Foster the People’s debut single was “Pumped Up Kicks,” an upbeat tune about a sociopathic teen fantasizing about a gun massacre. In a 2011 interview about the song, lead singer Mark Foster told KROQ:
To me the epidemic isn’t gun violence; the epidemic is lack of family, lack of love, and isolation – kids who don’t have anywhere to go or anyone to talk to and that’s what makes them snap.
Fast forward a year and change, and Foster seems to have decided that guns are indeed the problem and a gun-grabbing government is the solution.
https://twitter.com/fosterthepeople/statuses/235302205132001280
https://twitter.com/fosterthepeople/status/235302651020070912
https://twitter.com/fosterthepeople/status/235303851404713985
Foster eventually worked his way up to a favorite platitude of anti-gun zealots.
https://twitter.com/fosterthepeople/status/235304070959734784
As Twitchy has noted before, that would be news to sport shooters and the countless women and men who use firearms to deter violent assailants when government can’t or won’t help.
https://twitter.com/fosterthepeople/status/235306103414599680
Foster’s ideas about banning guns may not be as popular as he thinks. Two hours after he launched the #reformNRA hashtag, it had only been used about a dozen times.
@ButterManSam Take a second and look at the statistics between gun deaths in other countries compared to ours. It's shocking.
— Foster The People (@fosterthepeople) August 14, 2012
Recommended
@ButterManSam I'm not saying take away people's rights. I'm saying we need reform. There's no good reason certain weapons are legal.
— Foster The People (@fosterthepeople) August 14, 2012
Foster isn’t saying “take away people’s rights.” He’s just tweeting that we should take away people’s rights.
@mike_power full-auto is illegal. Semi-automatic rifles like AR-15's with thirty round clips should be outlawed. That's just ONE example.
— Foster The People (@fosterthepeople) August 14, 2012
@JPiercex they reform the laws all the time. Laws need to be reformed. Times change. People change. That's why new laws need to be created.
— Foster The People (@fosterthepeople) August 14, 2012
Foster also retweeted an Australian follower’s defense of gun control.
https://twitter.com/KatKcassidy11/statuses/235313612879720448
Gee, could there be a reason the incidence of rape in Australia is three times higher than in the United States? But hey, what’s an increase in the rape rate as long as we can stick it those icky NRA bullies?
@NicolinaFarina @mike_power it won't. Crazy people will always do crazy things, but we can do a lot more to make it harder for them.
— Foster The People (@fosterthepeople) August 14, 2012
Or we can make it easier for law-abiding citizens to empower and protect themselves. As a South Carolina sheriff pointed out last year, when seconds count, the police are minutes away. After a career criminal assaulted a woman walking her dog, Sheriff Chuck Wright told the press, “Our form of justice is not making it. Carry a concealed weapon. That’ll fix it.”
Foster would rather put his faith in liberal gun-grabbing feel-goodery.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member