Selling the Gun Culture

R

RockSmoot

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Just about every discussion on 2A I've read or participated in goes like this:

anti: We should ban guns because of this wildly inaccurate fact.
pro: I'm sorry, your facts are wildly inaccurate, here is the real story.
anti: Nazi! The blood of children is on your hands!

The actual words vary, but the conversations all follow this depressingly familiar pattern. It's clear that emotion is driving this debate, and unless we want to be mobbed like the cool scientists in War of the Worlds (the good one) we need to develop a powerful emotional message that will penetrate the panic-stricken minds of the soccer moms of America. That's what this thread is about.

Here are some of my thoughts on selling the gun culture:

1. Women are the key. We need to emphasize what a powerful equalizer the firearm is for the modern woman. It's probably done more to level the historical playing field in man/woman relations than even the birth control pill. Without a gun, a woman is wholly dependent upon the good intentions of those around her, and that can be a tough place to be. To paraphrase Tam, we've already tried a gun free world, it was called the Middle Ages, and look how well that worked out for women.

2. Police can't protect you, they can only clean up the mess afterwards. I'm of the rather wishful opinion that a lot of the people participating in the recent run on guns are doing so because they want some form of home protection. It's a man's job to protect his family, and they need guns to do that. For the woman, while her man is away, if she doesn't have a piece, she and her children are utterly and completely defenseless. Do it for the children!

3. Gun control has historically been about keeping Blacks powerless. This is a powerful message that is conveniently true. Blacks, Hispanics and other minority groups should be some of the loudest voices in favor of 2A.

I'd love to see some effective PR around these messages begin to blanket the media starting yesterday, and I'd love to hear your ideas on how to sell the gun culture.
 
If you want to appeal to emotion, try this little phrase that's been floating around for years now:

"Gun Control is the notion that a woman found raped and strangled to death with her own pantyhose is somehow morally superior to the same woman explaining to the police how her would-be rapist got that bullet wound."
 
There is No One Pat Answer

I'd love to hear your ideas on how to sell the gun culture.
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Random points to ponder

1. Take someone shooting who has never been, to conquer their fear of the unknown. Make it (shooting and firearms) a known quantity.

2. Education/Exposure:
a.) safety for young, safety for homeowners, safety for community
b.) US and World History emphasizing checks and balance of power (Power to the People) and as gruesome as it must be, the genocides over the years by those in power on those unarmed or unequally armed by the powers that be.
c.) Safe and responsible actions necessary to own and use arms. (manual of arms and marksmanship taught in High Schools)
d.) First Aid (as gruesome as it must be)
e.) Explore and explain the various types of shooting sports AND self defense applications
f.) Legalities of use

3. Regular Community shooting events (Schutzenfests galore as a GOOD thing ranging from school teams competing to professional exhibitions and everything in between)

4. If one could, force or make entertainment (TVs and Movies, maybe games as well) 100% realistic as to when, where and how often firearms are truly useful and used. Knock off the glamorization and unreal special effects theatrics (again, if one could).

5. Reassess Penalties for use of weapons in crimes... might have to get medieval and go cruel and unusual here with public termination of offenders. Do not let them back into society in any way, shape or form. Do not feed them. Eliminate offenders no matter age, or gender.

But none of that will happen due to those full of fear of the unknown or those who sell fear for money sake (If it bleeds it leads) and who ignore worthy achievement of proper usage.

Summary:
Eliminate the fear of the unknown via education and positive exposure. Eliminate those who abuse this responsible power once and for all. Enhance the enjoyment, competition and pride of progress. Respect of and for worthy individuals who have made a positive difference in this culture.

...or something like that. Allowing religious concientious objectors an out I suppose. Sort of like that old 2nd amendment thing? Mandatory Militia Service for all 18 year olds, male and female.

Gosh, it almost sounds like the America of old.
 
It does sound (mostly) like the America of old. A place where it was culturally understood that an armed society is a polite society. Except for a few pockets of this country, we aren't that place anymore and further, many Americans would find your suggestions to be abhorrent, even fascist in nature.

To effect real change we have to prepare the population to accept concepts that are routinely rejected as foolish, outmoded and extreme, and in order to do that, it's my thought that we have to learn from the successes that the antis have achieved over the last century and employ their methods to achieve our goals.

I'm suggesting that rational arguments with common-sense talking points aren't effective in swaying the inattentive American. The message has to have a significant emotional punch to get through all the noise put out by the Today show, the Voice and GMA. Watch those shows and you'll get a lesson in how to carry out gradual, gentle and highly effective indoctrination. I'm not saying that that's their intent, it's just what they happen to do, and they do it well.

We need to do it too, and do it better than they do.
 
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One question that seems to dwell in my mind is the lack of pro-gun ads on most tv channels. I assume that these tv channels do not want gun ads on their air time but you would think that if the money were right (probably a whole lot more than with other ads) they would go ahead and put them up.

I figure that a commercial would have to revolve around a female using firearms in some way, perhaps for home defence, plinking or. Perhaps one using an ar15 or an m14 rifle in long range competition. Or one with a teenager using an ar15 in some type of accuracy competition match.

Just some ideas as it would take a teen or a female to reach the female voters. Men who use guns are typically branded as neandertals so they would never reach the conscience of this voters.
 
I've spoken to anti whackos that actually say that they'd rather DIE than take a life.

...that they'd rather cower in a closet, on the line with 911 as someone ransacks their home--hoping that the intruder(s) won't harm them or their kids.

...that if you give a violent criminal what they want (wallet, car, jewelry, etc), they won't harm you once they get it--because they saw on a TV show that criminals won't harm you to avoid harder jail time if caught.

...that the cops will get there before something bad happens, and the shooting of guns should be left to the professionals.


...that you're more likely to be killed with your own gun than using it to defend yourself.


...that guns are generally unsafe and a modern semi or revolver in factory condition can somehow go off without any negligible or malicious human interface.

No, really.
 
It's pretty shocking to hear the bizarro-world group-think that spews forth from these people, and it makes my point that rational arguments are ineffective with them. We can't convince them to embrace the gun culture, period, end of story. We do have a chance, however, of convincing people that an armed citizenry is, in the worst instance, a necessary evil.

I was thinking last night about what a Today Show-style infommercial might look like...
 
I've spoken to anti whackos that actually say that they'd rather DIE than take a life.
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While I'm saddend that they put so little value on their own life, it's a free country, so that's OK by me.

What is NOT OK with me is for them to require me to do the same. I value my life, and that of my family- hell, I even value the anti's lives- over that of someone intent on maliciously killing them.
 
jimbob86 has nailed one of my real problems with the positions of some of the antis I've talked to. If they don't want to own guns, that's OK. I'm not interested in forcing guns into their hands or their homes. However, when their aversion to firearms results in an attempt to force me to give up my guns, we have a problem.

RockSmoot's comment regarding "group-think" is something I've noticed as well. The antis tend to think and talk in terms of "we have to do something." IMHO, that kind of thinking is what accompanies a heavy reliance on the central government to take care of various needs and wants. OTOH, I think gun owners tend to think in terms of "I have to do something." Anyone who CCs has made a decision, on some level, to be responsible for his or her own safety.

As for "selling the gun culture," there's a thread over on The High Road, which I can dig up if necessary, that contains an interesting suggestion. Someone suggested that gun owners make a series of "I am a gun owner" videos and post them to youtube. Not frothing-at-the-mouth "itsmahrahttoownguns" kind of videos, but maybe an introduction, a short (& safe) display of a couple of firearms, and then a couple of minutes at the range. It's intended to portray gun owners as normal, rational peoople. "My name is Spats McGee, and I am a gun owner."

ETA: The High Road thread: I'm _____, and I'm a Gun Owner" Commercials.
 
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