Building a Pro-Second Amendment Culture

Hollywood – -(AmmoLand.com)- One of the biggest hurdles we face as we defend the Second Amendment is the fact that we are dealing with a culture that is somewhat hostile. It is not completely that way, but let’s be very honest – Eric Holder’s dream of “brainwashing” Americans against the Second Amendment has come a lot further than we want to admit.

Think about it like this: If you’ve held back on talking about going to the range when co-workers ask what you did over the weekend – or any other lawful activity involving your Second Amendment rights – you’ve experienced some of the cultural hostility towards the Second Amendment.

There are some situations that can be easily fixed. The present culture is not one of those. But it can be done. How do we know this? Because our opponents have managed to shift the culture themselves. Remember when people openly carrying rifles didn’t cause a commotion?

We’ve seen Hollywood and the media work very hard with anti-Second Amendment extremists over the years. The NRA didn’t get into the cultural engagement arena, and we’re paying for that now. There was once a small minority in the A-List who were pro-Second Amendment, including Charlton Heston and John Milius. Milius even made a movie, Red Dawn, that showed how our Second Amendment rights could have been relevant in the 1980s. Tom Selleck, star of Magnum P.I. and Blue Bloods, was a long-time member of NRA’s Board of Directors.

That is not the case today. Perhaps one of the biggest Hollywood names openly supporting the Second Amendment is Dean Cain, who played Superman for four seasons. Yet is he as iconic as Heston was in his day? Or even Tom Selleck? Meanwhile, today’s big stars are calling for gun control. The folks who make casting decisions are against our Second Amendment rights, too, and you can bet a blacklist is in place for those who are pro-Second Amendment.

But there are things that can be done to start moving things in a more pro-Second Amendment direction. This is a very long-term effort, and it will require patience. Some of it can be done locally. One thing is to be involved in local theater groups or encouraging family members with an interest to become involved. If they are properly educated, they can be excellent ambassadors.

Another thing you can do is to support pro-Second Amendment artists and performers, especially the local ones. How well they do can encourage others to follow that path, especially when they show courage in defending the Second Amendment. If they keep racking up sales, they will become more influential and will have an impact.

Yet another good thing is to encourage pro-Second Amendment authors and writers. When you think about how anti-Second Amendment extremists beat us regularly, it’s because many good writers in Hollywood turn their talents to assisting anti-Second Amendment candidates and issues.

The best approach, though, is to encourage those who are interested in working in the film, TV, and comic book industries to enter them. This is a long-shot in some ways – many will not become power players like JJ Abrams. But as they move up, they can at least counter some of the anti-Second Amendment messages coming from Hollywood.

Building a pro-Second Amendment culture is going to take a lot of time. It won’t be easy, but it is necessary.

About Harold Hutchison

Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.