• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, October 4, 2017

Sadly, at least one company may be benefitting from the horrific events that took place in Las Vegas over the weekend, thanks to a promotional video that featured Donald Trump Jr., America’s First Gun Nut.

That company is SilencerCo, a Utah-based maker of gun silencers.

Last year, before the election, DT Jr. visited the firm and participated in a 38-minute promotional video the company proudly displays on its website.

Junior, who from a very young age has been keenly interested in guns and shooting, is seen firing rifles and handguns with SilencerCo’s silencers duly affixed. “I think it’s awesome!” Trump roars, after blasting a target with a SilencerCo-suppressed handgun.

I’m not sure what the value of the owned and earned media is for SilencerCo, but it’s gotta be a bundle. There have been a flurry of reports about the video in the aftermath of the Las Vegas tragedy.

The renewed interest has to do, in part, with a congressional bill winding its way through the legislative process that would make it more difficult to obtain a silencer.

In the video, Trump is disdainful of people who would do anything to curb the right of maniacs, like the LV shooter, to do their worst. And that includes putting restrictions on silencers. He even bemoans the fact that he lives in “The People's Republic of New York,” where obtaining weapons and accessories is made so darn difficult by current laws.

Well, Don, why don’t you move to one of the three or four states where the LV shooter bought his arsenal? You’ll be as happy as a pig in sh*t.

At one point in the video, he even argues that easing access to silencers is “purely a health and safety issue.” There’s less noise, which over time, limits hearing impairment.  

According to a recent Washington Post story, if the LV killer had used silencers, the noise emanating from his guns would still have been equivalent to a jackhammer — enough noise to inflict damage on hearing. But it might have cut the noise level just enough to make it more difficult for law enforcement rushing to the scene to source the location of the shots being fired.

Never mind that. Trump Jr. goes on to say in the video that the reduced noise levels of guns with silencers would encourage “getting little kids into the game” of shooting guns earlier. Like his 7-year-old, who he took on a hunt last year, for example.

Really, Don?

Yeah, owned and earned media. Not always such an awesome thing.