January 16, 2018

Action Alert:
Reprimand Albuquerque Journal for Running MLK Gun Ad


This year on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day the Albuquerque Journal ran a repulsive advertisement from Los Ranchos Gun Shop that invoked the name and image of Dr. King in order to sell firearms and ammunition.

Placed alongside women’s basketball scores in the sports section of Sunday’s Journal, the ad promoted 10% off all accessories with the purchase of a gun on MLK Day. Customers who mentioned the ad were given an additional 5% off.

The owner of Los Ranchos Gun Shop, Mark Abramson, defended the ad as an “appropriate depiction of Dr. King.” He then claimed, wrongly, that Dr. King “fought” to put more firearms into the hands of African-Americans.

In truth, Dr. King decried Americans’ easy access to firearms and voluntarily disarmed himself and his bodyguards because of his unshakable commitment to nonviolence.

Please take one or more of the following actions in response to this offensive advertisement:

1) Leave a comment on one of the existing threads at the Los Ranchos Gun Shop Facebook page telling them how you feel about their MLK ad:

https://www.facebook.com/LosRanchosGuns/

2) Submit a letter to the editor to the Albuquerque Journal  at the following link and call for the staffer who approved this ad to be fired immediately:

http://www.abqjournal.com/letters/new

You can use the following 150 words as a template for your letter, but please personalize your submission to a significant degree, because the Albuquerque Journal will NOT publish a letter unless it is unique:

I am deeply offended by the Los Ranchos Gun Shop advertisement that the Albuquerque Journal  published on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Given Dr. King’s absolute commitment to nonviolence, and the circumstances surrounding his assassination, it is beyond the pale for your newspaper to print his image and good name in a promotion designed to sell guns and ammunition. Dr. King was patently clear on where he stood on guns. “By…our readiness to allow arms to be purchased at will and fired at whim…we have created an atmosphere in which violence and hatred have become popular pastimes,” he wrote. Dr. King also unilaterally disarmed himself and his bodyguards, explaining, “Had we become distracted by the question of my safety we would have lost the moral offensive and sunk to the level of our oppressors.” The staffer in your advertising department who approved the running of this ad should be fired immediately.

Once you have taken one or more of these actions, click the orange banner below to report taking action!


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