Positive Vs. Negative

McThag has a post up on his battle fatigue on the Second Amendment fight. Go Read the Whole thing. My comment was too long for Blogger to accept, and since Angus reads this blog, I’ll just let him read it here. I’m generally addressing his closing line here “Am I just focusing too much on the negative that I’m not seeing the positive? I hope so. ”

Now I quote myself.

Your Statements are overall valid, but I think a little pessimistic. Back in the early 90s people didn’t trust many of the new Semi-autos like Glocks, and people looked askance at people with AR-15s, often stating “You can’t hunt with them!”, and politicians and the NRA espoused their “support” of the 2nd Amendment through support of hunters and target shooters. Most states (including your current home) didn’t have Concealed carry, and the states that always had liberal carry laws (like my former home) generally only saw people carrying when “They felt the need”. Carry in Maine in the 90s was synonymous with paranoids, and business men who carried their till to the bank after closing time. Rural people just open carried on their property or in the woods.

After 94 people got curious and started trying out those “evil” rifles and “evil Handguns”, and it turns out they LIKED them (I’m sure the same thing happened with the ban on Caffeinated 4Loko, but when people tried that swill they just decided to cut their losses!)

The popularity of the so-called “Assault Weapons” is the EXACT reason why the ban expired in ’04, just as the UNpopularity of them was why it passed a decade prior.

Yep NFA waits are wayy up, as are carry permit waits in most states. But what’s the REASON? DEMAND.

As much as “Because Liberty” SHOULD be a good enough reason, people are selfish and vote as such. This means a bigger welfare state, but it also means we had the concealed carry boom, the several states that went Constitutional Carry, a full 50 states of concealed carry, further as much as I hate to say it, I think this public opinion (and lack of BLOOD IN THE STREETS) influenced the 5 judges who made Heller and McDonald the victory it was.

Also yes mass shootings have been backtrack time…until Virginia Tech, now at best they convince people we need to put less faith in gun control, and at worst it’s simply a slow in political momentum. Sandy Hook was the new definition of “Worse Case Scenario” where many of our more wildest dreams like National Concealed Carry Reciprocity needed to be put on hold, but all anti-gun bills failed on a Federal level. Some severely “Progressive” states have passed some additional laws, but many of them have been through underhanded tactics rather than in the light of day and with bi-partisan support like in the 90s. In Colorado those actions came with severe consequences of which I don’t think we’ve seen the last of.

No we haven’t changed enough, states can still treat gun owners like blacks in the Jim Crow South, and many states have laws that directly fly in the face of the US Constitution, some untested, like May Issue Permits, “Safety” Rosters, and purchase/ownership permits, and others directly ruled unconstitutional by Heller and McDonald like Assault Weapons bans and “Safe Storage” laws.

We haven’t turned America into a place that is as concerned about firearms as they are about the hive of debauchery that is the American Saloon or the Reefer Den (still those issues have a LONG way to go as well), but what we HAVE done is laid a good foundation. No, most Americans think that carry permits, background checks, and mandatory “safety” classes do some good. No, they’re not interested enough to see how their state’s laws compare to other states, or if there is data that supports that claimed good.

But they have permits. They have ARs (they even hunt with them!). They have 13, 15, 17, 20, 30, 50, 75, and 100 round magazines. They’re sitting through the wait for NFA items, and those people are realizing that guns really aren’t that big a deal, and NO their guns didn’t kill ANYBODY.

Also if you’d take a moment to do a little Red Team work. Look at the antis! The Brady Campaign is in it’s final days. The VPC is now just a collection of foot-notes in anti-gun propaganda. The anti-gun people are STILL siting the work of Arthur Kellermann despite his works being exposed for the smoke and mirrors that it is, and there really hasn’t been any further studies as powerful as that once since, and even the anti-gun President (former Joyce Foundation Board Member) attempted to derail us by sanctioning a CDC study, and then quickly burying it because the results did more harm than good to gun banning.

The only group that is really getting any press today is bankrolled solely by ONE MAN, and one man who is despised across the country, and even the MSM has started to turn on him by debunking his cooked pressers.

Why is the MSM turning on Bloomberg? Not because they want to, but because they HAVE to. Less people are taking in TV news these days, and the lies have gotten greater exposure on the internet than their viewership so it was do-or-die. Compare that with the police officers shooting full-auto AKs at Cinder blocks and over the berms to show why we need to ban semi-auto rifles!

As for the US Military being used as World Police, time will tell. Still we didn’t enter Syria, or Ukraine, and with the failure that is Iraq and Afghanistan, I will HOPE the people will learn….but I won’t bet on it.

As for Police executing no-knock raids on Johnny Pot-Head….or the house down the street because the warrant swapped the numbers, dressed in black fatigues, armor, and carrying full-auto military weapons, arriving in APCs. Time will tell. I will say that the Bundy Ranch was a MUCH softer target than Waco.

I sometimes feel since I live in this horrible state that I force myself to focus too much on the positive, and while since I moved here more towns are issuing permits without restrictions or illegal hoops, overall the tide has been unchanged, which is also kind of remarkable given how much they have tried.

So I think you all know us well enough to know we are BOTH full of shit. How do you feel about the current 2nd Amendment state of affairs?

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8 Responses to Positive Vs. Negative

  1. I understand where both of you are coming from, and oscillate between both “Hooray! We’re winning!” and “Aw, crap.” depending on the news.

    For example, the “Aw, crap.” moment happened when Colorado passed its gun control measures, but the “Hooray!” moment came when the grassroots pushback resulted in the recall of some of the legislators, which put the brakes on similar efforts nationwide.

    Having been born and raised in California, I get the “crap” moments when I read about whatever crazy gun-control-effort-of-the-week they’re doing, whether it’s trying to ban “ghost guns”, ban mail-order ammo, etc. They haven’t really had any pro-gun-rights things happen in California, so a lot of pro-gun effort is spent in CA just holding what ground we have. That’s definitely exhausting, but when I look at how well the line has been held and how things might be worse, I feel pretty good.

    Look at the legislative responses nationwide in the wake of the Newtown tragedy: we all thought Congress would do something extreme, but nothing happened. The President signed a few Executive Orders, but they haven’t really done anything. A few states passed stricter gun restrictions, but that wasn’t really a surprise and hardly a major change for people in those states. Some areas have gone even further, like Sunnyvale, CA banning the possession of previously-grandfathered standard-cap mags, but that’s being contested in court.

    However, the vast majority of the legislative responses were to liberalize gun laws, remove many places from the “carry is verboten here” list, and so on. To me, that looks incredibly positive for the pro-liberty side.

    Think about it: twenty years ago we (temporarily) lost the debate that people should be able to possess guns that are black and (to some) look scary. Ten years later, we won, and the law expired. Today, such guns are the most popular ones in the country, but essentially never used in crime (so there’s no realistic pressure to restrict them). Hell, the debate today is whether or not people should be able to openly carry such guns in public. That’s a major change.

    Twenty years ago there was serious discussion about banning handguns, with a sizable fraction of the population supporting such measures. Today, that’s completely off the table. When Clinton was in office, the ATF was cracking down on kitchen-table FFLs and it seemed like the strategy at the time was to reduce the number of FFLs to the point where would-be gun buyers couldn’t get anything and so wouldn’t bother anymore. Today, there’s FFLs in Washington DC and (soon!) Chicago. Chicago! That’s incredible.

    I think the popularization of the internet has really improved things for us: it used to be that, other than picking up some gun mags at the newsstand or chatting with people at the range, it was difficult to link up with other pro-gun people, especially if you were new to an area or just getting started. The media would slam on gun owners and there’d be essentially no response from pro-gun groups.

    Now, we have blogs, forums, countless websites, etc. that people can find and read from the comfort and privacy of their own home. People can get involved with the gun culture without leaving their desk, ask questions without worry, and engage with other like-minded people even if they’re far away.

    They can get the information they need to make a smart, informed decision regarding which firearms to look at, which to buy, and how to use and store them safely. Training information that used to cost thousands of dollars (and still does, for quality instruction courses) is now available on YouTube — naturally, the actual courses are far more effective, but anything is better than nothing for those without the resources or time to attend such courses.

    Has the internet also empowered those who wish to restrict our rights? Absolutely. However, there’s not really an “anti-gun culture” — you don’t see people joining anti-gun groups because they’re fun, empowering, etc. There are no “anti-gun ranges”. Such groups are fixated on tragedy, and essentially all the news they deal with is depressing.

    In short: the internet has helped our opponents a little, but it’s helped us a lot. We just need to avoid getting too cocky and overplaying our hand: baby steps.

  2. Jack/OH says:

    Great post and comments. FWIW–I was a very small-time political operative for both major parties in the 1980s; I’ve also done minor independent politicking. There does seem to be an apparatus–call it Politics, Inc.–comprising think tanks, elected officials, lobbyists, activist law firms, university intellectuals, columnists, consultants, ad agencies, speakers bureaus, grass-roots fund-raisers, wealthy benefactors, hangers-on of all sorts, etc.

    The anti-gun apparatus generates tons of rhetoric, and, in my opinion, foments harassing, and exploitive thin-edge-of-the-wedge campaigns (“assault weapons” bans, e. g.). Defending against their rhetoric is, I suppose, costly and exhausting.

    There’s plenty of up side for pro-gunners, at least based on my personal observations and guesses. Concealed carry is a success here. Even the least observant citizen, I think, can tell that successful home defense and CCW shootings in my area are examined by police and prosecutors for lawfulness. Gun shows are a staple here. (I attend.) There’s no local anti-gun group, and, because I’m a longtime resident here, I can safely say there’s no likelihood of one either. Protests against gun violence are pretty clearly protests against unlawful gun use, not against guns themselves.

    Plus, the anti-gunners have an intellectual honesty problem that, I think, a lot of folks sense. The anti-gunners really do seem to attribute moral agency to the inanimate firearm. With so many firearms out there (Wikipedia, I think, gives figures around 250-300 million), I think a lot of folks have a little room to question (in a non-smart-alecky way) the anti-gunners as to why the gun homicide rate isn’t higher.

  3. McThag says:

    I limited my angst to the Federal level.

    Most of the news from the State level has been positive, even with the (expected if you’re honest) set-backs.

    I am reminded that the gun laws were a major reason I moved from Iowa to Florida. Now, except for NFA, Iowa has become Florida with regards to guns. I hear that even that might be changing.

    • Weerd Beard says:

      Still State and Federal go hand-in-hand. Do you think if America from Blue Massachusetts, to Florida, Wyoming, and Arizona weren’t suddenly SO gung-ho on guns, and not just any guns but DEFENSIVE GUNS (ie For killing PEOPLE) do you think President Obama and Congress would be as cautious about what anti-gun measures they HAVE floated?

  4. LarryArnold says:

    I’ve been active in RKBA since the Gun Control Act of 1968. The battle in the executive realm is bad at federal but good in most states. The battle in the legislative realm is stalemate at federal, good in most states, really bad in a few states. In the judicial realm its bouncing back and forth. Media realm sucks but there are some signs of awakening. But those are just battles.

    The real war is being fought on the rifle range, and there we’re clearly winning. More and more people, particularly young people, urban people, and women are learning that shooting is safe, empowering, and fun. The anti-gun folks totally don’t understand this (and a lot of us don’t either) but that’s our future.

    • Jack/OH says:

      Thanks, Larry. ” . . . [R]eal war . . . rifle range . . . .” Decades ago I took my Mom shooting with my handgun. She’d been an armchair anti-gunner. She took to shooting, and enjoyed an hour of goal-oriented plinking fun.

  5. Paul Bonneau says:

    Gun control is dead. Yeah it remains a wet-dream of the American ruling class, but with the people, it is done. The antis are fighting a rear-guard action. The BS from MSM aka Ministry of Propaganda just damages what little credibility they have left. Don’t give up hope, folks. I’d rather be dealing with the problems our side is having, than what their side is faced with.

  6. me says:

    I, myself, am not sanguine about the Constitution, or the Republic, in the long term. The nihilistic Social Bolshevism that the wanna-be revolutionaries on the Left have embraced as the core of their ideology means they can make no peace with the rest of us and can barely stomach the idea of a temporary truce on any front. The Second Amendment in particular goes to the heart of what they want, and what they want to destroy. Let me offer a quote from an Englishman who understood Americans better than most:

    “The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted.” — D.H. Lawrence

    Rugged individualism and personal responsibility for personal security are key organizing principles of our culture and our society, written into our Constitution with a priority second only to freedom of speech and freedom of religion. You can’t collectivize the kulaks until you disarm the kulaks, and you can’t create a collectivist totalitarian state while these inconvenient, incompatible ideas of individual liberty and individual self-reliance are widely held. As such there can be no lasting truce between them and us. Their fanaticism won’t let them leave us alone for long. Having mastered doublethink, doublespeak, and crimestop allows them to believe their own Orwellian bullshit, contradictions and all. This is a common trait among wannabe revolutionaries and would-be Stasi blockwardens who yearn to see people who disagree with them rounded up at bayonet point and loaded onto cattle cars. OLDTHINKERS UNBELLYFEEL INGSOC.

    Almost all the recent progress for us, on our side, has hinged on a tiny, tiny handful of 5-4 Supreme Court decisions and judicial findings at lower levels. All the Kenyan and those who will come after need to do is pack the judiciary with people who see things their way. Once they get an amnesty bill for the 30+ million illegal foreign invaders passed, all the wetbacks will sign up for “el guëlfare” and they and all their descendants will be permanent additions to the Free Shit Army, no matter if it bankrupts the country–which is seen as a feature, not a bug (see also, Cloward-Piven Strategy). All of them will vote the straight Democrat ticket forever, Republican consultants’ brain-damaged confabulations about “welcoming immigrants into the big tent” notwithstanding. This will be the end of small-c conservatism and the end of the Dead Elephant Party and any other national parties or movements based on any ideas other than “gibs me dat” and “kill Whitey” in the US forever, full stop, and means the end of any possibility of effective political opposition. The door-to-door gun confiscations are only a matter of time, and it’s later than you think. Ever read Berthold Brecht’s poem “The Solution?”

    We live in interesting times. Got ammo?

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