Any one want to help start a new grass roots pro-gun movement?

[thelaststand]

I'm proposing starting up a new grass roots pro-gun movement that will not be hierarchy based once it is up and running and will involve individuals going out into the community to win the hearts and minds of the American people one at a time on the issue of second amendment rights.

My idea is to gather up the material that will be used to argue and win people over. I think it is absolutely necessary for us to win over Democrats and moderates. Material would be available to whatever type of person you would like to try to win over, Democrat, moderate or republican (this one not being a major issue). While the anti-gun people are out there telling lies and making stupid arguments and denying debate to people willing to debate, we can be working in the community using real argument and good sound evidence.

There will be a packet printed out that is geared toward talking an individual into supporting the second amendment. You can give the individual the packet while going through one to highlight points, then give that person an open invitation to go to the shooting range with you and use your gun or rent one if they do not have one. I will post up samples next in order for you to see what kind of argument is to be made.
When you give the person the packet tell them that if they agree with what we are trying to do here consider giving them several packets so they can pass them on to more people and if they want to be part of the movement, you can supply them with the files needed to print out and make packets to give out on their own. Therefore this can multiply exponentially.

This movement after it gets started will not be headed by a leader and will involve people spreading the word to other people and the costs of printing and paper will be voluntary to the individual who wishes to protect his/her second amendment rights. This will not require lots of time, just print a few and then go somewhere and talk to people, you could introduce yourself and ask them if they support the second amdendment so they know you are not selling anything and you would also tell them you are not collecting donations or signatures, just talking to people.

In this thread, let’s discuss possible arguments that we can present to people within the final draft of the packets that we will be printing out.

I have produced one argument that I'll post here shortly.

 

[thelaststand]

This comes from the document aimed at talking a Democrat into becoming pro-second amendment:

12. Take a moment to observe (figure A) which should be included in the packet. If you compare a small region in which people are free to move around in the region and in which areas of different gun laws exist, you can observe a more realistic comparison of the effect of gun laws. Comparing Japan and Brazil is not valid because the populations are different and do not intermix, but comparing New Hampshire and Vermont to Massachusetts is realistic because the people intermix in those states freely to the point where in New Hampshire the cars on the road are just as likely to have an out of state license or a New Hampshire license plate. Also many people in the USA consider Massachusetts, NH and Vermont to be upper end states where the people are more educated and better off financially. People may point out that NH has less poverty than Massachusetts and they may try to make the argument that this is why the trends in graph A are observed. But remember that people can easily move between Massachusetts and New Hampshire (NH) and in fact a trip from the crime center of Mass which is Boston to New Hampshire is between 20 and 30 miles. There are no road blocks or checkpoints that stop criminals from going to New Hampshire, a place with more loot to steal. The argument is that it is the fact that people walk around New Hampshire freely carrying guns on their hips open to everyone to see and the perception that citizens have the right to defend themselves in NH which keeps criminals under control or keeps them out of the state. Criminals will not want to move or relocated their criminal activity to New Hampshire when a potential victim has a Glock visible on his hip. The belief that the poor commit all of the violent crime is not only ignorant but also bigoted. Being poor does not make you into a coward and a criminal. Many middle class or affluent people have children who commit violent crimes and some of these affluent people are affluent because they have committed crimes. The rate of poverty and level of wealth has nothing to do with the trend in this region. Criminals often travel to other locations to break into houses, wealthy neighborhoods have home invasions as well. Another argument could be that the police are much more aggressive in New Hampshire, which is not the case, they are in fact more laid back. A person who is part of the free state movement (recently documented on video) carried marijuana openly into a police station in Manchester, NH and the police elected to not arrest or bother him. The police in Massachusetts; however, are much more aggressive in fighting crime. Due to the uniformity of the region, the complete lack of barriers to travel between these states including short distances and the tendency for people in these states to end up in the other states and to the fact that criminals most often travel to other neighborhoods and areas to commit crime and because NH has more wealth to loot and more reward for successful crime and the fact that the police department in NH is more relaxed and does not aggressively maintain the law as Massachusetts, it is concluded that the cause of the large deviation in crime rates between these states are the gun laws.

 

[PublicRelations]

Excellent Ideas

I like your ideas and offer my support. I'll add value where I can in this thread, and if you'd like additional help, email me: nosaelg [at] gmail [dot] com. I'm starting a similar venture

After reading your two posts, here is a suggestion off the top of my head:

- Utilize social media like twitter, blogs, and facebook in addition to your in-person pamphlets. Technology and networking are at a truly revolutionary pinnacle at this point in time. Spreading an idea with social media is much easier (though it still takes hard work) than "in-person" networking. At the very least, social media will add value to your efforts.

- Also, I'd include the source of your study. If a bipartisan US government entity conducted the study, then the study has tons more credibility in the eyes of a biased anti-gun supporter, rather than the NRA conducting the study. The facts should be clearly non-partisan - or as non-partisan as possible. For example, a study/report from the FBI would have more perceived value than the same figures/facts produced by the NRA.

Anyway, that's all I can think of off the cuff. I'd like to add more later when my mind is more settled around your ideas.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Caliper_Mi]

PR is very correct - social media is very important. It helped get Obama elected, it can be used for other purposes as well. I need to look into what can be done through these fan groups on Facebook...

Something else is making it easy for people to contact their representatives from the local to the national level and really encouraging it among We the People (or at least We the gun-owning People ). I don't mean just providing contact information either. I mean a link in your email so you can send a letter within a minute, so that everybody we know can easily send a letter.

Let me explain: due to my upbringing, I was not introduced to firearms until a number of years into my adult life. In the meantime, I participated with the ACLU online. They will send out an email about a certain issue, explaining a piece of legislation and their position on it. At the end there was a link that would take you to a page that would send an email to the appropriate person in public office. There was a comments field and place for your name and address to send to the Senator/Representative/etc. The comments field was already filled out with what was basically a form letter but was available for the sender to edit as they wished. This kind of thing promotes far more letters being sent - all one really needs to do is put in a name and address and click send. Done. That kind of thing is so powerful because it lets anybody easily send letters just while checkig their email on a lunch break.

To top it off, I typically got paper responses back from these emails! Sure, they were basically form letters and sometimes explained how the recipient did not agree with me, but I got a paper letter back on Congressional letterhead delivered by the USPS. Ever wonder how the ACLU gets so much done despite that the NRA outnumbers them EIGHT to ONE? As others have said in other threads - it isn't what you say in the letter as much as the number of "for" and "against" correspondence the elected official receives. Think of this as a "get the vote out" type thing.


Now, how do we get everybody on board and wanting to participate? It seems that the media has made many people think that the word "activist" can only immediately follow "liberal" or be before "judge". (Personally, as a liberal/progressive, I detest the way the media uses the word "liberal" when they should be saying "authoritarian" ). We need to break what one might describe as the thought that "conservative activist" is an oxymoron...

 

[TheProf]

One of the best way to promote our cause is to simply make a commitment to introduce one new person to the lifestyle. Get one "virgin shooter" out to the firing range and help them fall in love with guns. Convince that gun owner neighbor of yours to get his CCW. Introduce a person to this website.

Yup...imagine if EVERYONE who is passionate about RTBA do this within the next 30 days. We have the potential to DOUBLE our numbers. And this process can repeat itself exponentially.

 

[Caliper_Mi]

One of the best way to promote our cause is to simply make a commitment to introduce one new person to the lifestyle. Get one "virgin shooter" out to the firing range and help them fall in love with guns. Convince that gun owner neighbor of yours to get his CCW. Introduce a person to this website.

Very true. In fact, I sent a co-worker a link to this very site recently. I also owe a cousin of mine a trip to the range as once the weather warms.

However, we also need to get past the cultural mindset that some people have to keep it secret. When I first got into firearms I was *very* uncomfortable talking about it. It was a result of my upbringing and the general Northern Va culture, that guns just weren't talked about. I am sure I am not the only one. I have gotten over that now, but we have to make sure that we keep guns in the modern culture where people never think to be uncomfortable talking about going to the range, or their latest firearms buy. We can have >50% of the population pro gun but if we never speak up then the antis can still have their way.

 

[Grey_Mana]

Ah, the state of Maryland has stricter gun control than the state of New York. Some counties in New York allow self-protection, since permits are issued county-by-county. No county in Maryland issues carry permits to regular law-abiding folk.

DC has stricter gun control laws than either New York or Maryland. New York City has stricter gun control laws than New York State.

Given that the graph's claim "most strict gun laws in country" is wrong, I can't lend credence to the rest of it.

 

[devildog32713]

I also offer my support, I can distribute (would like to actually) your packets, my email for further contact: devildog32713 {at} yahoo (dot) com think you have a good thing going.

 

[Cel]

Sign me up. How can I help?

 

[crossrhodes]

Sign me up

I like your approach. I'll help with the Vermont area as we have a lot of ranges up here and a lot of GOOD people that would do right by that type of grass roots program. Please PM me with the particulars.

Thanks.

Guns - out

Semper Fi