Activist Group Not Gaga Over Lady's Guns

Sat., Jan. 30, 2010 12:45 PM PST by MEGAN MASTERS

Lady Gaga's wild ways have earned her an enemy.

After using prop pistols during her live stage shows and waving around faux firearms with Beyoncé in the video for their hit single "Video Phone," gun safety group the Brady Campaign is taking on the pop star.

"The music was fine, but I wonder why they went out of their way to glorify guns in their production," the campaign's president, Paul Helmke, wrote on its website. "Beyond the sexual stereotype of guns in general, it's hard to understand why they are in the video at all."

But why the sudden interest in the not-so-recently-released music video and its stars?

The twosome, as well as soon-to-be-jailed-on-gun-charges rapper Lil Wayne, are set to take the stage at Sunday's Grammy Awards, and the activists are looking for the broadcast to be held accountable for the message it is allegedly sending.

"I can hear people say, 'Hey, it's just show business,' and that Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Lil Wayne each put on a good show. I understand that," explained Helmke.

"Yet it is difficult to deny the influence that these entertainers have on our popular culture and the young people who absorb it," he continued. "Guns aren't toys, even when they're made with pretty colors or sung about in rap songs, and it is dangerous to treat them that way.

"It is a deadly problem that more of us—including celebrities—should take seriously."

Neither CBS nor a rep for the Grammys has yet responded to the criticism.

________

Catch up on all things Gaga here.

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filed under BEYONCE, MUSIC, 2010 GRAMMYS, LADY GAGA

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Not “Gaga” About The Guns

Not “Gaga” About The Guns
» by Paul Helmke on January 29th, 2010 Permalink

Almost 9 million YouTube viewers have seen Beyoncé and Lady Gaga – scheduled to perform on the Grammy Awards this Sunday – in their recent music video, “Video Phone.”

The music was fine, but I wonder why they went out of their way to glorify guns in their production. Beyond the sexual stereotype of guns in general, it’s hard to understand why they are in the video at all.

What’s more, Lady Gaga has been using fake machine guns as props in her live shows as well, pretending to shoot into the crowd.

Finally, rapper Dwayne “Lil Wayne” Carter was also announced yesterday as a Grammy Award show performer, just months after he pleaded guilty to a gun charge. He is scheduled to be sentenced in February and is expected to serve as much as a year in jail.

I can hear people say, “Hey, it’s just show business,” and that Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Lil Wayne each put on a good show. I understand that.

Yet it is difficult to deny the influence that these entertainers have on our popular culture and the young people who absorb it. Guns aren’t toys, even when they’re made with pretty colors or sung about in rap songs, and it is dangerous to treat them that way.

To Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Lil’ Wayne, the Grammy Award show producers, and CBS, I have a video that I’d like you to promote sometime that gives a different perspective on guns.

Colin Goddard was shot four times at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007, and lived to tell his story to the world. In this video, he describes what it was like that morning, and asks us to call on our elected officials to make it harder for dangerous people to get guns.

Colin is no performer, but he knows that the reality of gun violence isn’t pretty or entertaining.

It is a deadly problem that more of us – including celebrities – should take seriously.

(Note to readers: This entry, along with past entries, has been co-posted onbradycampaign.org/blog and the Huffington Post.)

Posted in Guns And Pop Culture

Print Spotlight

Incumbent Democrats Supporting Gun Control Win; Those Appeasing Gun Lobby Lose

Nov 3, 2010
Source: Brady Campaign 

Washington, D.C. - Twenty-seven Democratic members of the U.S. House of
Representatives who were endorsed by the National Rifle Association were
defeated yesterday, while only two incumbent Democratic House members who
co-sponsored a major gun control bill this session lost their re-election
bids.

Of the 49 Democratic incumbents who lost, 29 (59 percent) had an A rating
from the NRA and 25 (51 percent) received financial support from the NRA. Of
the 176 incumbent Democrats who won reelection, 145 (82 percent) did so
without the NRA endorsement.

In contrast, only two of the 101 Democratic House incumbents who
co-sponsored legislation to close the gun show loophole lost yesterday.
Those losses were offset by Democratic House seat pickups by gun control
supporters in Louisiana and Hawaii.

“The election returns should send a clear message to the Democratic Party:
appeasing the gun lobby had little political benefit,” said Paul Helmke,
President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “Many Democrats
who carried the NRA’s water in the House, like Travis Childers of
Mississippi, Zack Space of Ohio and Rick Boucher of Virginia, were rejected
by the voters.”

Nor did the NRA’s money provide much help to Democratic incumbents. When
push came to shove, the NRA spent nearly all its money on electing
Republicans, not supporting Democrats. According to a Brady Campaign
analysis, of approximately $6.8 million in NRA independent expenditures this
year, more than 96 percent was spent to help Republican candidates.

“On the gun violence issue, the Democratic leadership has too often been
paralyzed by the perceived need to protect the NRA stalwarts in their
caucus,” Helmke said. “Now we see that appeasing the gun lobby did
Congressional Democrats little good, while Democratic candidates supporting
common sense gun restrictions won overwhelmingly. This attempt to placate
the NRA meant that we just lost another two years in dealing with the plague
of gun violence that takes too many innocent lives.”