Advice for 2A/campus concealed carry activism

[The Wiry Irishman]

I've been politically apathetic most of my life, but over the last few years my interest in firearms and Second Amendment rights has become much stronger, and I've decided its about time I do more than whine to my gun buddies and start pulling my weight as a gun owner. Being a college student, the issue of campus concealed carry resonates most strongly with me. Since I've never written a representative or become active in any way, I'd like a few pointers about how to do it effectively.

Here's a quick list of what I'm thinking about:

1) Write to my representatives about the issue. I'm not sure if the campus gun ban in Indiana originates from a state law or if it's a school by school policy. If it is the latter, I'd like to identify the relevant members of the Purdue administration and write them calm, rational, and well-thought letters as well.

2) Become an NRA member

3) Next year when my financial situation is a little bit better, donate to the NRA-ILA before the elections. It won't be much, but I'd like to put at least a little bit of money where my mouth is.

4) Talk to the new people in the Purdue Rifle and Pistol Club and make them aware of Second Amendment issues in the hope that they will care more and eventually become active, as well. Exposure to decent, rational gun people converted me from anti ways four years ago, I figure it will work again. It also might be possible to encourage the club to raise dues a little bit and include an NRA membership with club membership. I'll be around for another 2-4 years in grad school, so I might be able to bring it about at some point.

And some other ideas I'm not sure about:

1) Write the campus paper - not sure because the paper isn't taken seriously by anyone, and is fairly low-brow in general. The opinion letters are possibly the most popular part of the paper, but only for its entertainment purposes. I can't see it being an effective vehicle for change, and the mocking nature in which it is read may make any attempt at activism in it counter-productive.

2) Flyer campus, borrow (with permission) some of Oleg's work, make my own, etc. - Just something catchy but rational that will raise awareness. The issue with this is that Purdue regulates flyering pretty tightly due to the time and expense of cleaning everything up off the sidewalks. Flyering is limited to student organizations, and while its not really enforced, I would imagine promoting a message of this nature might motivate them to make an exception.

3) Open carry holster protest - I don't know how effective this would be. One guy with a holster and a t-shirt among 40,000 others isn't going to spread the message to very many people. Also, I'm somewhat of a reserved person and I express myself much better with in writing after a little thought than I do in off-the-cuff conversations with strangers. I don't know how well I'd be able to promote my point of view if asked a question, let alone deal with an opposing viewpoint if confronted. Also, its not hard to imagine someone calling the cops on me, and that's not something I'd like to deal with.

Essentially, I want to do something effective that won't get me booted off campus or get me on the bad side of the campus police. I want to do something to help our cause, but my current situation limits what I'm comfortable doing at the moment. When I graduate I can become more active, but I've got a very good thing going right now, and I'd like to do as much as I can without rocking the boat.

Any advice on the most effective arguments to present to legislators, advice or critiques on my ideas, or ideas I haven't thought of would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Cavalier Knight]

If you're serious about joining the NRA you can do so from my site at a discount rate hope that helps. Thanks for your support.

 

[ReadyontheRight]

How about starting (or joining) a campus trap shooting club? Or high power rifle club or pistol club like NRA Bullseye?

I bet that there are a lot of students on campus who would love to be introduced to the shooting sports. Seems like a great way to meet new friends. And you probably have some THR or NRA members locally who could help you teach them.

 

[ReadyontheRight]

The Wiry Irishman - I just noticed your sig line.

I have to say...I really wish there had been a booth on campus promoting gun rights with someone who could have shown me how to shoot NRA Bullseye back in College.

Check your campus rules, but there must be some way to start and promote a shooting club. Get a table outside popular classes and staff it with members.

 

[Justin]

Purdue already has a campus Rifle/Pistol club as well as a Trap/Skeet club.

 

[Robert Hairless]

One thing I suggest is that you be and behave like yourself: rational, thoughtful, and well spoken. Talk to your friends about this interest just as you would your other interests. There's no need to convert them but, as with any other interest, you'll want to invite them to join you and see what shooting is like.

Don't push it. Perhaps most of your friends won't be interested. That's not a problem and it shouldn't interfere with your friendship. Or maybe some of them would like to give it a try. I suggest that you not go with more than one inexperienced shooter at a time. Tell them the truth, that firearm safety is always important and you can't handle more than one person in any session. No, you don't want the others standing around watching. It will get out of hand quickly unless you have much more experience than you say. This is exploratory for you as well as them, so make it safe and make it fun.

I think that helping inexperienced people learn to shoot is great fun. When they catch on there's an expression of joy on their faces that I always remember. What they thought was "evil" turns out to be neither good nor bad, just what it is. And what they thought was impossibly dangerous turns out to be safe as long as they follow some simple rules that make sense. And what they thought was beyond them turns out to be well within their capabilities. Some of them will want to do it again, some won't. No big deal either way. But if you handle the situation correctly every single one of them will be at least not a rabid gun hater who thinks gun owners are a different species.

A major part of the problem that I see today is that many gun owners segregate themselves apart from the rest of society. They seem to like being a threatened minority and reinforce their apartheid by scorning everyone else. They refer to non gun owners as "sheeple"--not people but animals. So the response they get from other people, who ordinarily wouldn't care one way or the other, is predictably hostile. Nobody likes being scorned, especially not by anyone with a gun. That's not the world in which I grew up and went through school. Frankly, nobody gave a damn because nobody made it an issue. Ordinary is good. If I had the ear of a powerful genie I ask him to "Make it ordinary." And then I'd ask if he'd be interested in shooting a great Model 1911 semi-auto with me afterwards.

If money is an issue--ammunition is expensive--it's okay to ask your friend to split the cost with you.

Go have fun.

 

[The Wiry Irishman]

As Justin pointed out, we do have a rifle and pistol club and an (amazingly good) trap and skeet club at Purdue. I'm starting my fifth year as a member of the rifle pistol club and my second as pistol team captain. A lot of the new members we get are people who have never shot before who are interested in guns from video games or movies - fence-sitters that think shooting guns is cool but owning them should be regulated. Once they are gently disabused of their media-spawned misconceptions and had the importance of safety properly ingrained in them, you can watch their support of gun control fade away. What I want to do is take it a step further. When shooters reach this point - usually after they decide shooting is a lot of fun and they'd like to get a little .22 of their own and have to deal with gun laws first hand - I'd like to make them aware of the unfairness of gun laws, the logical flaws in anti-gun arguments, and things that they can do to help the cause. That should be a pretty easy job. We've had an amazing turnout this year, and a good crop of level-headed freshman who came to the club not with the "I've never shot before but I did it in Ghost Recon and it seems cool" mindset, but with a "I've never shot before and I'd like to learn how to safely and accurately handle a firearm" mindset that makes for very quick learning. Some of the new guys have picked up on safety so fast that they're now doing a good job of helping out other new people. As for cost - its minimal. They can borrow a club gun - anything from an S&W 41 (and a Pardini or two soon!) to an Anshutz competition rifle, and we sell Ely sport at 1.50 a box. Its an excellent environment to indoctrinate new shooters, and thanks to a group of motivated officers and a lot of great help from our faculty adviser, the turnout of new shooters was the largest in five or more years, and the retention rate is almost 100%. The pistol team uses the NRA bullseye quals as practice and training for competition. We also try to take a trip to the nearest public range one Saturday a semester, all the members bring their personal firearms to share (with some of us, that's a dozen plus) and give everyone a chance to shoot "real" guns, since we can only use .22s in the range on campus.

Reaching out to new shooters is the easy part, though. I've got a ready-made environment for it, it doesn't put me out any money, and I've got a lot of experience with it now. I'm also fairly good at it, since I got into guns the same way - shot a .22 rifle and some skeet with my dad growing up, but never a pistol and was fairly pro gun-control. I've got a pretty good idea about how to present the true face of gun people to interested outsiders without being pushy. And it really helps being able to tell some new guy that compares on of his 40-point targets to one of my 97s that I sucked way worse than he did when I started out.

I'm new at all the other kinds of activism, however, and those are the ones I'm really looking for pointers on. I figure I'll post any letters I write on THR for critiques and advice. Does anyone know of a good resource for finding the voting record or personal views of a representative so I could tailor my arguments to resound more with their own beliefs?

mrrreynolds - There's a really cool FFL in town that offers the same deal. $35 isn't much though, I'll just pay full price, they can probably use the extra money. Once my tax return rolls shows up next year, I'll give the ILA 1-200 bucks.