Do we need to spruce up our image?

[kwguy]

I would argue the amount of money the NRA spends from its enormous budget on the above activities is disproportionately small compared to the ILA wing.

I'm totally ok with that. When it comes right down to it, having a good or bad image is not what gets things done on Capitol Hill, it's the ability of the NRA to effectively lobby on the political level on behalf of the RKBA.

I wish that logic, history, and common sense would prevail when it comes to defending our 2a right, but sadly, that's not the case. The NRA (ILA) folks know this, and deal with the situation as it is, not as they wish it to be.

We can spend all of our energy 'sprucing up' our image to win hearts and minds, but it won't do any good against the anti's that know how to lobby and swim the political waters to push their agenda. NRA-ILA knows how to get things done in that arena, and in the end, when the legislation starts, that's the only thing that matters.

 

[bikemutt]

We can spend all of our energy 'sprucing up' our image to win hearts and minds, but it won't do any good against the anti's that know how to lobby and swim the political waters to push their agenda. NRA-ILA knows how to get things done in that arena, and in the end, when the legislation starts, that's the only thing that matters

The antis have figured they will get nowhere at the federal level, that is why they are taking the battle directly to individual states. The instant I saw ballot measure I-594 here in WA I knew they were on to something. Next up is they will use the initiative's landslide result to bully the state legislators into further action, if they meet too much resistance there, it will be back to the ballot initiative for round two.

 

[steelerdude99]

The antis have figured they will get nowhere at the federal level, that is why they are taking the battle directly to individual states. The instant I saw ballot measure I-594 here in WA I knew they were on to something. Next up is they will use the initiative's landslide result to bully the state legislators into further action, if they meet too much resistance there, it will be back to the ballot initiative for round two.

If anything was learned from I-594, it's that gun control initiatives should be fought against as much as gun control laws. If the initiative must occur, the next fight is the "ballot wording". The I-594 ballot said Universal Background Check (UBC), the text of the law saws, "UBC", "use tax" and "Just about" every non-immediate family "transfer" needs a UBC.

Rather than rehash the argument here on the "Do we need to spruce up our image" thread ... see "WA I594 Injunction filed" as part of this same forum (Social Situations > Activism) thread. Hopefully the lawsuit will succeed and will make I-594 moot.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=769725

Text of the suit at link below:

http://www.thegunmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/NWSSvFergie.pdf

chuck

 

[Johnny_B_Goode]

From what I am hearing many people in WA didn't know what bill they were voting for. The constant wave of commercials are confusing. I hope we learned something in WA, do not make things confusing for the voters. If a group gets an anti gun initiative on the ballot, do not put a pro gun initiative on the ballot as a knee jerk reaction. Just keep it simple, with an advertising campaign that point out the lies.

I cannot keep up with the bill numbers that were on the ballot in WA. I doubt anyone other than extremists on either side could either.

 

[hso]

Since the Antis are shifting their attention to the state level it actually makes improving our image at the grassroots level even more important. The phrase "All politics is local" becomes more important these days when Colorado and Washington initiatives can be advanced to push the Anti agenda like dominos. If the public, all members of the public, in a state already think of gun owners and shooting enthusiasts as people working within the community to help the community it makes it much more difficult for Bloomberg and his paid stooges to come in and undermine that trust.

 

[Johnny_B_Goode]

We cannot just spruce up our image. The media, entertainment industry and the education system are doing all they can to paint gun owners as bad people. Look at the job they have done on hunters. Every time a picture of a celebrity or a media personality with a game animal they have taken is posted on Facebook you see hundreds of negative comments.

Yet hunters preserve more wildlife than any private group. When someone kills a lion in Africa they pay a large fee that protects the lions from poachers and reimburses farmers for their losses. If it was up to the anti hunters our national treasures would be sold off. Ducks Unlimited would be shut down without a plan to preserve the millions of acres of duck breeding areas that ducks unlimited maintains.

Now gun owners are under fire. Someone wants to limit everything gun owners use from human shaped targets to weapons we use to defend ourselves. Another group is trying to paint gun owners in every negative light possible.

 

[Frank Ettin]

We cannot just spruce up our image. The media, entertainment industry and the education system are doing all they can to paint gun owners as bad people....

Of course we can spruce up our image. It's not about the media or education system. It's about how our neighbors, our co-workers, the folks in our communities, the people at the mall, etc., see us as gun owners.

Each of us can do what it takes to be a good ambassador for gun owners and the RKBA. We can do things to help build an image of gun owners as sober, rational, intelligent, responsible, and active participants in the affairs of our communities -- and dispelling the negative stereotypes many members of the public have of gun owners.

Here's a hint: some of the chest thumping, blood lust, invective, and disparagement we see on this and other forums doesn't help. Denigrating non-gun people as "sheeple" doesn't help. Referring to States having restrictive gun laws as "Nazi" or "Commie" doesn't help. These sorts of things just reinforce all the negative stereotypes non-gun people have about us. By all means, let's express our objections and vehement disagreements, but let's learn to do so in more professional ways.

 

[Johnny_B_Goode]

Of course we can spruce up our image. It's not about the media or education system. It's about how our neighbors, our co-workers, the folks in our communities, the people at the mall, etc., see us as gun owners.

Each of us can do what it takes to be a good ambassador for gun owners and the RKBA. We can do things to help build an image of gun owners as sober, rational, intelligent, responsible, and active participants in the affairs of our communities -- and dispelling the negative stereotypes many members of the public have of gun owners.

Here's a hint: some of the chest thumping, blood lust, invective, and disparagement we see on this and other forums doesn't help. Denigrating non-gun people as "sheeple" doesn't help. Referring to States having restrictive gun laws as "Nazi" or "Commie" doesn't help. These sorts of things just reinforce all the negative stereotypes non-gun people have about us. By all means, let's express our objections and vehement disagreements, but let's learn to do so in more professional ways.

I really wish I could agree with you. But I have tried being a good neighbor to people from a different background than I came from. I am a redneck and I am proud of it. I worked my tail off for everything I have.

A subdivision was built next to my property. Most of the residents are northern transplants. At first I let their kids play in my field. Didn't say a word when they rode their 4 wheelers and dirt bikes on my property. One day I was out in my field shooting my rifle minding my own business. Here comes half the neighborhood to inform me that it is against the rules of their POA to shoot guns in the neighborhood. At first I was niave enough to think these people didn't understand how a POA works. Only homes that belong to the POA are affected by it. I tried to talk calmly to them. They started calling 911 when I shot my guns. I had a sound barrier close to 600 yards put up and I posted my property. When I had their kids arrested for trespassing I became an ignorant redneck.

Yup, I am stupid redneck but I got my property zoned as a private range. They had an opportunity to protest my proposal. I put an advertisement in the local paper stating my intentions. None of them showed up at the public meeting. But once the SD informed them I had a private range that was open from 9am until 10pm seven days a week they went nuts. One them actually shot their own house and blamed me. Nothing ever came of it.

God says I have to forgive those people but he didn't say a word about making friends with them. If being friends means they get to tell me what I can do on my own property I don't need any friends.

 

[GAMEOVER44]

It crossed my mind how easily the electorate traded our freedom for what they perceive as better security

”People willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both.” -Ben Franklin

 

[hso]

JBG,

I wonder if you've missed the point. The ways people have already outlined in this thread carrying out public efforts making ranges, shooters and gunowners consciously more visible as "good citizens" are entirely different than just being good neighbors. Toy drives at Christmas, school supply drives for scholls, heck Turkey Shoots for Turkey Day donations all looking for public recognition make good local news that show us to be good citizens undermining the Antis claims we're a bunch of cranky rednecks.

 

[45223]

Good gun deeds never make the news...it goes against the liberal narrative. They don't want to show the good that guns and gun people do.

We simply need to take back the media. I wasn't alive back then but I've watched some old 1950s and 60s era commercials/PSAs and it's hard to figure out how and why things changed so drastically. Maybe Mccarthy was right, the commies really did infiltrate and sabotage our culture. Or I'm just a kooky paranoid conspiracy theorist like people accused him of being. Although I think if they could see the way society is now days they would have rethought their statements.