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Swing for the Fences -  Signs Are Good For Big Gains In Gun Rights
By Jeff Knox

FirearmsCoalition.org

Manassas, VA --(AmmoLand.com)- In politics, like baseball, there is a time to bunt and a time to swing for the fence.

This year is ripe for home runs. The political climate this year offers a unique opportunity for rights advocates to make major gains – both legislatively and politically.

To make those gains we need to pull out all of the stops and go big.

The election of Scott Brown in Massachusetts was clear proof that voters are unhappy. Politicians who were already concerned about disgruntled voters are now terrified as they look toward the November elections. Pundits and analysts can spin the Brown victory any way they wish but the facts are clear.

Voters are not happy with the way Democrats have exercised control of both houses of Congress and the Presidency. The backlash won’t stop at congressional elections and the local politicians know it. Many state legislators rode the wave of Democrat ascendancy to gain control of their state legislatures and as they watch that wave crashing on the rocks, they know they have a serious fight on the way this November.

Rights groups go to great lengths to maintain a non-partisan position, supporting and endorsing candidates based on their positions rather than their party affiliation. But the fact is that the official position of the Democrats is to restrict firearms while the official position of the Republican Party is to support individual gun rights. That means that Democrats being in trouble is good news to the rights movement. The trend is anti-incumbent with an emphasis on Democrats so all of those politicians coming up for reelection, regardless of party affiliation, are desperate to make friends and avoid stirring up enemies.

What this means for grass roots rights activists is unprecedented influence. Few issues can stir up more voters than the gun issue – and unlike most other hot-button issues, only one side of the gun issue can deliver large numbers of voters – our side. In 2004 the Democrats downplayed “gun control” for the first time since the assassination of NRA Life Member John F. Kennedy. Since the Kerry run for the presidency, Democrats have carefully tiptoed around the gun issue, offering lip-service to both sides of the fight, declaring support for the Second Amendment, and using back-room deals and parliamentary tricks to quietly sideline all but the most innocuous gun bills. The strategy has worked well, effectively neutering pro-rights forces by lulling GunVoters to sleep. Well GunVoters are not asleep this year, but without clear votes on major, well publicized gun legislation – either pro or anti – there will be little to energize and activate them leading into the November elections.

2010 is the year to change the trend.
With politicians scrambling for support wherever they can find it, rights activists are finding a warmer reception in more political offices than ever before. Republicans are ready to actively back much stronger pro-rights legislation than they have been willing to support in the past and pro-rights Democrats are more willing to demand that their party leaders give them an opportunity to go on the record with pro-rights votes they can use to bolster their support with the GunVoters back home.

This is a strategic opportunity. This is the year to introduce and force record votes on bold pro-rights legislation. In this environment, getting critical votes is more likely than in recent years and the chances of passage are as good as anyone has ever seen. But the real beauty is that even if pro-rights legislation fails, as long as we get the record vote, we win!

Having a clear record vote on a strong, widely supported rights bill provides ammunition needed to stir up our troops and get them involved in working to defeat those who voted against us. It allows GunVoters to take credit when those politicians are replaced by new folks who are more rights-friendly. A new legislature with new leadership and a bunch of new politicians who owe a debt of gratitude to GunVoters is unlikely to take a chance on offending that important support base when the same (or an even better) pro-rights bill is introduced next year.

The bases are loaded and we have players in the outfield who have bet heavily on our team. This is a game-changer moment. It’s not a time to bunt. We need to swing for the fences. Taking an easy single – getting some marginal tweak to bad legislation – might be an easy score, but it would also give cover to the enemies of the Second Amendment. Now is not the time for timid, baby-step proposals. 2010 should be a year of rights activists swinging for the fences in every state legislature in the country.

About:
The Firearms Coalition is a loose-knit coalition of individual Second Amendment activists, clubs and civil rights organizations. Founded by Neal Knox in 1984, the organization provides support to grassroots activists in the form of education, analysis of current issues, and with a historical perspective of the gun rights movement. The Firearms Coalition is a project of Neal Knox Associates, Manassas, VA. Visit: www.FirearmsCoalition.org

Filed under: Expert Articles, Gun Rights News by AmmoLand No Comments »

A Lot of Work to Do Preaching To The Firearms Choir
By Jeff Knox

FirearmsCoalition.org

Manassas, VA – -(AmmoLand.com)- I recently wrote about the need for preaching to the choir – too many of our own friends, family members, and fellow shooters are woefully uninformed about the fight for liberty.

A chance conversation in a hardware store this week really brought home just how much work there is to do beyond the choir room doors. At the hardware store I got into a conversation with a fellow shopper. As conversations with me tend to do, it wasn’t long before we were talking about guns and gun laws. The fellow’s wife had joined the conversation by this time and while his reaction was troubling, her reaction was down right scary.

This was a nice couple in their 50’s, fairly conservative, into classic cars, and in the market for a .38 for home protection. They were not loony-tune lefties by any means. They also mentioned a good friend who owns many guns and reloads. The conversation rolled along smoothly until the topic of “Uzi’s and machineguns” came up.

As you can imagine, it wasn’t me talking about “Uzi’s and machineguns.”

I explained that there is little difference between an Uzi and any 9mm handgun or carbine and that legal machineguns are virtually never used in crime. That so called “assault weapons” are also rarely used In crime and that millions and millions of them are owned and used every day without hurting anyone. That the Second Amendment isn’t about duck or deer hunting, it is about being able to defend yourself, your family, your community, your state, and your country.

That is when the woman said something really chilling. She said that those crazy people who want all of those military weapons and think they have a right to that kind of capability just infuriate her and scare her to death and even though she doesn’t think people should have machineguns, those crazy people make her wish she had a machinegun to just shoot them all.

What on earth do you do with something like that?
I explained that those “crazy people” weren’t radical nut-jobs hoping for an opportunity to shoot a terrorist. They are ordinary people – her neighbors – who believe they have a right and an obligation to be prepared to defend our way of life. I told her that those guys aren’t “those guys,” they are me. I tried to get her to understand that these gun owners are asking nothing more than to be left alone, and that trying to disarm them for no reason would result in tragedy. Nothing I said could penetrate her resolve or her husband’s support for her position. She was absolutely convinced that no one should “be allowed” to own more than a couple of guns or more than a little ammunition and that anyone who refused to conform to such restrictions deserved whatever they got in the way of government agents forcing compliance.

The whole encounter shocked me. I have had arguments with anti-gun zealots over the years and their ability to ignore facts and embrace irrational fear has always amazed me, but these folks didn’t fit the mold. These folks were asking my advice about gun stores and training, but they were ready to employ the Marines to forcefully disarm – or kill – people like me.

I’ve talked with conservatives who just didn’t get the whole “gun thing” and I’ve talked to gun owners who didn’t see why anyone should have an “assault weapon” or a .50 BMG or a little-bitty handgun, and I’ve almost always been stunned by their myopia. But this is the first time I have ever met a reasonable, thoughtful, intelligent person who was ready to declare war on her countrymen simply because they wanted to have the means to effectively defend themselves from just such an assault.

I have resolved that I am going to find a way to reach this woman and others like her. I am going to formulate arguments that will breach her hoplophobia and help her understand my position – and her own. At this point I’m not sure what those arguments will be, but I do know that it won’t be easy.

I’m afraid that there are a lot more folks like this couple out there. Folks who are afraid of me because I believe in the right to arms. I don’t know yet how I’m going to allay those fears, if I can allay them, but I do know that we need answers for these folks and we have a whole lot of work to do.

About:
The Firearms Coalition is a loose-knit coalition of individual Second Amendment activists, clubs and civil rights organizations. Founded by Neal Knox in 1984, the organization provides support to grassroots activists in the form of education, analysis of current issues, and with a historical perspective of the gun rights movement. The Firearms Coalition is a project of Neal Knox Associates, Manassas, VA.  Visit: www.FirearmsCoalition.org.

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