Think this will stop new gun buyers?

[aitm]

The provenance

wordist..

[Jason Harvestdancer]

A few liberty were taken, I suspect. Each gun represented an exact duplicate that was used in the event they associated their firearm with. The provenance of the piece is unimportant, it's the effect that matters.

The truth is unimportant, it's the effect that matters.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

wordist..

Historian, actually.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The truth is unimportant, it's the effect that matters.

This. The guns were stage dressing for the message.

[Sal1981]

Although I'm ambivalent, they weren't lying about the guns, "stage dressing" or not, right?

[SGOS]

A few liberty were taken, I suspect. Each gun represented an exact duplicate that was used in the event they associated their firearm with. The provenance of the piece is unimportant, it's the effect that matters.

That is exactly what I thought.  After all, the point of this shop was not to sell used guns that were used to commit violent crimes, or unfortunate fatal accidents.  The point of the gun shop was to be used to record reactions from a hidden camera to make this video.  At no time did I actually believe these to be the actual weapons in question.  But I did assume they were identical weapons.

Edit:  I didn't read ahead.  Sorry for the redundancy.

[Jason Harvestdancer]

So they made up stories, but that's ok because the message is so important that truth isn't required.

[SGOS]

So they made up stories, but that's ok because the message is so important that truth isn't required.

I'm guessing they made up the gun ownership part, but I don't know that.  The rest of the stories reported events that I recall happening.  There are a lot of psychological buttons that this was meant to push.  The people they included all had buttons pushed that made them look horrified.  I wonder if anyone got excited about the prospect of owning a gun used in a horrible event, and those were left out.  If I were buying a hunting rifle and a guy pitched a gun on the basis that it was the actual rifle used by the shooter in the tower at the university in Texas, I'd pass.  That's the last creepy thing I'd want on my mind when I'm enjoying an elk hunt, but if he said, "Well then here's a brand new Winchester," I'd buy it, except probably somewhere else. 

And I'll bet that all those people were half reacting to the creepy gun dealer who appeared to be freakishly obsessed with people dying from guns.  If I were dealing with him, I'd be thinking about what my escape route from the store would be.

Was this video unethical?  I don't know.  It might be on the edge, but I'm not sure.  Mostly, I thought it was more like a segment of Candid Camera, mildly entertaining because you knew what was happening.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

So they made up stories, but that's ok because the message is so important that truth isn't required.

What SGOS said. Identical gun, factual story. The gun doesn't even have to be "identical". If the tragedy revolves around a ".44 magnum" then a Model 29 will do, doesn't matter if it has the ultrachrome finish the actual gun had or not.