I've always considered CW’s Arrow the more conservative show of the DC universe (which means almost nothing) since it follows a physically tough man using his hard-earned abilities to defend himself and the city where he lives. That being said, if Supergirl couldn’t even handle the subject of gun control, what makes them think that a show where literally every character uses a weapon would be a better platform?
In the February 15th episode “Spectre of the Gun,” Green Arrow/Mayor Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) handles a shooting at City Hall as he and his team try to track down the shooter who escaped. With tragedy hitting the city, different people offer different solutions on how to deal with a random shooter, leading Oliver to consider enacting the Star City Gun Registry (SCGR). What that debate really adds up to is a couple of people arguing the logic behind owning guns while the rest of the characters hammer home how people died. Just check out Oliver’s conversation with a pro-gun councilwoman.
Oliver: Councilwoman, thank you very much for meeting with me.
Pollard: Well, from what I hear, you've been making the rounds. For someone without a lot of political capital, you're certainly making an interesting choice as to how to spend it.
Oliver: I have 7 dead staffers who wouldn't find it interesting at all.
Pollard: And it's a terrible thing that happened here. It's just terrible. Police make any progress locating Edlund?
Oliver: No, unfortunately. But they're fairly confident that he targeted city hall because of our inability to enact the SCGR.
Pollard: You implying I'm somehow responsible for what happened?
Oliver: No. But, councilwoman, you did kill the ordinance.
Pollard: You really have been making the rounds. Yes, I'm against any registry that gives the government the opportunity to keep tabs on specific sectors of the population.
Oliver: The DMV keeps a list of driver's licenses.
Pollard: It's not a constitutional right to drive a car, Mr. Mayor. You know, people such as yourself oppose limitations on things like abortion, freedom of speech. Why is the second amendment somehow less important in your eyes than the other nine in the Bill of Rights?
Oliver: Because people are dying, councilwoman, right here in this building. And there are limitations on abortion and freedom of speech. Both my parents are dead. My friend Tommy was a... He was one of the 503 killed in the undertaking. Laurel Lance was my friend. Nobody respects the rights of someone to protect themselves and the people that they care for more than me, but everything in life comes with limitations. Everything.
Pollard: Why are you telling me this?
Oliver: Because you and I are gonna sit in this office until we figure out a reasonable set of limitations that respects everyone's rights. Are you hungry? Should I order something in? We might be here a while.
A little background on that monologue. Out of all the people Oliver referenced, only one of their deaths involved a gun and that was when his father committed suicide with one. This is not really a gun control debate. This is what a liberal believes a debate should be: emotional manipulation. You know someone who dies, you win the debate. Or at least think that you have an argument.
But what did I expect from an episode written by series creator Marc Guggenheim who even called himself an “unapologetic progressive” when it came to issues? I’d probably comment further on that, but the more I look into it, the more the episode works against itself. Heck, the show’s doing my job for me.
For example, Star City and its mayor seem eager to work on gun control but everyone was perfectly okay with the laws and people using weapons to defend themselves in the previous 104 episodes. Guggenheim also claims to want to start a conversation - according to him "not talking about issues serves a conservative agenda, not a liberal agenda" - but his only prominent gun supporters on the show are the disagreeing councilwoman and a dishonorably discharged navy man…who only has his gun illegally anyway. Are these the people he thinks represent gun owners?
I give some credit to the episode for revealing the shooter to have actually been a proponent of the gun registry who went on the shooting spree to try to force city council to implement it and Oliver admitting that a registry would not have stopped a past shooting (what a twist!). But that’s buried beneath an overly sentimental vigil at the end that just reinforces that they do, in fact, go through with a new bill in reaction to the shooting. Because the ends justify the means, I guess.
Then again, this episode seems to amount to nothing. Oliver gets a write-up of new gun ordinances, but they are never mentioned. They stop the shooter by talking him down, but how does that apply to the real world with registries or gun rights? And are we expected to believe that the characters will stop using guns or arrows to try and make a statement? The show doesn’t pretend to answer these questions nor does it plan to in the future.
Some "conversation." I'd say this episode was an insult, but that would be implying that it said anything new.
