Liberty1776
Member
Well, possibly you think you are being persecuted, because people are not agreeing with your opinion that people should not express their opinions...
that may be why.
that may be why.
Something not based on fact?TO MLJ fair enough. What I mean (and I hope you people realize this) is that it is bad to scare of potential gun owners and the only way we are to keep the gun culture alive is to bring new people in and introduce them to it and some might be less inclined to do that after hearing something that is not based on facts. I am not saying you shouldn't be able to say those things just asking you not to.
This may have been done before but I was just in the local gun store talking and picking up fishing licenses and one of guys I was talking to nice guy but was going on about this that and the other that the government does. It makes the rest of us look bad and may drive away potential gun owners who come in. So please leave out side the gun store.
You're absolutely right. Its embarrassing at my LGS. I can't tell who's crazier, the customers or the guys working there. If the salesmen are spouting this stuff to sell guns, I understand that, but the sheeple that shop there actually believe this stuff. I think the worst thing for the country is people running around acting on bad info.This may have been done before but I was just in the local gun store talking and picking up fishing licenses and one of guys I was talking to nice guy but was going on about this that and the other that the government does. It makes the rest of us look bad and may drive away potential gun owners who come in. So please leave out side the gun store.
Being levelheaded and reasonable is the most effective way to present our case to the gun control people.
I'm kinda tired of people bending over backwards and walking on egg shells to "not look bad". I sure don't see the antis trying to "not look bad". Stand up for your opinions whatever they may be.
BTW, the gunshop owner will kick out the guy if he's driving customers away.
Ha ha ...I'm not sure we'll see the day when there's a new bill in DC to limit the conspiracy theorizing free speech of gun shop clerks and customers, but I guess you just never know!But most people aren't patient enough to wait for the market to do its job, and so decide they'll move it along with a little nudge. Maybe a new law, maybe a new restriction, maybe a petition or some other way to control the speech of those who disagree.
Surely, and that's a fair point. On the other hand you do have to take some level of care about who you claim as allies. Some of the folks who will say they're on our side are the same nuts who publish long treatises about how the moon landing was all a big hoax or the gubbermint is releasing mind control chemicals in jet "chemtrails", etc...! It does us no good, and great harm to associate the intelligent, well-founded, and righteous movement for the full recognition of the right to arms for all people with moonbats whose antics are debilitating distractions from our goals and a lightning rod for ridicule and denigration.Sometimes it feels like we spend more time worrying about how we look and running each other down than we do standing together and fighting for the 2A.
Reference: 1st Amendment.
I try to keep the conversation light when there's new customers in the shop but to every man his freedom of speech is essential (and certainly not unwarranted during these times).
You just have to gauge who or who not to talk to, and what or what not to talk about. Do not make comments to people you don't know until you know enough about them to make them.
100% agree; just depends on whether or not they are your personal brand of crazy. If so, we call them kindred spirits. If not, we pull out the tinfoil hat condescension. Rorschach test!Oh, it would be a beautiful dream if, all across the land, when folks entered a gun shop they found it clean, well-lit, well-stocked, and staffed by polite, well-dressed, well groomed and bathed folks who know things that are true and who manage to limit their conversation to concise factual statements aimed at helping folks make wise choices and completing transactions in a timely manner.
Dare to dream!
But that just isn't real life, most of the time. Why do we care that it happens in gun shops? I mean, if you were to go into most any other establishment (barber shop, auto repair garage, accountant's office, the nurses' station at the local hospital, the police department ... probably ANYWHERE) and start quizzing folks about what they know or think they know or believe, you'd find an appalling set of crazy ideas, mistaken beliefs and convictions, lies they've swallowed from the "MSM" and politicians, and pet theories about the powers-that-be who are threatening the staus quo of their area of interest.
Is it any crazier to hear your local gun shop clerk spout off about Sandy Hook being an "inside job" to get folks to swallow new gun control laws than it is to hear your auto-body repair guy rant about how the EPA is in a conspiracy with big chains to try and drive small shops out of business with their new non-VOC paint requirements? Or the nurses to complain that TPTB are trying to force more experienced, higher-paid, staff out of their positions so they can fill them with bargain-basement low-wage labor fresh out of junior college? And on and on.
Everybody's crazy. We just get embarrassed when "our" folks show off how nutzo folks on "our" side can be. But there's little that can be done about it except on a shop-by-shop basis and then only if there's strong company leadership willing to demand better of the staff.
Are you saying ring-fence 1A? You can say anything you want at any time to anyone, so long as you are not violating the law or creating harm to the greater good (e.g., hate speech). Agreed with the discretion of a "you never know who you're talking to" philosophy, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't converse intelligently with your fellow citizens about any topic, you just have to be prepared for an actual response!You just have to gauge who or who not to talk to, and what or what not to talk about. Do not make comments to people you don't know until you know enough about them to make them. Then be prudent.
I'm getting one of this t-shirts ASAPI recently purchased a tee shirt from a favored ar parts supplier. The back of the shirt reads (I support a woman's right to choose) It has several different rifles and handguns along with the script. When my wife sent me for milk and bread she commented "your not going to wear that in public are you" well yes. She replied "don't get into any arguments with crazies" As you guessed these shirts were made in response to the Colorodo law makers who told rape victims that a gun would have not stopped their rapes and they should try vomiting or peeing on their attackers. I got several weird looks because I had a shirt withs guns on it. When I was in a checkout line one person asked what the meaning was of the shirt. I explained the lawmakers insults to the victims. I received a nod but could tell people have become uncomfortable discussing 2nd amendment rights. I feel with all the anti 2nd speechs blasting the airways. That most folks are afraid to speak out in public. We must collectively speak up with rational speech and facts. More people are murdered every year with hammers than with Personal Defense rifles or dare I say it "Assault rifles"
ALEX LARSEN - " ... the only way we are to keep the gun culture alive ..."
But...there are still lots of "us" out there that hit their local shop just to top off their tanks full of the weekly dose of crazy, to find validation for their own paranoia, fears, and prejudices, and to enjoy a rare safe haven where they won't be judged for their lack of critical thinking (or hygiene, fashion sense, manners, intelligence, or whatever other constraints the liberal, wussified world foists off on them out in everyday life).