Phoenix City Council Bans Laser Gun Shooting Gallery Because "Guns"

According to the Phoenix City Council, Prescott Pete’s Highfalutin Shooting Gallery is crimethink and not allowed.  The arcade type of entertainment allows customers to shoot laser guns at targets that appear in the arcade.  No targets appear on humans.  It is simple fun with toy guns.  But even toy guns must not be allowed at the Phoenix event because “guns”. From dcourier.com:

On Monday, July 4, the City of Phoenix will recognize Independence Day by hosting one of the state’s largest annual events.

Known as Fabulous Phoenix 4th, the free family-oriented celebration will feature 50 vendors.

Despite putting in an application, Prescott Pete’s Highfalutin Shooting Gallery, a mobile game that uses lasers to set off random targets within an Old West saloon setting, will not be one of those vendors because it was deemed inappropriate for the event after a review from the event’s committee.

“Everyone agreed that you have a great exhibit, but the City of Phoenix is very conscious about the perception of violence given the current climate,” stated the rejection letter.

“It’s a pretty straight forward decision that this committee made,” said Gregg Bach, public information officer for the City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department, which is in charge of organizing such events. “The planning committee was not comfortable with an exhibit/game that presented guns in a fun or glorified way.”

 Notice that the event committee agreed that the arcade was a “great exhibit”.  It is to be inferred that they would have been allowed except for one thing: guns.

Note that these are not even real guns.  They are toys that are electrically powered and tethered to the exhibit.  They are safe for all ages to shoot at the targets which respond with noises.

But the City of Phoenix committee will not allow them for political reasons. The political reason is that the committee wants to demonize guns and make guns unacceptable.  Arizona is rated the top most gun friendly state in the United States.  The gun culture is alive and well in Arizona.  But not in the City Council of Phoenix.   There the gun culture is reviled and hated.  Guns must be depicted as evil.  Gun owners must be depicted as stupid and dangerous.  Below is the image that the City Council fears:

 “The planning committee was not comfortable with an exhibit/game that presented guns in a fun or glorified way.”

That is crimethink at work.  Even though the culture does not agree with the overlords, the overlords will force everyone else to agree with them. This is how political correctness works.  The elites, who believe they should dictate to everyone else what is acceptable or not, do so. 

The rest of the country is supposed to meekly accept those standards, bow down, and thank their masters for what they are allowed. This is the city that banned gun safety messages from the advertising space on bus stops.  They were sued, and they lost. 

Shooting galleries have a long tradition in the United States.  That tradition has been attacked and watered down to where toy guns shooting harmless light beams with low noise levels are not to be allowed because it “sends the wrong message.”

I would like to believe that the members of the committee will be bounced out at the next election, but I doubt it.   I was unable to find the names of the members of the committee online.

©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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