K_Mac said:
...Frank your discussion of the large popular support of the civil rights movement versus a growing lack of support for gun rights makes zukiphile's point that political power in our system ultimately comes from the people. That is not a very happy thought in today's culture.
I agree with zukiphile on this, and no, it's not a happy thought. But we need to understand this reality if we hope to make any headway. Ignoring it won't help us.
The challenge to the effective promotion of the RKBA is the spectrum of emotions, beliefs, hopes, fears, values, wants and needs of too many of our neighbors, co-workers, people in our communities, folks we see at the mall, etc. In general, and for diverse reasons, and based on assortments of different values and life priorities, and fueled by varying beliefs, they don't like guns; they don't understand or accept the proposition that owning guns can be reasonable and relevant for honest, normal people in a 21st Century urban society; they don't understand why normal, honest folks in a 21st Century urban society want guns; they are afraid of people with guns or who would want to have a gun; and they don't accept the various premises upon which we have concluded that having guns is a good and useful thing.
And our neighbors, co-workers, people in our communities, folks we see at the mall, etc., support a well organized, financed, and politically and economically connected movement that opposes the RKBA.
It's about a conflict of cultures. Gun owners are increasingly being marginalized and stereotyped as misfits, outsiders, malcontents, paranoids, and loners. We're not seen as a part of and participant in the broader community. What can each of us do to try to turn that around? What is each of us doing to help turn that around?
