gun regulation has a racial animus. Cf the recent “if Trayvon had been white and Zimmerman black” angle.
Medrawt
I’m … confused? I’ve never really understood the point of concealed carry; I go back and forth on gun laws in general, but I can think of very few circumstances in which having a concealed weapon on my person would be particularly useful. But, fine, ok, some people think it’s a good idea. For self defense, right? Right?
But … this hoodie offers me a tactical advantage because it does a better job of hiding that I have a gun, right? WHAT?!?! How does any of this play into any self defense logic? Why would you want to do a BETTER job of HIDING that you can defend yourself, instead of projecting that you can defend yourself so as to save you the trouble of having to do so? The only circumstance that comes to mind is if, say, I’m taken hostage as part of a bank robbery or something.
liberal
@Medrawt:
Completely agree.
I’d go further: no concealed carry; no handguns.
I want to know who’s packing, so I can steer very clear of them. Having a long gun slung over their shoulder will enable me to give them a very wide berth.
liberal
@MattF:
It’s part of the increasingly widespread cultural phenomenon of not taking responsibility.
As is the idea that we have the right to a firearm, but shouldn’t go to jail when we e.g. execute unarmed black teenagers in FL or Japanese exchange students in LA.
Ruckus
@Medrawt:
Even in this, logic of any kind can not be applied to the conservative position. The entire concept of logic does not compute with conservatives. If it did there would be no need for discussion on health care or guns.
Medrawt
@liberal: I’ve actually said that as a joke: handguns should be illegal except for LEOs, but everyone should be free to sling a rifle across their shoulder.
I still can’t imagine a use for a product specifically designed to hide the fact that you’re carrying a weapon, advertised as offering you a TACTICAL ADVANTAGE, other than fostering vigilante fantasies of suckering someone into thinking you’re an easy target and then (at least) punking them with your weapon. And I thought the NRA, in its PR efforts, was more circumspect about things like “encouraging dangerous vigilante daydreams,” as opposed to “protecting your home”.
gnomedad
“People who look forward to the breakdown of civil society” has become a special interest group.
pragmatism
OT but this: msnbc.msn.com/id/46881054/ns/local_news-san_diego_ca/
makes me happy. it is a little bit surprising because his district is very red and he’s running for mayor of San Diego which is goper friendly. i like that he said that he doesn’t care if he loses supporters. Fletcher still has a lot of cachet from strengthening the notification laws for sex offenders through Chelsea’s law.
happyshiny
@ liberal:
“I want to know who’s packing, so I can steer very clear of them. Having a long gun slung over their shoulder will enable me to give them a very wide berth.”
ITA…a very wide berth. Anyone who seriously thinks they should be armed in secret, and especially in a gated community like this instance, has already demonstrated they’re dangerous. I’m more than a little sick and tired of having to indulge everyone’s James Bond fantasies. Time to grow up, people.
Nicole
@liberal: Oh, I think most gun legislation has a racial aspect, and is written along the lines of “Whatever will benefit white people most.” And I think white legislators’ opinions of what is most beneficial to them changes over time.
But, being in favor of stronger gun control legislation, I admit I am biased and not inclined to think kindly on the incessant push to abolish any kind of protection from firearms.
Fax Paladin
The logic behind concealed carry is that it theoretically conveys a sort of herd immunity: If anyone you see might be carrying, you’re less likely to start something.
The failure mode of this is when you’re carrying, and paranoid about everyone else — especially the Wrong Sorts — who might be carrying, which can lead you to act on the assumption that they are…
Nicole
And can someone please tell me what I need to do to get breaks in my paragraphs? Agh!
exinoz
The NRA has approximately 5 million members. What is to stop 6 million liberals/progressives joining, paying their dues and taking it over.
gnomedad
@Nicole:
It would be nice, when the dust settles, to have a prominent link to an Official Balloon Juice Posting Cheat Sheet.
Poopyman
@Medrawt:
Low Earth Orbits?
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Works for me!
jp7505a
‘TACTICAL ADVANTAGE’? If these folks are so into turning everything into a military exercise, I’m sure there are some villages in Afganistan thaT need some protecting
Eric S.
For your double fisting pleasure
Legalize
@Martin:
Too late.
liberal
@gnomedad:
I thought the right-wing/NRA take on that was “An armed society is a polite society.”
:-)
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Nicole:
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Others have reported using a double underscore.
I use an html non-breaking space.
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I just used both of them in this comment, let’s see if it works. ETA: looks good to me.
Mnemosyne
@dmsilev:
Here’s a link to a story with video of Rush.
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Fun fact: the first political campaign that Barack Obama tried to run was against Bobby Rush, and Obama got his ass handed to him.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@liberal:
“An armed society is a polite society.”
Generally speaking, cemetaries are very polite places.
Marcellus Shale, Public Dick
i really want to troll the nra and ask about ordering 500 of these for the soon to be graduating seniors at malcolm x shabazz high school, but something tells me i shouldn’t.
Calouste
@Satanicpanic:
Well, some people will be living Call of Duty, other won’t.
Nicole
Testing the double underscore thingy-
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If this doesn’t work, I’ll have to go back to my HTML cheat sheet.
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EDIT
Okay then. Cheat sheet it is.
gene108
Good timing by the NRA. I’m sure they’ll sell a bunch of these.
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This of course begs the question: What do you do when it’s too warm to wear a hooded sweatshirt?
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We need to think of some conceal-carry casual clothes for summer.
RossInDetroit
@exinoz:
The NRA’s been taken over already. It used to be a sportsmen’s club of sorts. Hunters, mostly. The current management and membership has swerved it violently in the direction of gun Freedom(!) over shooting sports.
My grandfather was a member, and a Republican, and quit over their hard right line on the 2nd amendment.
not motorik
OT, but I think this fucker Zimmerman is gonna end up dead if they don’t arrest him soon.
S-Curve
Um, I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what most gun nuts fear already.
Mike in NC
Doubtful, but that’s the NRA for you.
Mnemosyne
@gene108:
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What do you think a Utilikilt is for?
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(Apologies to any guy who actually wears one but, seriously, guys, you look like a douche walking around in a Utilikilt. Even women don’t wear skirts anymore unless they have to.)
gbear
So do they make a version that will conceal a cream pie? That would be a weapon-hiding hoodie I could get behind.
gene108
@Mnemosyne:
Despite the big front pockets, I don’t think they could conceal a gun. The weight from a gun would clearly show, with regards to how the kilt hangs.
There are Concealment T-Shirts on the market, but you still have to wear something over them (preferably baggy/loose fitting), which I think limits their efficacy.
Maybe a cyborg type system, where we carve out part of our body cavities to store weapons would be ideal, but I think we’d have to wait a few years until the NRA can fully fund that type of technology.
BobS
Despite the shitty timing, that’s actually a pretty nice product. The pockets would be useful for carrying items that don’t shoot, and it’s American made as well. I also find it a little hard believing this was designed and brought to market in the short time it’s been that the hoodie has achieved the symbolic significance it has.