Don’t be fooled by the NRA’s ‘gun control’ issue scam
Tony Jaques considers how the international media’s response to the NRA’s recent gun control announcement reveals a frustratingly good lesson in issue management.
Whatever you think of the National Rifle Association you have to give them credit for some highly effective yet totally cynical issue management.
In the wake of the terrible mass-shooting in Las Vegas, the NRA turned a potential PR disaster into an issue management near-triumph.
They could have dusted off their usual response after every previous mass-shooting. But instead the plotters at NRA came up with an audacious new approach – they called for a review of the so-called bump stocks, which turn a legal semi-automatic weapon into an illegal automatic killing machine.
In issue management terms it was a classic case of ‘look over here’ while maintaining their core objectives. By seeming to give away something which is peripheral to their gun rights commitment, NRA implemented the tried and true issue diversion strategy. Moreover they positioned themselves as part of the solution and not a key part of the problem.
