If they take the position of, "there is no progun candidate, vote for a 3rd party or write in your vote," I will respect them. I don't go for this concept of voting for the least worst anymore like there is actually something to win by doing so. You are just voting to give a little rather than lose a lot. Stand your ground and let them go for all or nothing.
I think that the last time I checked the voting statistics for the recent past Presidential elections,
all of the third party candidates
together got about 1% of the total vote. (It would be worthwhile to check behind me because I might be remembering wrong: I checked about two years ago. So it might even be 2%.)
A vote cast for a third party Presidential candidate is mostly symbolic. It's a way to protest the major parties and candidates, I suppose. The trouble is that after the election is over nobody but the maverick voter remembers and nobody else cares.
Perhaps it's a way to build a cumulative effect of some kind but where Second Amendment issues are concerned you're like the condemned man who enjoys a great last meal before he sits in the electric chair. Once the switch is pulled nothing else matters and you don't get to order dessert.
That's the problem faced by gun owners. They can become former gun owners at the flick of a switch. Once your guns are gone they don't get un-gone four years or eight years later. I suppose that the spirit of a man who was executed might get some satisfaction if DNA evidence proves four years later that he was innocent, but he still can't have any pudding. He's history.
It's okay with me if you really think that I'm really wrong. But the quiet part of your mind should tell you that you're taking an awful risk when you bet the farm on a game of winner-take-all when the dealer names the game, makes the rules, holds the deck, and deals the cards. Talk all you want about how well you will play the next hand, but you're playing for keeps and once you lose that farm it's not yours anymore.
Vote for a third candidate if you want or sit out the next election if that makes you happy. Be sure that the anti gun forces will be happy too. In fact they would be
delighted if every gun owner in the country decides to protest in such ways
forever. All you're doing is make their votes count more.
As for that nasty "compromise" word, of course you don't have to compromise about
anything at all. When the switch is pulled you have the absolute right to say "I am not going to die and you can't make me." It's a great way to make a statement and everybody will applaud you for your principles but keep in mind that no matter how well you do it you don't get to do it again.
Politics
is compromise. That's all it is. It's a matter of
persuading people to your side with the joint goal of getting as many people as possible to go along with you willingly while weakening your opponents. You make your votes count and their votes irrelevant. Best is if everyone votes for you; next best is if your opponents voluntarily stay away from the polls; good enough is if you can get them to vote for The Simpsons.