Bushmaster Rifle Ad Reminds Us To Ask More About Masculinity And Gun Violence (PHOTO)

On Friday, a young, white, suburban man left his mother's home and committed a massacre. Unfortunately, a narrative that should be shocking is starting to sound more like a tired trope. Before the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter was identified, we could have guessed who he'd be.

In the wake of the heartbreaking Newtown shooting, as we collectively mourn the loss of 20 young children and 7 adults, a lot of very necessary conversations have begun -- about gun control legislation and about greater federal funding for and access to mental health care. In addition to these indisputably important topics, we need to talk about this country's twisted vision of masculinity.

Of the 62 mass shootings that have occurred in the United States since 1982, 61 have been committed by men. The average age of these men was 35, and 44 of the 61 male shooters were white, according to Mother Jones. I don't believe that men are necessarily genetically predisposed to violence or that men are "worse" people than women. (In fact, recent numbers on violent crime indicate that women are slowly beginning to close the gender gap for violent crime arrests.) I do think, however, that the statistics on men who massacre say something upsetting about the way we equate masculinity with physical power. That sentiment has never been so clear as in an advertisement for the .223-calibre semiautomatic Bushmaster rifle -- the gun that 20-year-old Adam Lanza used to murder 27 people, and the civilian version of the assault rifle our troops have used in Afghanistan and Iraq. This morning author and activist Jessica Valenti tweeted an image of the ad:

The tagline reads "Consider Your Man Card Reissued." In a press release for the marketing campaign, distributed in 2010, Bushmaster Firearms explained how one becomes a "card-carrying man":

...visitors of bushmaster.com will have to prove they're a man by answering a series of manhood questions. Upon successful completion, they will be issued a temporary Man Card to proudly display to friends and family. The Man Card is valid for one year.

Visitors can also call into question or even revoke the Man Card of friends they feel have betrayed their manhood. The man in question will then have to defend himself, and their Man Card, by answering a series of questions geared towards proving indeed, they are worthy of retaining their card.

The fact that a company is selling deadly weapons based on the premise that it will up the purchaser's "man cred" is disturbing in itself. The message that it sends about what it means to be a man in America is even more so -- especially because, as Gawker reported, this campaign has been running for more than two years. Guns may not kill people (on their own), but disaffected men with easy access to guns and little understanding of how to safely and sanely express their frustrations with the world certainly do. These same men grew up in a country that glorifies male violence as entertainment. We need to start asking ourselves why we've let 30 years of mass shootings overwhelmingly committed by men occur without bothering to really question the pattern that emerges.

Of course, I'm far from the first person to point out this connection. AlterNet's Chauncey DeVega asked two days ago why we're so reluctant to "delve deeper into the relationship(s) between whiteness, masculinity, and gun violence." And in a press release for his 2008 book on the subject of hypermasculinity and violence, UCLA professor of education Douglas Kellner said: "The school shooters and domestic terrorists examined in this book all exhibit male rage, attempt to resolve a crisis of masculinity through violent behavior, demonstrate a fetish for guns or weapons, and represent, in general, a situation of guys and guns amok."

As we struggle to make sense of Friday's massacre, we need to begin bringing masculinity into our conversations. And we need to teach boys that being a "real man" means using your words instead of your fists ... or your knives ... or your semiautomatic rifles.

WATCH:

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• Twenty-seven small U.S. flags adorn a large flag on a makeshift memorial on the side of Highway 84 near the Newtown, Conn., town line as residents mourn victims killed by gunman Adam Lanza, Monday, Dec. 17, 2012. On Friday, authorities say Lanza killed his mother at their home and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before taking his own life. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

• In this photo taken with a fisheye lens, a message honoring the victims that died a day earlier when a gunman opened fire at an elementary hang from a bridge near Hawley Pond, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

• Mourners carry ornaments to decorate the Christmas trees at one of the makeshift memorials for the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, Monday,Dec. 17, 2012 in Newtown, Conn. Authorities say gunman Adam Lanza killed his mother at their home on Friday and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before taking his own life. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

• Crayons sit on a table outside of a barbershop a day after a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in the Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

• Crayons sit on a table outside of a barbershop a day after a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in the Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

• Tamara Doherty

  Shop owner Tamara Doherty, paces outside her store just down the road from Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

• Tamara Doherty, Jackie Gaudet

  Shop owners Tamara Doherty, left, and Jackie Gaudet, right, meet outside their stores for the first time since being neighbors, just down the road from Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

• Kristin Hoyt

  Kristin Hoyt, 18, of Danbury, Conn., ties a balloon to an overpass up the road from the Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

• A Newtown, Conn., resident, who declined to give her name, sits at an intersection holding a sign for passing motorists up the road from the Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

• A snowflake ornament with the name of 6-year-old Noah Pozner hangs on a Christmas tree at a makeshift memorial in the Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Conn., Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, as the town mourns victims killed in Friday's school shooting. Pozner, who was killed Friday when gunman Adam Lanza opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School, will be buried Monday. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

• Twenty-seven small U.S. flags adorn a large flag on a makeshift memorial on the side of Highway 84 near the Newtown, Conn., town line as residents mourn victims killed by gunman Adam Lanza, Monday, Dec. 17, 2012. Authorities say Lanza killed his mother at their home and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before taking his own life, on Friday. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

• Jamie Duncan, 16, of Newtown, Conn., lights a candle at one of the makeshift memorials for the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, Monday,Dec. 17, 2012 in Newtown, Conn. Authorities say gunman Adam Lanza killed his mother at their home on Friday and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before taking his own life. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

• A mourner carries a giant Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal to place at one of the makeshift memorials for the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, Monday,Dec. 17, 2012 in Newtown, Conn. Authorities say gunman Adam Lanza killed his mother at their home on Friday and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before taking his own life. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

• A hearse arrives at B'nai Israel Cemetery with the body of Noah Pozner, a six-year-old killed in an elementary school shooting, during funeral services, Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, in Monroe, Conn. Authorities say gunman Adam Lanza killed his mother at their home on Friday and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before taking his own life. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

• People arrive at B'nai Israel Cemetery during burial services for Noah Pozner, a six-year-old killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, in Monroe, Conn. Authorities say gunman Adam Lanza killed his mother at their home on Friday and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before taking his own life. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

• Veronika Pozner

  Veronique Pozner waves to the assembled media as she leaves after a funeral service for her 6-year-old son Noah Pozner, Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, in Fairfield, Conn. Noah Pozner was killed when Adam Lanza walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  Twenty seven wooden stand in a yard down the street from the Sandy Hook School December 16, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty-six people were shot dead, including twenty children, after a gunman identified as Adam Lanza opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Lanza also reportedly had committed suicide at the scene. A 28th person, believed to be Nancy Lanza, found dead in a house in town, was also believed to have been shot by Adam Lanza. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  Newtown residents Claire Swanson, Kate Suba, Jaden Albrecht, Simran Chand and New London, Connecticut residents Rachel Pullen and her son Landon DeCecco, hold candles at a memorial for victims on the first Sunday following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 16, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  U.S. President Barack Obama waits to speak at an interfaith vigil for the shooting victims from Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 16, 2012 at Newtown High School in Newtown, Connecticut. (Photo by Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  Eknoor Kaur, 3, stands with her father Guramril Singh during a candlelight vigil outside Newtown High School before an interfaith vigil with President Barack Obama, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  New London, Connecticut resident Rachel Pullen (C) kisses her son Landon DeCecco at a memorial for victims near the school on the first Sunday following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 16, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  US President Barack Obama speaks during a memorial service for the victims and relatives of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 16, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty-six people were killed when a gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary and began a shooting spree. AFP PHOTO/Mandel NGAN

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  A woman covers her face as US President Barack Obama reads out the names of children killed during Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting at a interfaith memorial for victims and relatives at the Newtown High School on December 16, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty-six people were killed when a gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary and began a shooting spree. AFP PHOTO/Mandel NGAN

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  A woman pays respects at a memorial outside of St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. On Friday, a gunman allegedly killed his mother at their home and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  Residents wait for the start of an interfaith vigil for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012 at Newtown High School in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  Cheryl Girardi, of Middletown, Conn., kneels beside 26 teddy bears, each representing a victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, at a sidewalk memorial, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children.(AP Photo/David Goldman)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  Connecticut State Police officers respond to a bomb threat outside of St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. Worshippers hurriedly left the church Sunday, not far from where a gunman opened fire Friday inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  Ava Staiti, 7, of New Milford, Conn., looks up at her mother Emily Staiti, not pictured, while visiting a sidewalk memorial with 26 teddy bears, each representing a victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  This photo provided by the family shows Jessica Rekos. Rekos, 6, was killed Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Conn., killing 26 children and adults at the school, before killing himself. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Rekos Family)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  A U.S. flag flies at half staff outside the Newtown High School before President Barack Obama is scheduled to attend a memorial for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  David Freedman, right, kneels with his son Zachary, 9, both of Newtown, Conn., as they visit a sidewalk memorial for the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  A man reacts at the site of a makeshift memorial for school shooting victims in Newtown, Conn., Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012. A gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the town, killing 26 people, including 20 children before killing himself on Friday. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  People wait in line to attend an interfaith vigil with President Barack Obama, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  Residents greet each other before the start of an interfaith vigil for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012 at Newtown High School in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  Residents greet each other before the start of an interfaith vigil for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, at Newtown High School in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into the school Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. President Barack Obama is to scheduled to speak at the event. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  Residents greet each other before the start of an interfaith vigil for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, at Newtown High School in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into the elementary school Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak during the vigil. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  This image provided by the family shows Grace McDonnell posing for a portrait in this family photo taken Aug. 18, 2012. Grace McDonnell was killed Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., killing 26 children and adults at the school. (AP Photo/Courtesy of the McDonnell Family)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  This Nov. 18, 2012 photo provided by John Engel shows Olivia Engel, 6, in Danbury, Conn. Olivia Engel, was killed Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Conn., killing 26 children and adults at the school. (AP Photo/Engel Family, Tim Nosezo)

• Emilie Alice Parker

  This 2012 photo provided by the family shows Emilie Alice Parker. Parker was killed Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Conn., killing 26 children and adults at the school. (AP Photo/Courtesy of the Parker Family)

• Noah Pozner

  This Nov. 13, 2012 photo provided by the family via The Washington Post shows Noah Pozner. The six-year-old was one of the victims in the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn. on Dec. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Family Photo)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  This handout image provided by ABC News, shows Nancy J. Lanza mother of suspected mass shooter Adam Lanza at an unspecified time and place. Twenty six people were shot dead, including twenty children, after a gunman identified as Adam Lanza opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Lanza also reportedly had committed suicide at the scene. A 28th person, believed to be Nancy Lanza was found dead in a house in town, was also believed to have been shot by Adam Lanza. (Family of Nancy Lanza / ABC News / Getty Images)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20121215/us-school-shooting-victims/?utm_hp_ref=homepage&ir=homepage">Lauren Rousseau, 30,</a> had started a job as a full-time teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School this fall. She was killed in the Dec. 14 shooting at the school.

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  School psychologist Mary Sherlach, 56, was killed during an attempt to stop gunman Adam Lanza during the Dec. 14 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20121215/us-school-shooting-victims/?utm_hp_ref=homepage&ir=homepage">Sherlach and school principal Dawn Hochsprung</a> reportedly both lunged at Lanza in an attempt to protect the school's students and teachers. Both Sherlach and Hochsprung were killed.

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  Victoria Soto, a 27-year-old teacher, was killed in the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Her cousin, Jim Wiltsie, told ABC that Soto, a teacher, died while shielding her young students from the gunman, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20121215/us-school-shooting-victims/?utm_hp_ref=homepage&ir=homepage">according to the AP.</a>

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/14/sandy-hook-principal-dawn-hochsprung_n_2303944.html">Sandy Hook Elementary School Principal Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung</a>, 47, was killed as she, along with school psychologist Mary Sherlach, attempted to overtake gunman Adam Lanza during the Dec. 14 mass shooting at the school. Hochsprung and Sherlach reportedly both lunged at Lanza in an effort to defend the students and teachers at the school. Both women were killed.

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  This photo posted to the Emilie Parker Fund Facebook page shows Emilie Parker. Fighting back tears and struggling to catch his breath, Robbie Parker the father of 6-year-old Emile Parker who was gunned down in Friday's school shooting in Connecticut told the world about a little girl who loved to draw and was always smiling, and he also reserved surprising words of sympathy for the gunman. (AP Photo/Emilie Parker Fund)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  Shop owner Tamara Doherty paces outside her store just down the road from Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and adults at the school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  This photo posted to the Emilie Parker Fund Facebook page shows Emilie Parker and her father Robbie Parker. Fighting back tears and struggling to catch his breath, Robbie Parker the father of 6-year-old Emile Parker who was gunned down in Friday's school shooting in Connecticut told the world about a little girl who loved to draw and was always smiling, and he also reserved surprising words of sympathy for the gunman. (AP Photo/Emilie Parker Fund)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  Robbie Parker, the father of six-year-old Emilie who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, fights back tears as he speaks during a news conference, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  Isabella Jimenez, 12, reacts while talking to reporters about the shooting rampage from a day earlier when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. Jimenez said she might know the victims because she has done volunteer work with small children. The massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

• Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

  Newtown, Connecticut mass shooter Adam Lanza is third from right in this 2008 yearbook photo. <a href="http://abcn.ws/UlqIyn">(ABC News)</a>

 

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Comments

[John Kieffer]

11:09 AM on 01/22/2013

As an infantry soldier I carried the full automatic version (M-16) of that weapon in Vietnam (1/61 Inf, 5th Div, US Army).

I carried that because it was issued to me there to conduct offensive (attack) and defensive operations (protecting oneself and fellow soldiers 24/7 against the multiple attacks that we were subject to). Not a fun time and the damage those things did was gruesome.

Any punk who thinks they need this sort of destructive killing machine here in the US has either criminal intentions or some sort of macho-man warrior/soldier wanna-be complex.

[Tresco]

01:00 AM on 12/28/2012

As a man I never cared for AR style rifles. Too complicated and temperamental. The direct gas action with the tiny little tube just invites fouling and is hard to clean. The forward assist feature is a poor substitute for a substantial charging handle that will open the action. I would much rather have a Mini-14. I really like my SKS. It's not fancy but it sure is accurate and fun to shoot.

[FangedShui]

12:42 AM on 12/27/2012

If you need a "man card" at all in the first place, I'd say you're not much of a man to begin with.

[listgirl3]

03:41 PM on 12/26/2012

I think some men have forgotten what it really means to be a man.

[ladylite3511]

01:54 PM on 12/26/2012

Seems that this add is targeting men who are so impotent that they need to buy this gun to be able to perform.

[ihateshrinkwrap]

01:55 PM on 12/25/2012

Oh my, where have all the REAL MEN gone?...the one's that don't need a gun to be a man.

[yanksfan88]

12:49 PM on 12/24/2012

Yeah, Adam Lanza, typical man's man right there. Did he have 11 or 12 touchdown passes his senior year? I forget.

[BigWillyG]

08:28 PM on 12/22/2012

Funny how the anti-gun folks ignore tens of millions of female shooters.

[MostlyRightLefty]

02:12 PM on 12/25/2012

funny how female shooters aren't the ones doing the terror killings

[BigWillyG]

03:19 PM on 12/26/2012

How is that pertinent to assertions that only men have guns?

[Rory Freedman]

06:04 PM on 12/22/2012

Excellent piece. Lisa Bloom's best-selling book SWAGGER points out the same problem with modern day masculinity.

[JimmyJusticeUSA]

01:19 AM on 12/26/2012

Women understand as much about masculinity as men understand about childbirth.

[Tyrannosaura]

09:45 AM on 12/29/2012

But we know Walter Mitty-style fake machismo when we see it.

[brunettelefty]

04:11 AM on 12/22/2012

I'm pretty pro-gun rights but even I can see no one needs to own a gun like that. Don't tell me it's for "hunting." I've done plenty of hunting, and never used a gun that looked anything like that gun. Those types of guns are clearly for killing people. If they're being bought for "self-defense," it's clearly overkill. It's time we stop thinking of guns as cool toys are start seeing them as the potentially dangerous tools that they are.

[GunnerB]

08:40 PM on 12/22/2012

Don't try and fool us with your "I'm pretty pro-gun rights"

The 2A has nothing to do with hunting, educate yourself.

[Tonet Rivera]

11:43 AM on 01/01/2013

2A had nothing to do with giving deranged people access to assault rifles, either. It was all about militia, now the National Guard. Join the military if you really love long things that go bang.

[BarryMayor]

03:59 PM on 12/21/2012

When boys and men were more masculine, school and other mass shootings happened less often.

Boys and young men are more feminine, more androgynous, more cross-dressing, more homosexual, more transsexual, more transgender etc. than ever before. So, we have less masculinity and far more femininity now than we did when school and other mass shootings happened seldom if ever.

If anything has changed, it's that boys and men are increasingly feminine, often as or more feminine than many women are.

At the same time, these mass shootings have occurred with increasing frequency.

So, if there is a connection to be made, it is that as boys and young men have become more feminine and less masculine, they more frequently turn to school and other mass shootings and then commit suicide.

So, for all the gender warriors who argue that masculinity is the culprit of the increasing frequency in these shootings, you haven't thought it through. The facts defeat your argument.

[cma63]

12:11 PM on 12/22/2012

That has got to be, hands down, the most ignorant thing I have ever read.

[BarryMayor]

12:36 PM on 12/22/2012

Indeed, the article certainly is.

As for my comment, you can't dispute the facts. Otherwise, you would. People who have no facts to present, simply hurl insults and name-call.

[Gabriel Danunzio]

04:45 AM on 12/23/2012

Absolutely right!

[RealistBC]

10:45 AM on 12/21/2012

Real men don't need the power to kill everything in sight. Only little boys with bruised egos do.

[craichead2011]

01:09 AM on 12/21/2012

This has to be the most heavily censored comments section ever on Huffpo. So far I've had 5 comments deleted and not a single one of them broke any rules of civility.

[RealistBC]

11:19 AM on 12/21/2012

Sometimes the threshholds are set very low when they suspect a topic will prove controversial.

[craichead2011]

11:23 AM on 12/21/2012

I have a difficult time believing that given the way the sensationalize nearly every headline on the site.  This place runs on controversy and more clicks=$.

[pat4real]

03:53 PM on 12/20/2012

I guess the message is, in order to be a man you MUST have a BIG gun.

[justwhendoesitend]

03:27 PM on 12/20/2012

Ahh, ok.

But do not women have a hand in raising many of the male gender? What makes for a positive masculine characteristics? This is not just a male issue at all, especially with the horrible event that just occurred. This also has a lot to do with female gender expectations of the male gender. Way to many women like the "bad boy" macho male image and that in itself is dangerous because men will do most anything to win a female's attention and favor.

So not just teach your males, everyone needs to understand how to deal with yourselves and others. There is appropriate behavior at appropriate times and one has to learn, hopefully from good parents and relatives. Do not just turn this into male bashing, because male bashing turns away many of the good men.

[lessthanorly]

06:12 PM on 12/20/2012

yeah, NO. you are NOT going to turn this around on women. the problem of MALE violence is caused by MALES.

[craichead2011]

10:54 PM on 12/20/2012

In reality a typical man is much more likely to stop a violent person rather than be a violent person. In any of the cases where one of these crazies has been stopped, he's been stopped by a man. When Gabby Giffords was shot, it was an unarmed man who put his life on the line to put a stop to it. In the theater shootings men put themselves in front of the bullets to save others.

Not all of us have to accept the bigoted fantasy that violence is somehow part of masulinity. People like you should be ashamed of themselves.

[Dean Arthurson]

05:52 AM on 12/21/2012

Most men were primarily raised by women.

[lessthanorly]

06:15 PM on 12/20/2012

yeah, NO. you are NOT going to turn this around on women. the problem of MALE violence is caused by MALES. do I need to remind you just how many mass shootings have been committed by men compared to how many have been committed by women?

guess what? speaking the truth is not "male bashing", and you are NOT going to stop this conversation from being had. you just don't like the fact that the spotlight is on you.

PIG

[craichead2011]

01:08 AM on 12/21/2012

If you were to speak the truth it would be balanced.

For instance, these were not regular men. These were severely mentally ill people who did these things. You'd also need to note how many men risk their lives to end these shootouts.

Comparing men generally to the violent mentally ill is far from truth.

[gordon green]

02:19 AM on 12/21/2012

Are all men who disagree with you pigs? Is the only way to not be considered an evil caricature of a human being to let you decide what defines masculinity and what it's problems are?