Sadly, American gun owners are a pretty apathetic bunch. Many believe that if it doesn't infringe upon their narrow field of the sport, they're ok if the government wants to outlaw machineguns, "assault rifles", "high capacity" feeding devices, etc.
On the one hand, I think the apathetic gun owners out there all deserve what they get, but on the other hand there are things that could be done.
Like them or not, the NRA is probably one of the best alternatives for those that want to write a check. I don't personally think the NRA has been that effective for what I care about the most (protecting the 2nd amendment, right to carry, etc.), but that still hasn't stopped me from sending them $500 every year for the last twenty years. I do believe that the NRA has some good shooting programs for youth and that will be one way to keep the 2nd amendment viable for future generations.
Given that there are about 80,000,000 gun owners in America, it's pretty sad that there are only about 4,300,000 NRA members. That's about 5.3%. There's probably a better way to think about the numbers, but assume that these 5% (4,300,000) of the gun owning Americans would be inclined to think positively towards a march on Washington (and that’s a stretch because most of us here at THR don’t think a march would be a viable thing). The typical response rate for a direct marketing piece is about 2%. So, one could theorize that out of that 4M+, about 86,000 would actually consider responding to a call to action for a march. Out of that 86k you’d have folks that would consider distance, time, money, etc. How many people would show up? Maybe 20%. So now you’ve spent all that time and effort reaching out to 4,300,000 folks and then had a turnout of about 17,000. You’d spend a ton of money reaching out to those 4M+ gun owners. The media wouldn’t help you to market to your audience – you’d be on your own in terms of dollars.
You’d also have to deal with the negative consequences of bringing together a bunch of activists. What about all the guys that would want to wear their Nazi and KKK shirts while they wave a rebel flag and talk about God, Guns, and America (and white people)? Even if it was only one guy, that guy would be a media sensation and would forever brand the American “gun movement”. Whether he would be a real life moron or a paid agitator is somewhat irrelevant to our cause.
Would you spend a buck to help? Sure, most would. Many much more. Think about those 80,000,000 gun owners. If each sent a buck to a specific politician each year, our cause could influence politics in a meaningful way. What if there were a pro-gun Senator that we wanted re-elected? $80,000,000 annually is a hell of a contribution to a war chest. I know we’ll never get 80M people to agree on anything. But it’s a hell of a thought, right?
The reality is that gun rights are being eroded in America and we apathetic gun owners will settle for more and more and more restrictive legislation until the 2nd is a distant memory. You’re kidding yourselves if you think your grandchildren will enjoy the same rights that we enjoy today. My take? The only thing that will reverse this erosion will be chaos of an unimaginable scale. As in the chaos of “One Second After” by William R. Forstchen.
