As noted in my recent post about the changing themes in gun advertising in The American Rifleman from 1918-2017, I have just finished a replication study based on advertising in Guns magazine from 1955 (when the magazine was founded) through 2019.
It documents the same pattern of decline of “Gun Culture 1.0” themes of hunting and recreational/sport shooting and raise of “Gun Culture 2.0” themes of personal protection and concealed carry.
A pre-publication version of the paper is available for download on SocArXiv Papers. Just two clicks and you can help this paper blow up on SocArXiv.
UPDATE: Thanks to a reader “OK S.” I now have the source of Colt’s “Safety of the Highways” ad. It was published in 1926 in The Lucky Bag, the Annual of the Regiment of Midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. The annual is available at https://archive.org/details/luckybag1926unse/page/566. Consider donating to the Internet Archive!
P.S., If you have any idea where the Colt’s “Safety of the Highways” ad was first published, I am still looking for the source of that. Thanks!
Gun Culture 2.0 
I believe the original came from a college yearbook uploaded at archive.org. My notes say it came from Lucky Bag, a Naval Academy yearbook, but I don’t remember exactly. Probably 1926.
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I will check out this lead, thanks.
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You might try here:
https://democraticthinker.wordpress.com/2016/02/22/american-life-safety-of-the-highways/
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Thank you. I have seen that site and the link to the Oklahoma Sun didnt get me anywhere.
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And here it is:
https://archive.org/details/luckybag1926unse/page/566
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Thank you so much! Post is updated now here and on guncurious.com.
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[…] David Yamane at Gun Culture 2.0 – Targeted Advertising: Documenting the Emergence of Gun Culture 2.0 in Guns Magazine, 1955-2019 The change in focus from hunting to self-protection as seen via […]
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[…] have published one article on the topic, have one more under review, and have a third one (on gender in gun advertisements) in the works. Not to mention miscellaneous […]
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[…] on my studies of gun advertising, both in The American Rifleman (published) and, more recently, Guns Magazine (under review). Because those works focused on the rise of Gun Culture 2.0, I did not address the […]
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