I think many are making the mistake of acting as if "conservative" or "liberal" are the only group relevant to this discussion. The great number of independents or undeclared or even somewhat liberal or somewhat conservative are neglected and might be reached if we would drop the "there are only two sorts of voters" absurdity. I'll point out that the Anti propaganda campaign is partly successful because we have shot ourselves in the foot by making this a "conservative" issue AND they have taken those so-called conservatives who shoot their mouths off and turned them into talking points to make Moderates not want to be associated with us.
Reach out to those rural Democrats who represent districts with and those in the strongly military communities, reach out to the elected Democratic officials in those areas and point out that the north VA urban/suburban area is going to turn VA in IL were Chicago runs the state and the rest is just dragged along. Appeal to their desire to be reelected and make it clear that the extreme positions can loose their seats for them in a backlash like Bill Clinton so richly learned after the AWB.
We can not keep doing the same thing that helps us loose and must change the tactics that alienate people that aren't Antis.
Very well said, sir, thank you. I don't live in Virginia and am thus too ignorant of its particulars to offer any state-specific observations, but from a national level, I guess the question is: How do you reach out to people like me and get them involved in supporting rights? I'm currently not registered with a political party, but when I was, it was Democrat. I'm okay with non-Marxist modern "socialism" as practiced in, say, Finland. I'm not Christian, and don't care what anybody's religion is or whether they have one. I'm not worried about Hispanic immigration any more than I am about Canadian immigration, and don't care if Muslims want to move to my town. It's none of my business if somebody is gay and I'm delighted to finally see my gay friends have the same civil rights I have. I'm a big fan of science and public education and labor unions. I'm even opposed to the death penalty. By the standards of most conservative folks I know, I guess it would be fair to classify me as liberal. That has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that I'm a firearms enthusiast and have been since childhood. I'm not such a rara avis as the national political debate would seem to have it, either; I know at least a dozen people pretty much like me, including my father.
I finally had to leave the NRA due to their increased promotion of a cultural mindset with which I have little affinity, and I blame them, in part, for the current us vs them approach to issues regarding gun rights. So what do
I do to help out where I can? I do have a lifetime membership with the SAF since I'm impressed with their go-to-court approach, but I'm not sure that membership actually helps all that much. My largest contribution comes in introducing people to shooting, or going shooting with people who are just discovering its joys. When discussing firearms with the ignorant, I don't get political about it, but keep it just about the experience. If someone wants to talk about laws and court decisions and such, I can do that without getting heated or emotional. I'll share my opinions on such topics if asked, but it's not something I go around harping about. In other words, I try to be approachable and friendly on gun-related topics and practices. It's the unyielding self-righteousness on both pro- and anti-gun sides that causes all the trouble, in my opinion. Guns don't represent or symbolize anything to me; they're just guns.