Inclusion

[BCannell]

To the students who have established the Rutgers Firearms Association:

First off, good luck. The Second Amendment to the Constitution, for good or ill, is part of the highest law in the land. Your organization has chosen to get involved in an era of apathy. For that you should be applauded.

My only advice is that you remember that gun ownership was established in the Constitution in order to protect the other rights. To that respect, I ask you to be vigilant of governmental interference of the press. You should worry about governmental invasions of privacy. You should be concerned about your government holding people without due process.

Otherwise, there really isn't much of a point, is there?

Although many of you are conservative, remember that the right to bear arms is not a conservative issue. Nor is it a liberal issue. There are as many liberals who oppose gun control as there are conservatives who support it. Most of those liberals don't join the National Rifle Association or similarly aligned organizations - mostly because the NRA tends to support politicians who really don't care about the other nine amendments in the Bill of Rights.

Here's some advice that I hope you'll take.

First, there are liberal gun owners out there - and if anything, they know how fragile all rights, including gun rights, can be. Don't become a "conservative" group, even if most of you are conservative, because your position is to preserve and protect an American right.

That's something that everyone can get behind and understand even if he or she disagrees. Frame it in the context of "liberals" versus "conservatives," and you alienate half the people you're trying to convince.

Second, be a good neighbor. Offer to show up to events run by other groups to bolster their numbers - if RU Amnesty International, for example, is holding a sit-in, ask to join in. Torture is one of the things that shouldn't happen to a free people, and that's one of the reasons you fight for the right to remain armed. Let yourself be known as people who care about more than just guns. It'll help if people realize that the reason you care about guns is that fundamentally you care about freedom.

Third, if you haven't done so already, contact the Pink Pistols in New York City. They're likely to give you a different perspective on gun ownership from people whose lives are often more directly threatened and help you appreciate more the rights you work to preserve.

Brian Boyko is a Rutgers-Newark graduate, Class of 2003.

I thought this needed to be said.

 

[Wraith]

You don't have to be a liberal to know how fragile rights are. :barf:

 

[BCannell]

The point is that plenty of liberals are firearms enthusiasts, just as plenty of conservatives are not. Thus, firearms organizations should make an effort to be inclusive and not define themselves as conservatives, even if most of their members are, lest they alienate a large number of potential supporters.

Given how many people I've seen around here who think that liberals are stupid or put things in there .sigs about incurable mental disorders, I think it's an important message.

 

[Wraith]

See, when I read that article, I find it all to be pretty much common sense. A firearms association is just that--a firearms association. Pretty much the only people it excludes are those who dislike firearms.

The tone of the article is rather elitist and condescending. I don’t think anyone here would say that the right to bear arms is a conservative issue—it is simply a right, as important and similar to the right to freedom of speech.

Most of those liberals don't join the National Rifle Association or similarly aligned organizations - mostly because the NRA tends to support politicians who really don't care about the other nine amendments in the Bill of Rights.

You’ve got to be kidding me.