Now this is what I call marketing!! If I was not cheap.....I would fly up there and buy a truck!
JasonNote: This blogger is a reader offering his own perspective on a subject that interests him. The posts and opinions are his own and are not edited by the Chronicle. He is solely responsible for the content of this blog.
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November 01, 2006
Get in your car and gun the engine
"A lot of the people who keep a gun at home for safety are the same ones who refuse to wear a seat belt."
-- George Carlin
Thanks to good old yankee ingenuity, we have a chance to ascertain whether old Mr. Carlin -- a comedic master of scatalogical material -- indeed is correct. An automobile dealer in Oxford PA is offering a free shotgun with each truck purchase.
The Pennsylvania State Police advise that such promotions are legal, as long as buyers go through a licensed gun dealer and submit to background checks -- which the car dealership is requiring.
The trouble, though is that the Chester County dealership is located only about 15 miles from the site, in Lancaster County, where 10 Amish schoolgirls were recently shot. A disgruntled Oxford resident, Anabella Hampton, has organized a petition drive asking for a law to ban such sales tactics.
"I was disgusted with the fact that somebody would actually offer a weapon as an incentive to purchase anything," she said.
As of October 31 (Tuesday), 127 people had signed. Per the 2000 census, the population of Oxford is 4,315. A whopping 2.9 percent of them are on board with the ban.
How much of a bri... excuse me, I mean what magnitude of lobbying effort$, will be required to see such a ban added to state statutes?
The auto dealer, Gordon Atkisson, said that linking his promotion to the Amish shooting is absurd. Many Amish are avid hunters, he said, and none had complained to him.
In fact, Lancaster County is the birthplace of what became called the "Kentucky rifle" -- actually the "Lancaster rifle" of American frontier lore. In James Michener's historical fiction epic, Centennial, Amish character Levi Zendt appropriated his family's Lancaster rifle for his journey to Colorado.
Yes, it's possible the auto dealer was a bit insensitive regarding recent events and context. But if the opposing petitioners think Atkisson was callous, just wait until they approach their legislators bearing insufficient fundi... excuse me, I mean lobbying effort$, to have their ban enacted into law.