Women in Gun Advertising, The American Rifleman, 1937

Gun Culture 2.0 ^ | April 29, 2015 | davidyamane

[OK Sun]

Guns and masculinity go together like cornflakes and milk. I see this constantly. I see it among scholars like James William Gibson (whose psycho-sexual analysis of guns and ammo I have recently highlighted), Jennifer Dawn Carlson and Angela Stroud (both of whom highlight the role of masculinity in shaping the understandings of those who carry guns), and Scott Melzer and Joan Burbick (both of whom highlights gun culture’s emphasis on “frontier masculinity”). I see it within gun culture in the form of photos and videos that circulate of bikini clad women holding and/or firing guns (so as not to advertise these further, no links provided).

. . .

I was reminded of this as I embarked recently on an analysis of changes in gun advertising over time (as a window onto changes in gun culture over time). I received some back issues of The American Rifleman from the 1930s through interlibrary loan from North Carolina State University library. I picked up Volume 85 from 1937, flipped to the first issue, and opened it to reveal the following ad on the inside of the front cover. . . .

[OK Sun]

Embedded image of Peter ad titled--Lady Champion Relies on Peters .38 Special "Target" Wad Cutter.

[Hugin]

Here you go.

[Darksheare]

Welcome to FR.
Careful with wordpress.
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/403231,wordpress-patches-critical-xss-vulnerability.aspx

[Bratch]

[goodwithagun]

This gun girl competes with an Anschutz, but I like hers too!

[Disambiguator]

This is from the "Lucky Bag" yearbook (Naval Academy) from the mid-1920s.

[mad_as_he$$]

717 Market Street today:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/717+Market+St,+San+Francisco,+CA+94103/@37.787231,-122.404008,3a,15y,173.79h,89.32t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sGynUpvAcZPLVRczYWW_YBg!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x8085808f31f89e85:0xec1bbb4e9a79ccb1!6m1!1e1

[Disambiguator]

What am I supposed to be seeing there?

[Kirkwood]

717 Market Street was the west coast address for Colt.

[Rinnwald]

Trigger discipline not so good in the 1930’s.

[ExGeeEye]

Former location of Colt Firearms. See the bottom of the ad above (the cop and the girl in the car).

[Inyo-Mono]

One of the best shots ever (yes I know she used bird short during shows),

[Disambiguator]

Never mind, I went back and saw that on the graphic. DUH!

I’m sure they’re not there any more. San Francisco just isn’t the same as it used to be.

[OK Sun]

This is from the "Lucky Bag" yearbook (Naval Academy) from the mid-1920s.

Thanks for the tip Disambiguator. I found it in the 1926 edition of Lucky Bag at Archive.Org.

[Kirkwood]

That address has a varied and somewhat interesting history. During WW II it was the office of Naval Intelligence to monitor telephone calls made by people of Japanese ancestry (the telephone switching office was next door).