Another great post by Don OTMW from Shooters Talk:
It isn’t enough to CARE a lot about your gun rights. It isn’t enough to talk “tough” among the people you meet. You gotta DO something. You have to write letters, offer suggestions to organizations, vote with your big head and not your little one, and you gotta recruit new shooters. And unless you are, you are part of the problem, not part of the solution. ----- I have written a number of suggestions to the NRA and the California Rifle and Pistol Association about how to defend our gun rights.
....
----- It is a multi-pronged attack covering a number of components of the problem. ----- (1) Get a detailed accounting of the money spent by the NRA. We send them a LOT of bucks and I want to know if it’s spent to buy Wayne La Pierre a yacht or on something useful. ----- (2) Launch pro-gun television and radio ad campaigns. The socialists deprive of us our gun rights by “doing it for the children.” They say, “if only ONE child is saved, then this is a good law.” Turn it around on them. Show two kids, Kid A and Kid B. Narrator says these kids are basically the same, except that Kid A’s mother was killed by a stalker from work on May 9th, 1998 in Manhattan. But Kid B’s mother is alive and loving her kid today because on July 17th, 1997, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, she shot and killed a home invader with a nine-year felonious rape and assault record. See? We have the numbers, the stats, and the case histories that confirm time and again the works of university researchers John Lott and Gary Kleck. (You DO know who these people are, right? I hope so, but have a hunch you don’t.) ----- (3) In the legislatures; target and overturn somewhat “small” gun laws in as many places as possible. Why small ones, why “easy” targets? Because, law is based in large part on precedent. So you pick “easy” targets and overturn them. This not only gets rid of small laws, but also provides PRECEDENT which is used to attack and overturn laws of greater scope. This is all the more precedent setting if a number of these laws, even if small ones, are overturned in a short period of time. It builds momentum. See? ----- On the election front, you have to KEEP THE SOCIALISTS OUT. This means voting for non-socialists who can win. If that means voting for your second or third choice to do that, then so be it. You have to ask yourself what’s more important: stopping the current and increasing attack on your gun rights, or being able to pull your belt up with a satisfied belch and proudly state, “Yep. Voted for my man!” while the vote you pissed away got some socialist elected who promptly signed another anti-gun law into effect. ----- Finally, we have to recruit more shooters, and do it every month. ...tell me truthfully, how many new shooters have you brought into the community in the last year? I’ve got four for sure, and maybe two others. Not a lot, I know, but unless you are doing even this, you are part of the problem, not part of the solution. And I gotta tell ya,it is a lot harder to bring non-shooters into the fold when we have folks acting like jackasses. .... More than all the other items I’ve discussed above, bringing additional members into the community is far and away the most effective, most long lasting defense we have.
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Some really good points! Sorry for those who frequent both boards for the cross-post. With such good ideas, I couldn't resist bringing it over to TFL to share (I hope Don OTMW doesn't mind).
I think #3 (the ads) and the last one (recruiting new shooters) are very important. We gotta educate the public and counter the bad image the mass media is tarring us with (short term/tactical) and also increase our membership (long term/strategic).
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Great daily commentary from a thoughtful Christian perspective:
http://www.str.org/cgi-local/daily_commentary.pl
It isn’t enough to CARE a lot about your gun rights. It isn’t enough to talk “tough” among the people you meet. You gotta DO something. You have to write letters, offer suggestions to organizations, vote with your big head and not your little one, and you gotta recruit new shooters. And unless you are, you are part of the problem, not part of the solution. ----- I have written a number of suggestions to the NRA and the California Rifle and Pistol Association about how to defend our gun rights.
....
----- It is a multi-pronged attack covering a number of components of the problem. ----- (1) Get a detailed accounting of the money spent by the NRA. We send them a LOT of bucks and I want to know if it’s spent to buy Wayne La Pierre a yacht or on something useful. ----- (2) Launch pro-gun television and radio ad campaigns. The socialists deprive of us our gun rights by “doing it for the children.” They say, “if only ONE child is saved, then this is a good law.” Turn it around on them. Show two kids, Kid A and Kid B. Narrator says these kids are basically the same, except that Kid A’s mother was killed by a stalker from work on May 9th, 1998 in Manhattan. But Kid B’s mother is alive and loving her kid today because on July 17th, 1997, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, she shot and killed a home invader with a nine-year felonious rape and assault record. See? We have the numbers, the stats, and the case histories that confirm time and again the works of university researchers John Lott and Gary Kleck. (You DO know who these people are, right? I hope so, but have a hunch you don’t.) ----- (3) In the legislatures; target and overturn somewhat “small” gun laws in as many places as possible. Why small ones, why “easy” targets? Because, law is based in large part on precedent. So you pick “easy” targets and overturn them. This not only gets rid of small laws, but also provides PRECEDENT which is used to attack and overturn laws of greater scope. This is all the more precedent setting if a number of these laws, even if small ones, are overturned in a short period of time. It builds momentum. See? ----- On the election front, you have to KEEP THE SOCIALISTS OUT. This means voting for non-socialists who can win. If that means voting for your second or third choice to do that, then so be it. You have to ask yourself what’s more important: stopping the current and increasing attack on your gun rights, or being able to pull your belt up with a satisfied belch and proudly state, “Yep. Voted for my man!” while the vote you pissed away got some socialist elected who promptly signed another anti-gun law into effect. ----- Finally, we have to recruit more shooters, and do it every month. ...tell me truthfully, how many new shooters have you brought into the community in the last year? I’ve got four for sure, and maybe two others. Not a lot, I know, but unless you are doing even this, you are part of the problem, not part of the solution. And I gotta tell ya,it is a lot harder to bring non-shooters into the fold when we have folks acting like jackasses. .... More than all the other items I’ve discussed above, bringing additional members into the community is far and away the most effective, most long lasting defense we have.
----------
Some really good points! Sorry for those who frequent both boards for the cross-post. With such good ideas, I couldn't resist bringing it over to TFL to share (I hope Don OTMW doesn't mind).
I think #3 (the ads) and the last one (recruiting new shooters) are very important. We gotta educate the public and counter the bad image the mass media is tarring us with (short term/tactical) and also increase our membership (long term/strategic).
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Great daily commentary from a thoughtful Christian perspective:
http://www.str.org/cgi-local/daily_commentary.pl
