Has an anti ever visited the board?

[Carl]

If so, how did it go? I assume that most members here are the good law abiding high road enthusiasts, but I believe that a few dormant posters might be antis that are trying to see what we're up to. Has there ever been a poster that started a thread for the sole purpose to argue against everything we support?

If so, links to threads would be appreciated.

 

[General Geoff]

Has there ever been a poster that started a thread for the sole purpose to argue against everything we support?

That's not an anti, that's a troll. And yes, we've had our fair share of them.

 

[Mags]

BTW I am sure anti's view the board without posting that is why we should keep our comments High Road. Take the gun owner vs property owner rights threads for example where many THR members proclaim they do what they want and carry where they want, just fuel for the fire.

 

[7.62 Nato]

A local site I'm on seems to be turning into troll heaven. Especially any conversations about Open Carry. Threads are getting locked. Posts are deleted. There are people getting banned. I believe that is the intention of some of the posters on there. Either that or this is the next step from their video games and they think it's just another game.

 

[mcdonl]

I know many anti's, and they are sometimes hard to find... They typically take the "I support your RKBA....." BUT... it is usually followed by "I have no problems with you hunting with grandpa's old shotgun" or "It is the handgun epidemic that is the problem...."

I see, meet and deal with them a lot. I usually just let them know that the NCAA, The Olympics and many local/national organizations offer competitive pistol matches and that usually calms them down.

Then, when I mention that as a responsible gun owner, CCW holder I practice for proficiency, study the local laws and practice awareness, avoidance and de-escalation tactics (Something they have never heard of....) that usually either shuts them up or relegates them too... yeah, well... (Pull a number out of your arse) kids die each year from firearms... and I laugh and leave when they get heated.

 

[geekWithA.45]

Has an anti ever visited?

Yes.

At one time, there was a THR library, which had links to memorable threads in which antis were engaged with reason and fact, to the high credit of all board members.


Eventually, though, that wore thin, and the policy tended towards simply banning trolls.

On the other side of the equation, we were also once invaded by white supremacists, seeking sympathy and recruiting for members, and they found neither.

These days, the main activity of groups less than sympathetic to gun rights is an mild invasion by a false flag organization (AHSA) seeking to implement their wedge strategy. The hallmarks of such are:

* The alleged radical nature of the NRA. (As if!)
* The alleged pro gun credentials of the current federal executive (Ha!)
* The alleged reasonableness of various forms of gun control advocated by other blatantly anti-gun organizations. (Because, you know, nobody needs an AK to go hunting.)

 

[hso]

Plenty of times. We have some members that are antis. They don't always show their colors right away, but eventually they all get around to pushing their agenda.

 

[ljnowell]

There was one just recently on the gunshow loophole topic. It was pretty obvious that we either had less that level headed thinkers, or some blatent anti's.

 

[Odd Job]

An anti doesn't have to be a troll. It can also be a young'un who has been fed bad information, or someone who just doesn't believe in the things we do for whatever reason. Their posting style and agenda determines whether they are a troll, not whether they are anti or not.
I've seen several here. Earl McDowell was the most entertaining

 

[Deanimator]

Agents provocateurs from AHSA hit this site regularly, as recently as this weekend in fact. As someone else noted, check out the "gun show loophole" thread in Legal.

There are enough of us here who've been debating these issues for twenty years or more, that the shills don't last long. In fact, I know what they're going to say before they say it. I haven't heard a "new" argument from them in more than a decade.

They come here for one reason and one reason only, to deceive the uninformed and the gullible. They're just like the neo-Nazis who throw out a bunch of "facts", hoping to hook a sucker or two. Turn the light of truth on them and they scatter like cockroaches.

 

[David904]

I'm embarrassed to admit that 20 years ago (in high school) I was an anti. I had no issues with pistols but I felt that there was no reason for civilians to own things like AKs or M16s.

I learned quickly though.

 

[The Tennessean]

I'm sure they are here and on any gun board.

 

[chibiker]

Has an anti ever visited the board?
If so, how did it go?

I made the horrible mistake of stating my opinion in a recent thread, yeah that gunshow one, and was branded as an anti.
It also got me lumped in with Nazis, elitists, racists, drooling dogs in a lab experiment... Oh well, at least it was all "high road".

Hope that answers your question.

 

[shockwave]

Since this board clearly has a strong libertarian bent, there will be some tension between those who might endorse restrictions on ownership for convicted felons, stalking spouses and exes, and the mentally ill, and those who want such individuals to be able to purchase machine guns, tanks and nuclear weapons.

And that tension is unlikely to be resolved through argument, as a policy of "no restrictions of any kind whatsoever on anything" is not open to discussion. So, if antis come here looking for good material to take back to Brady Campaign Chat or whatever, it's a bit of a shame that they're gonna load up with good ammo, as it were. Probably can't be helped. There are probably other sites people can go to if they want to debate 2nd Amendment issues, because this one is for people who enjoy taking advantage of that right.

Remember: Just as nobody who is a terrorist need be one for life, nobody who is an anti has to be one forever, either. Driving moderates off tarred and feathered probably won't help the cause as much as demonstrating the truth of your convictions.

 

[jfh]

you know, there's a flip side to this discussion--

e.g., "has a gunny ever visited an anti board?"

Some of us have done so--and been promptly thrown out, even with polite, but challenging discourse. Prototypical examples include The HuffingtonPost, or Democratic Underground.

Consider the 'comments' sections of notoriously liberal newspapers--where the comments are 'moderated'--i.e., controlled access run by (at best) editors with a bias. The LA Times editorial board is a primer example of this one. The Washington Post isn't far behind. NPR comes up next, I guess.

Then there are the various 'conflict-discussion' board--OpposingViews.Org is one I frequent. Most of these boards are well-covered now by pro-gun posters; if anything, the antigun sentiment there is naive and hopolophobic.

My impression is that we go farther here, at THR, in providing a well-moderated forum that allows for polite, well-written disagreement. If a poster has more than a typical orifice to post but is not running an antigun argument, and is well-reasoned in it, it will be tolerated--if beat upon. Antigun sentiment is at worst ridiculed, and at best, deconstructed well to expose its flaws. The discussion really remains between people of similar bent if not similar opinion, AFAICT.

Jim H.

 

[Deanimator]

I made the horrible mistake of stating my opinion in a recent thread, yeah that gunshow one, and was branded as an anti.

You made the foolish mistake of regurgitating AHSA's talking points verbatim and thinking that there'd be anyone stupid enough to fall for it.

You're not the first to try that here. You're not even the tenth.

"Reasonable gun control" is the same sort of scam as "reasonable slavery".

Nobody's buying it.

Nobody will.

 

[FIVETWOSEVEN]

Funny mentioning hunting with an AK, my cousin in maine does so.

 

[spartywrx]

Do antis have their own online message boards? Something like "TheLowRoad.org" ??

In all seriousness, do they?

 

[rm23]

I looked for something like that once and at about the fourth page of google results, I gave up. What could they talk about? It'd get mighty boring around there.

 

[Zoogster]

Do antis have their own online message boards? Something like "TheLowRoad.org" ??

Yes, but they started shutting them down when pro gun people came over and joined the conversation.
It was funny, the Brady board went from open to so restricted virtually anything posted was pre-approved.
They couldn't stand debating the issues.
Then they removed the ability to have any conversation from their website at all. It was too counterproductive for them to allow free conversation.



We get antis all the time. Some of them blatant, other subtle.
We also get people that do not see themselves as antis, but see the restrictions they have grown accustomed to in some repressive state or other far more restrictive nation as normal. And they actively support and encourage the spread of most of the restrictions they have known and become accustomed to and so think are normal and make sense. What would keep them safe if they abolished the draconian legislation?!

 

[Chemistry Guy]

It depends on the company you keep and your definition of an anti. Some people would call me an anti because I jump through the hoops necessary to get a concealed carry permit in Ohio, which is a form of "selling out" to an illegal/unnecessary procedure. On the other hand, my colleagues in academia think I am the farthest right most pro RKBA person they know.

Also, some people are pragmatists, willing to give up a little of what they really want to accomplish something, while others take a hard line and are unwilling to budge an inch, even if it means a breakdown in negotiations and a temporary inconvenience. The goals are similar, but the approach is very different. I, for one, am not particularly uncomfortable with the current handgun laws in Ohio. Is Vermont better? Yes, but the current laws seem to work, and by raising the issue I feel like we have more to lose than to gain. Does that make me an anti? Some would say so.

 

[Deanimator]

We also get people that do not see themselves as antis, but see the restrictions they have grown accustomed to in some repressive state or other far more restrictive nation as normal. And they actively support and encourage the spread of most of the restrictions they have known and become accustomed to and so think are normal and make sense. What would keep them safe if they abolished the draconian legislation?!

It's like talking to somebody from North Korea.

"Radios SHOULD have only one [government controlled] channel!"
"If you didn't need employer and police permission to move, there'd be CHAOS!"
"Food makes you fat!"

 

[esquare]

shockwave - Since this board clearly has a strong libertarian bent, there will be some tension between those who might endorse restrictions on ownership for convicted felons, stalking spouses and exes, and the mentally ill, and those who want such individuals to be able to purchase machine guns, tanks and nuclear weapons.

I'm going to take offense with this statement as I have not heard any true libertarian argue that at all here or anywhere else. Libertarians usually believe that you should have 2A rights that can only be restricted through due process. There's a big difference between that and what you have said (or implied), and I urge you to dig a little deeper.

As far as anti's on the board, I know some come just to have a good time, but some really do come looking for answers and we all have the responsibility of trying to point them in the right directions.

 

[SleazyRider]

"Difference of opinion leads to enquiry, and enquiry to truth; and that, I am sure, is the ultimate and sincere object of us both. We both value too much the freedom of opinion sanctioned by our Constitution, not to cherish its exercise even where in opposition to ourselves." --Thomas Jefferson to P. H. Wendover, 1815.

"Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it." --Thomas Jefferson: 1st Inaugural, 1801.

Yes, I'm a big fan of Thomas Jefferson, as well as a big fan of THR. Sometimes my two allegiances are at odds with each other when differences of opinion are not tolerated. Labelling folks as "antis" when they express a point of view that is inconsistent with the majority is but one of these instances.

 

[CoRoMo]

There are more than enough here. Irritating as all get-out, but what's even more frustrating are those who truly believe that they are pro-2A, but still wear all the colors of Sarah Brady. It never ceases to amaze me when I read a post that says, "I am about as pro 2nd Amendment as anyone you'll ever meet, but..." and then they detail how wonderful it is that the government restricts this from them or regulates that from us. Sickening.