October was Breast Cancer Awareness month, and the group Breast Cancer Action seized on the opportunity to promote its Think Before you Pink campaign to raise awareness of how companies are increasingly exploiting breast cancer as a marketing device to sell products – some of which are actually harmful to women’s health. Pink ribbon campaigns are offering up some bizarre, albeit benign products like a breast cancer awareness toaster and a breast cancer awareness floating Beer Pong table. But the most bizarre item yet to have a pink ribbon slapped on it must be Smith & Wesson’s Pink Breast Cancer Awareness 9 mm Pistol, promoted by a woman named Julie Goloski, Smith and Wesson’s Consumer Program Manager and a sharpshooter herself. Goloski is promoting S&W’s breast cancer awareness pistol on her Facebook page, saying “October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Breast Cancer Awareness M&P’s are shipping to dealers. I am thrilled to have my name associated with such a worthy cause and one of my favorite firearms.” According to a 2008 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, firearms are the second most common cause of violent deaths of women, accounting for 29.2% of all violent deaths among females in the U.S. in 2008.
I was actually a little surprised that less than thirty percent of “violent deaths” were due to firearms.
I suppose the rest are being stabbed and bludgeoned to death? Perhaps no kitchen knives or softball games for breast cancer? Certainly no one should drive to a breast cancer event because of the violent and sexist record automobiles have to account for?
God forbid that a woman who shoots and works for a gun company could actually think that it’s a good idea to have part of a pistol’s proceeds go to fighting a disease that kills and harms lots of women!
I don’t consider myself a violent man, but I’d like to find the person who raised that objection and pistol whip them with a JG edition M&P. Fookin’ morons.
Ugh. That clip from American Dad where Stan takes out his pistol and puts it down on the table and tells it to “go ahead and shoot someone” comes to mind.
Those 29.2% of women were not killed by firearms; someone was pulling the trigger…be it some evil bastard they didn’t know, some jackass they were in a relationship with, or themselves, etc.
