Tag: Hail Eris

Feds Staking Out SHOT Show

No Lawyers – Only Guns and Money reported that work has spread throughout SHOT Show that undercover agents have been stalking about:

the industry poises for the Obama administration, word spread through SHOT Show that undercover agents supposedly from a variety of different agencies, from ATF to OSI, were wandering around the show floor, passing out business cards that bore an official-looking seal and the words “Suspicious Activity Reporting: 702-690-9142”

Curious, one industry insider called the number. After several rings, a recorded message thanked him for reporting the suspicious activity, and asked for a callback number. Instead, he hung up. Only a few minutes later, their cellphone rang and a caller identified himself as an FBI agent following up on the “suspicious activity report”.

Perhaps SHOT Show needs its own version of Defcon’s Spot the Fed competition:

Basically the contest goes like this: If you see some shady MIB (Men in Black) earphone penny loafer sunglass wearing Clint Eastwood to live and die in LA type lurking about, point him out. Just get my attention and claim out loud you think you have spotted a fed. The people around at the time will then (I bet) start to discuss the possibility of whether or not a real fed has been spotted. Once enough people have decided that a fed has been spotted, and the Identified Fed (I.F.) has had a say, and informal vote takes place, and if enough people think it’s a true fed, or fed wanna-be, or other nefarious style character, you win a “I spotted the fed!” shirt, and the I.F. gets an “I am the fed!” shirt.

On the other hand the people leaving the cards at SHOT Show could be members of the Legion of Dynamic Discord having fun screwing with with attendees. It would be trivial to setup a phone number (say a Google Voice number), walk around SHOT Show, drop cards, and use the caller identification information to call back anybody who calls your number.

Messing with Both Sides

It appears that a third faction has entered the fray. Now we have gun control advocates going head to head with gun rights advocates and a third faction, potentially the Legion of Dynamic Discord, messing with both sides. The Blaze, Glenn Beck’s “libertarian” rag, wasn’t very happy about finding a game titled Bullet to the Head of the National Rifle Association (NRA):

I saw something today that upset and deeply disturbed me. I was walking past my son’s bedroom, where he spends all his time on his computer playing those damn games of his. I stopped when I heard the sound of Wayne LaPierre’s voice as he gave his speech about the Newtown massacre. I was surprised my son, who is just 14, was getting involved in anything political, but I was glad he was exposing himself to the right people. I opened the door, intending to tell him how proud I was, when the image on the screen stopped me cold. It was not, as I suspected, a video of Wayne LaPierre’s speech, but was in fact a virtual recreation of the event, a video game. And in the game was a virtual Wayne LaPierre, standing at his podium, giving his speech… with a crosshair over his head. Before I could even utter a word to scold my child, he clicked his mouse. And the virtual Wayne LaPierre’s face disappeared in a spray of blood.

If you go to the helpfully provided link you will discover that it is in fact a game that allows you to shoot Wayne LaPierre in the head. It is also worth noting that the game, according to a poster on the forum, is merely a minigame in the Sandy Hook Killing Simulator. Is it tasteless? Perhaps. More importantly though is that the game is meant to piss off both gun control and gun rights advocates:

Share this everywhere, especially gun-nut and anti-game websites. Also see if you can’t send it in to the NRA somehow, like through the feedback on their website or something.

I want to first note that this was the inevitable backlash created by the NRA’s blaming, at least in part, of violent video games for the tragedy as Sandy Hook. I’ll let the game’s creator speak to that:

But right now, I really want to shoot Wayne LaPiere in the head in a video game because I’m pissed about how he and others on his side have blamed violence on video games. This’ll ultimately be a bonus level in the final game, but I want to get it done and released ahead as quickly as possible, in part because I wanna see the man wet his pants on television and bitch about being victimized in a video game.

This is what backlash looks like ladies and gentlemen. With that said I think this game could useful for Operation Mindfuck. Think about it. How many gun control advocates would be interested in playing the minigame just to get a crack at virtual LaPierre? I’m sure many would jump at the opportunity, and therein lies the mindfuck. A gun control advocate so angry at the NRA that they play a game where they can use a gun to kill LaPierre. Personally I think we could gain some mileage by promoting this minigame to advocates of gun control.

I will also note that as a Discordian pope I applaud the apparent attempt to spread discord throughout both gun control and gun rights camps. When both sides take themselves so seriously it helps to introduce a third faction to lighten the mood.