Gun Control and ‘Toxic Masculinity’: Two Battles in the Same War
Until January of this year, I had never been to Las Vegas, for obvious reasons. The “Sin City” marketing campaign never appealed to me, because despite the claim that “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” I knew that’s never really been true.
I landed in Vegas at 10:30 p.m. The only flights I could find from Pennsylvania arrived when the skies would be dark enough to unveil the city in all its glitzy glory. Alas, a sorry-looking lot of passengers waiting to board the delayed plane I had just arrived on sobered the scene. Maniacal gambling machines, making merry, melodious sounds in mockery of these tired people trying to get the heck outta Dodge depressed the city’s debut all the more.
Romantic, old-timey music—I think it was Mel Tormé—accompanied me as I wended my way to ground transportation. My mind, at least, was transported to an era of refinement, until, at the apparition of a sign advertising “Girls’ Night: Thunder from Down Under,” it wandered. Did Mel’s romantic crooning help Vegas visitors recall having let “Australian hunks entertain [them] with their sexy six packs and raunchy dance moves” nostalgically somehow?
Even the baggage claim sign was suggestive, directing passengers to the carousels with an upside-down pair of slim legs wearing red peep-toe heels, matching nail polish, and nothing else. Why? Because Vegas, baby!
Fast-forward 10 hours. I’m standing in dazzling sunshine. The air is refreshing and clean, in that way only desert air can be. I’m eavesdropping on a pair of brawny men in cargo pants and flannel shirts discussing “the thickest porterhouse you’ve ever seen.” Ahh. Finally something I relate to.
A shuttle bus ride skirting “the Strip” brings me to the Sands Expo Center, where the Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show is being held. It’s where more than 60,000 firearms enthusiasts gather each January to peruse seven million pounds worth of wares some 2,400 exhibitors display across 12.5 miles of aisles. That’s 16 acres of gun stuff.
If “toxic masculinity” were to exist anywhere, the dreaded societal poison would surely manifest itself (manfully) at SHOT Show…
This article was originally published by The American Conservative. Read the original piece here.
