Instead of spinning my wheels converting the antis that I come across in my travels, I spend my time converting the people who don't know or don't care. In my experience, locally, there are few people who are actually anti. Most of them are people who don't know enough to care. They've never shot a gun and don't understand what the fuss is all about. They live in sheltered suburban communities with low (but increasing) violent crime. These are my prey.
As the "gun-nut" of our tight-knit office, people come to me for my opinions regarding news stories featuring guns, violent crime, etc. I've used this to slowly indoctrinate my co-workers into a "gun tolerant" atmosphere at the office. The word "gun" no longer causes facial expressions to change or blatant anti-gun rhetoric to be parroted. Now, the usual response is to ask Tim what he thinks, before going any further.
So far I have taken 9 people to the local range. While most of them can't be considered staunch pro-gun supporters, they no longer have a fear about the inanimate object they have now clutched in their hand and made do their bidding. In the process, they have also swept away many misconceptions regarding shooting put in their head by years of movies and TV. Among other things, they've found out that the gun runs out of ammo, they aren't easy to carry, and you don't usually hit what you're aiming at.
The reason I'm jabbering on about it is that the 10th person at my current workplace has approached me and asked to be taken shooting. I'm trying to find out if I get some sort of plaque, belt buckle, or toaster.
Quick, grab your nearest "don't care" and take them to the range. The antis are looking for them, too...
As the "gun-nut" of our tight-knit office, people come to me for my opinions regarding news stories featuring guns, violent crime, etc. I've used this to slowly indoctrinate my co-workers into a "gun tolerant" atmosphere at the office. The word "gun" no longer causes facial expressions to change or blatant anti-gun rhetoric to be parroted. Now, the usual response is to ask Tim what he thinks, before going any further.
So far I have taken 9 people to the local range. While most of them can't be considered staunch pro-gun supporters, they no longer have a fear about the inanimate object they have now clutched in their hand and made do their bidding. In the process, they have also swept away many misconceptions regarding shooting put in their head by years of movies and TV. Among other things, they've found out that the gun runs out of ammo, they aren't easy to carry, and you don't usually hit what you're aiming at.
The reason I'm jabbering on about it is that the 10th person at my current workplace has approached me and asked to be taken shooting. I'm trying to find out if I get some sort of plaque, belt buckle, or toaster.
Quick, grab your nearest "don't care" and take them to the range. The antis are looking for them, too...
