MistWolf said:
Thanks for the unrequested lesson about your god’s will and your belief in it, but why is that directed at me? I’m not defending the vandal. I’m applauding open-mindedness, not close-mindedness. The victim here, the OP, seems like a nice person whose car was vandalized because someone mistook him for a bigot due to his NRA sticker. That’s wrong and not respectful of the OP’s property or expression.
It was directed at you because of your implication that some NRA members are not open minded because they have a conservative Christian agenda. ...
The problem isn't that people hold different views. The problem is when those people -- self-identified, or identified by others due to their hat, stickers, or presence at an NRA event or a shooting range as "the NRA" -- are unwelcoming or downright hostile to other sorts of people who don't share these sideline, unrelated, beliefs.
Wisco's point didn't appear to me to be that he attended some NRA function or met NRA members and tried to make them join the social justice movement, or tried to make them date people of the same sex. I took his point as when the members he had met got to know him a little better they turned hostile to him because of issues unrelated to gun rights and made him feel unworthy and unwelcome.
THAT is unacceptable. THAT is hostility to a fellow gun owner and gun-rights advocate. THAT has to stop.
I’m very glad you’re open minded, but all NRA members aren’t. It’s become a left vs right issue and the NRA has become a far right organization. I’m a pro gun guy, but I don’t do conservative social policy. Where does it leave me?
I won’t stand with anyone who doesn’t respect the rest of my rights.
The NRA should stick to guns. There’s plenty of other organizations out there to promote the conservative christian agenda.
You were imposed with the unrequested belief because you imposed your belief on others that the belief marriage should be between a man and a women is closed minded. You also go on to impose the implication that believing marriage is between a man and a woman is bigotry. That in of itself is bigotry. To think one can impose their beliefs on others and not be challenged, or not have the flaw in the logic of their presentation of those beliefs pointed out, is closed minded.
Ach. This "impose your beliefs..." talk. Gets so OLD from both sides. "You're a bigot!" "NO, YOU'RE a bigot!" "No, you're a bigger bigot than I am!" "NO! You're the biggest bigot that ever bigoted!" Etc...
Gawd shut it UP! Step back, breathe, and be thankful (to your god!) that there are people in this world who understand and support our gun rights, and it isn't just people who sit next to us in our pew on Sunday, or who dress, talk, and look like us, or cuddle with the same flavor of human beings we like to smooch on.
Be welcoming to them. That's all there is to it! Smile, extend a hand, and be eternally
grateful to have them on our side!
If you get to know them REAL well and it seems like you can have a productive discussion -- far down the road -- and you want to ask them about what they do or believe in a fair and friendly way, great. Do that, then, as peers and friends. Understanding that peers and friends don't have to be identical to each other, and that the goal is to understand and appreciate a fellow gun owner, shooter, and human being.
Not to drive them away.