A good vision to vote for Bush

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Yes, that's what I believe - Dennis.

Maybe I will write a big post about it later. I've said though
previously actions I would take. Here's a short take.

I think the 50 million can be seduced by appeals for the right
of self-defense. Get guns in their hands and then they will
support the RKBA.

I regard the self-defense user as an activist gun person who
is more powerful for the cause than the ducky gun owner.

Also, with a two term Bush presidency - when some bad laws come
up to their sunset period, we have a chance to let them die.
No chance of that with Gore.

I also think that national reciprocity for CCW has a chance with
Bush - I regard this as crucial as it continues the successful
Kleck and Lott story.

I would also try things that you regard as compromise.
For example, I would trade a mandatory sale of trigger locks
with guns for law in the same package that said in every state in the Union, with a NICS check a citizen can buy a handgun to keep in home or business. That's it, just the check and you get to buy a gun.

This would be a dramatic change for many areas like NYC and increase the self-defense gun ownership immensely.

I might suggest that with a NICS check (since NICS is SOOO successful) that hi-cap mags be sold to civilians again. I might trade this for NICS checks on private sales on shows. It's going to happen anyway. The referendum in Colorado will probably pass. So use it.

There are things that can be done to incrementally get back things and expand our rights.

With Gore there is no chance of this.

The Conservative epiphany will not happen. To wait for it and engage in self-destructive behaviors is meaningless.

If Bush is strongly supported by RKBA folks he will listen. If the hard core votes for third party and he still winds, his natural conclusion is that he does not need this set of nut cases. That will really make him support the RKBA strongly, won't it?

Disagree if you you but as I said to Randy, you have to come up with a plan to win rather than this passive sitting there and complaining. I don't regard raising money from a shrinking segment of the population to be a plan.

 

[Dennis]

Glenn,

Sit down, fasten your seat belt, and hang on!

I do not violently disagree with anything you’ve said here. It’s an approach
that works with some people - as many of us have proven.

But I fear putting all our eggs in one (self defense) basket. You and I and
others have used several approaches to get folks interested in firearms: self
defense, feminism, hunting, competition, plinking, family sport, anything that
would work with the potential RKBA fellow-traveler at hand. (Obviously
there’s overlap in those subjects.)

You, better than I, recognize that different people react favorably to different
approaches.

Also, I am willing to make compromises (eg our Texas CHL program) if it
truly advances our RKBA. It is the “compromises” (where we give up less
than demanded without receiving anything in return and then celebrate our
losses) that anger me.

We also must ensure our compromises do not price our RKBA out of reach of
the “common man” (as we’ve agreed in the past).

We also must unite the shooting community so we do not endanger segments
of our RKBA to appease the anti-gunners (eg. the old “deer hunter” v.
“handguns” argument).

How do we energize and activate those vociferous, even swaggering gun
owners who only sit and complain? I don’t think we can afford to lose them.

How do we convince gun owners who have other priorities that saving our
Second Amendment is an intermediate goal. We want to restore the entire
Bill of Rights and return to Constitutional law in order to address other
pressing questions (which currently tend to divide us and dilute our efforts)?
-----

You state, “If Bush is strongly supported by RKBA folks he will listen.” He
won’t listen unless he perceives there is something in it for him. We must
become important to him.

You note, “If the hard core votes for third party and he still wins, his natural
conclusion is that he does not need this set of nut cases.”

By the same token, if we support him regardless of his gun control agenda,
his “natural conclusion” will be that we’ll vote for him regardless of whatever
gun control he promises and enacts.

How do we truly impress upon Bush and his party that we are “November
Republicans”? (Thanks, 416 Rigby!) In other words, we are not voting FOR
Bush but AGAINST Gore? What can we do to minimize the harmful effects of
Bush’s gun control agenda while we struggle to win “the hearts and minds” of
the 50 million people we need to become a political force?

------------------
Either you believe in the Second Amendment or you don't.
Stick it to 'em! RKBA!

 

[Glenn E. Meyer]

I think we then bombard our local legislators with coherent mail and calls that we are waiting on Bush to come across.

Do it the day after the election and from then on.

I write my guy all the time about this stuff.

Do the same for GOP precinct organizations.

Remind them that the 94 revolution fizzled when they weren't true to their calling.

About energizing hunters. That's a tough call. I've beaten several of my hunter colleagues to get more involved in the RKBA and to get their CHLS.

I know I toot the self-defense horn alot.
But I just think it works on a segment of the population that isn't into the outdoor / hunting scene.

One tact might be that of showing how in the UK and Australia bans on evil weapons clearly spread to weapons that they might consider having as a hunter. Semi autos and pumps are gone for these folks.

Show them how the English now have to have the guns locked up and there was that dude who told his old mum where the key was and he got busted and lost gun rights IIRC.

My own looneyness is that I think if someone has a gun specifically for self-defense they are more likely to be sensitive to the cause than a sportsperson.

I've shot skeet and some real critters. But if you told me that I had to lock up my gun and dissembly it at home, I wouldn't care as I'd put it together when I get to Rock Springs. It would save the children. I think many sports folks would buy that.

If you get them to think that they need a firearm for defense and they can't have one, that is more energizing.

I'm not totally enamoured with the GOP, they have some positions I don't like. But they are the only game in town for the RKBA.

That's why I want a second league so to speak and get some of the normal Democratic constituency to think about the RKBA. I think appeals based on the RBKA might work.

Bush went to talk to the NAACP, he gets that group thinking about him. One point that Julian Bond made surprisingly was that if Bush could figure out how to increase the affluence of African-Americans he would get votes from them.

Another African-American felt that Bush's appearance keeps the Dems honest and makes them pay attention to their issues.

Can we make Bush pay attention to our issues by some starting of grass root cultivation of Dem populations to the RKBA?

I think it could be done. However, such appeals might not fit the political profile of some list members.

My classic case in the doctor who did %($(%%(* and was interviewed on CNN with a rabid person who hated $)#()$%$). The doctor was asked what precautions he took and I was surprised when he started to expound on his 1911. Remember that an Ayoob student with a Makarov stopped an attack on the $)#)%_##+ place.

On the CNN show, the rabid person went ballistic and started to call the MD a gun nut and fanatic. Ha ha!

Thus, there should a long term plan to reach out to minorities of all ilk, women (using carjackings with that kid who was dragged, Central Park) and the like to bring them specifically to the RKBA fold.

Their interest in the issue will make George continue to pay attention to it and perhaps damp down some of the Dems attacks.

My personal call would be when Gore brings up the gun issue is not answer his rave in a defensive manner or start to talk about the Founding Fathers - I would start with an rape that was thwarted and then say 4500 women stop rapes with firearms. Do you want to deny them that?

I would point out how an African American father held off the Klan so his kids could escape. Do you want to deny them that?

Play off the TX McDonalds vs the NY Wendy's.

Ask Gore if Central Park would have happened in TX where law abiding citizens can defend themselves.

My other plan is too run for President myself but I'm too busy.

 

[Dennis]

Thanks, Glenn.