Christiane Amanpour’s CNN International show is simulcast for Americans on PBS, meaning that your tax dollars paid for a Wednesday edition of Amanpour and Company where Amanpour wondered why “the firearms industry” insists on flipping off children. The answer she got from her guests was racism.
Speaking to Ryan Busse, Amanpour asked him to explain why, “you have told the New York Times recently that -- quote – ‘The AR- 15 to most people in the firearms industry, it's a statement. It's a middle finger.’ So talk to me about that middle finger. Why does the firearms industry want to flip a middle finger at America, at its children, at the world? Why?”
Busse, whose chyron read “former firearms executive” blamed racism, among other things, “It's a really twisted -- it's a good question, but it -- the answer provides a really twisted window into our culture. About the time that Tom describes, after the 1999 shooting in Columbine, the NRA figured out that cranking up incendiary, hateful, racist, frankly, middle fingers to the rest of the country could energize a certain segment of people to become so incendiary, that they're just held right below the boiling point.”
For Busse, the bird flipping comes from people not liking former President Obama, “And those sorts of people will do irrational things. They will vote in irrational ways, which we have seen in elections recently. The firearms industry joined forces with the NRA very purposely then, and especially as President Obama started to lead in the polls in 2007, because the exact same things that drive this kind of incredibly divisive, incendiary politics that the NRA now has let across this country and handed off to President Trump, those exact same things drive firearm sales.”
After assuming that people who view AR-15s are irresponsible gun owners, Busse returned to his earlier claims of racism, “But when you have this intertwined hatred, fear and racism, politics and guns, then you have these symbolic things that drive both politics and gun sales. And that's why the radicalization on the right, as I assert -- I wrote a book about this called Gunfight, but it's all about how this has happened to our country.”
One could say that calling AR-15 owners hateful and racist with no evidence was incendiary, but that didn’t stop Busse from projecting one last time, “Like, as Senator Murphy says, it happened purposefully, right? There's a system to this. And it's this wrapping of incendiary politics along with guns. And then you have AR-15s as symbols, as middle fingers.”
Is it there any doubt gun owners think the media hates them?
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PBS Amanpour and Company
5/25/2022
11:12 PM ET
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Ryan, you have told the New York Times recently that -- quote -- "The AR- 15 to most people in the firearms industry, it's a statement. It's a middle finger."
So talk to me about that middle finger. Why does the firearms industry want to flip a middle finger at America, at its children, at the world? Why?
RYAN BUSSE: It's a really twisted -- it's a good question, but it -- the answer provides a really twisted window into our culture. About the time that Tom describes, after the 1999 shooting in Columbine, the NRA figured out that cranking up incendiary, hateful, racist, frankly, middle fingers to the rest of the country could energize a certain segment of people to become so incendiary, that they're just held right below the boiling point.
And those sorts of people will do irrational things. They will vote in irrational ways, which we have seen in elections recently. The firearms industry joined forces with the NRA very purposely then, and especially as President Obama started to lead in the polls in 2007, because the exact same things that drive this kind of incredibly divisive, incendiary politics that the NRA now has let across this country and handed off to President Trump, those exact same things drive firearm sales.
So the reason that the AR-15 is this symbol that's so contrary to what responsible gun owners believe, because responsible gun owners believe that guns are serious things that need to be treated with an exceptional amount of responsibility, and waiting around guns like middle fingers is not responsible.
But when you have this intertwined hatred, fear and racism, politics and guns, then you have these symbolic things that drive both politics and gun sales. And that's why the radicalization on the right, as I assert -- I wrote a book about this called Gunfight, but it's all about how this has happened to our country.
You know, I'm really kind of tired -- probably Tom is too -- like getting the questions, like, gosh, how does this happen? Like, as Senator Murphy says, it happened purposefully, right? There's a system to this. And it's this wrapping of incendiary politics along with guns. And then you have AR-15s as symbols, as middle fingers.
