Sebastian has an interesting post citing an anti-rights hit peace calling the NRA “Radical”.
Its well worth a read as the facts he points out really destroy that argument.
Still I think he’s missing the biggest point. Anti-Gun Groups in the hay-day of gun control (the early 90s seem to be where the wave crested) were bi-partisan groups filled with political moderates who were pushing laws on scary-looking guns, and bogus urban legends, like AR-15s being full-auto, or Black Talon ammo being “Armor Piercing”, ect.
With the information availability created by the internet, as well as people getting curious about things like “assault weapons” simply because the news is making a big fuss about it, quickly flipped the apple cart. It used to be an “expert” could say such-and-such a thing was REALLY dangerous, or that a gun in the home is 7,643 times more likely to murder family members than save a life, and anybody who wasn’t in the mood to hit the local library and read difficult technical manuals, and grasp concepts like ballistics, and how bullet resistant materials work, would simply take the “expert” at their word.
Now you can simply google a term, and you’ll not only find all sorts of articles from highly technical, to insultingly elementary on the issue, as well as youtube videos that SHOW you the facts.
It didn’t take long for various moderates to back away from the issue, and the electorate to wise up about the facts, and vote out anybody pushing a dangerous agenda.
Today anybody who is pushing “Common Sense Gun Control” KNOWS they’re telling lies, and KNOWS the agenda they’re pushing will get innocent people killed and harmed. They do it anyway. Also the political boundaries have flipped, it used to be the people who were arguing that an AR-15 was indeed a good rifle for hunting deer, as well as a VERY nice tool for self-defense were far-right-wing people with all sorts of extremist views that made the facts they presented seem suspect. Today those who are working to repeal onerous gun laws, and push forward bills that make life easier for those who lawfully keep and bear arms span from moderate Democrats straight to the far right-wing. Meanwhile its become impossible to find somebody who is against lawful gun ownership who isn’t an extreme leftist.
Gun control groups making claims of “Radicalism” are working off the same mechanism that the Black Panthers do when they sling nebulous claims of “Racism”.
Gun Control is a left-wing extremist agenda, and their dwindling numbers and budgets show who’s taken action against the extremists.
There’s also the problem that if anything, the NRA is a bunch of pussies and aren’t radical enough.
You keep talking about your “education” on the finer points of firearms being the undoing of your anti-gun politics. Most people don’t care. What they look at is “what does everyone else do.” What’s making the real difference is that their friends and neighbors are “doing it.” They have guns. They carry guns.
That, plus the local gun rights groups (and rarely the NRA) can bring massive electoral pain to people who cross them.
The gun grabbers are trying hard to re-establish some sort of social pressure against guns. The problem is that they assume that they have a constituency who will sneeringly disapprove of guns and gun owners, causing those on the fence to decide not to become one of “them.” The problem for the gun grabbers is that the horse left the barn a long time ago. Plus, typical Americans like to tell sneering “elites” to piss off.
Maybe the Left should have thought of that when they spent the last 50-60 years doing their best to destroy the concept of social heirarchy. They must not have realized that after years of “sticking it to the Man” that they would suddenly find themselves in the role of “the Man.”
“Plus, typical Americans like to tell sneering “elites” to piss off.”
Especially if it’s something fun that the “elites” clearly have no clue about.
So thumbing your nose at an ignorant elitist while having a blast? This is the empowerment/fun aspect. Owning a firearm can be a very entertaining form of recreation and a way to protect yourself and your family. Being a gun control activist… isn’t.
All the anti’s can offer is a notion “well maybe the bad guy won’t have a gun and will just have to stab you”. Which plays into “Gun Death”. See also Chance and the “Anti-Gun Show” or the “Anti-Gun Range”.
Speaking of Chance and the flipping of terms I’m reminded of this post of his a couple days ago.
http://www.saysuncle.com/2012/04/18/a-shift/
Yep, “isms” are alive and well… sigh… I believe they haven’t SEEN radical until the try to come after our guns…
μολὼν λαβέ! bitches!
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Tyrants always want to restrict information to those who are approved. The flaw of the gun grabbers is that they think that rights are like choices in a cafeteria, but we know that the government cannot be allowed to select our rights for us. The freedom that the Internet provides enhances all other freedoms, but authoritarians can’t stand freedom.
You’re right, Weer’d: Molon labe! With regard to every right, molon labe!
Don’t leave out the power of fear.
The political animals who push gun control are one part of the problem (as politicians of every stripe always are) but the other part is their constituency: all those who buy into the arguments for gun control.
It is easy to demonize the “far leftists” as grabbing and power hungry fools. But so are all politicians. (See Frank James’ excellent post here: http://frankwjames.blogspot.com/2012/04/theyre-politicians-remember-that.html)
I was anti-gun myself for a number of years, mostly because I grew up with almost zero understanding or exposure to guns, but also because everyone around me was anti-gun, and because the media constantly reinforces the anti-gun point of view. I believed what they said because I had never been given anything else to believe. I was also very afraid of guns and extremely ignorant of how they worked, and because I was afraid I was unwilling to listen to “those paranoid weirdos” who actually carried guns around with them. (I even literally did think that a gun could “go off” by itself.)
I had my consciousness raised about ten years ago, and I am now a strong 2a supporter, I hunt, I target shoot, I own several different guns, and I carry concealed. But before I could see the light, there was a critical thing that had to happen first, and I believe it has everything to do with why anti-gun people seem to defy all reason and sanity with their beliefs. It has to do with basic fear. I had to learn not to fear guns.
(Let me point out that I am generally talking about the anti-gun populace here, not the jerks in charge, who clearly just love being in control over a sheep-like public.)
Many, if not most, anti gun people (who are also more likely to be voters) are women. Most of them have been taught literally zero about guns, have never held one in their hands, and are terrified by the thought of them. Most of these anti-gunners associate guns with crime: they see them as the tools of criminals. Outside of Hollywood, they have never heard or seen any stories about people defending themselves with guns. They think all sorts of inaccurate things about guns, mostly rumors based on fear. They fear for their children. They fear robbery and rape and car jacking, but in their mind, those things happen because of scary men… who carry guns. They (understandably) want law and order, because a society based on law is safer for them and their children. They very often go into a sort of denial, to help themselves deal with these fears – of things they have no control over – they tell themselves it will “probably never happen” to them. And they are conditioned from the day they are born to believe that they are themselves weak, they are conditioned to believe that all pro-gun folks are white, right-wing, militia men who hate women anyway, (incessantly screaming about “Liberals!” on gun websites doesn’t help, since most Liberals are women for the simple reason that they value their own reproductive freedom) and they are also conditioned to believe that the police really are there “to protect and serve.” The propaganda is designed to keep them afraid.
And yet, their fears are valid. As we all know, we women have a lot to be afraid of, and we ARE more vulnerable, especially when our children are involved. So when a mayor, or a cop, or a TV personality tells them “we need more police, more laws, and stricter controls” on these scary-people-with-guns, their thought process immediately says, “yes! We as a society need to DO something!”
The problem is, we can’t approach this perception problem by simply trying tell our pro-self-protection, pro-gun side of the story. We can’t fight denial with logic, because that denial keeps them from listening to begin with.
There are usually two ways that women change their minds about guns: 1. they become a victim of crime personally, and it changes how they perceive the world (violence becomes real for them and they are traumatized) or 2. they are introduced – in a FUN way – to guns one day. One day they go shooting with someone who is patient, non-judgmental, safe, shows them how to be safe, and who shows them how much fun it is to handle guns and shoot them. They suddenly are able to view guns differently, and suddenly they realize that guns are not just owned by radical whack jobs, suddenly they see that they COULD have a measure of control over those things they are afraid of, and suddenly they become a LOT more open to new information from… the pro-gun side.
So what do we want to do? Wait until all these potential supporters are attacked as a wakeup call? Wail and moan about all those “stupid liberals” who refuse to see the light? Or, shouldn’t the entire gun community (right wing men too) ALL be bringing as many new women to the target range as is humanly possible? And while we are at it, shouldn’t the NRA begin putting women and Black spokesmen out there in the media – like ALL the time? I mean, I am sure Wayne LaPierre and Ted Nugent are good guys and all, but can’t gun organizations begin representing the other half of the population more often? Can’t we stop allowing gun owners to be defined as, and perceived as, neanderthals? It is a basic strategy against the anti-gun propaganda: don’t allow the opposition to define you.
The best thing we can do is understand the enemy here, and that enemy is fear, and fear’s reactions and perceptions. We already have enough YouTube videos of guys laughing while they put a Desert Eagle into their unsuspecting girlfriend’s hands. We already have enough gun websites and forums where women and Liberals are relentlessly denigrated. If we truly want everyone to learn the value of 2a rights and self protection, we need to welcome everyone and make it FUN. Win hearts and minds with positive gun experiences for them.