California/New York – -(AmmoLand.com)- California and New York are two of the largest states in the country, and until about two decades ago, had been if not Second Amendment friendly (with the exception of New York City in the latter), they were not outright hostile to the right to keep and bear arms. Today, they are so far gone that the former requires a background check to buy ammo, and the latter state’s governor is abusing his power to attack the NRA.
So, how did things get so bad? One big reason is that Second Amendment supporters lost the suburbs, and did so through strategic incompetence, including the failure to keep in mind how they came across. I have discussed this before – on many occasions, but the lesson needs to get through, and for a very simple reason: The media climate is very hostile to the Second Amendment, and as such, they will highlight the worst exemplars relating to the right to keep and bear arms.
This is why fighting smart is arguably more important than fighting hard. Simply put, we have far too many cases where bad advocacy for our Second Amendment rights ended up doing far more to harm the cause than to help it. Look at the saga surrounding Ask Amy, where an advice columnist advised her 22 million readers to put hatred of the Second Amendment over loving their children: Some well-meaning people allowed their (understandable) anger to overcome self-control and spouted off in responses. Worse, some weapons-grade idiots sent threats. In both cases, this bad advocacy not only enabled “Ask Amy” to double down on Second Amendment hatred, those who made the threats became fodder to argue for more infringements on our rights.
Of course, by pointing out the counter-productivity of what can charitably be described as poorly thought out Second Amendment advocacy, it draws the usual derisive comments of “Fudd” or worse. Not only is that untrue, but it doesn’t win friends, and if anything, makes the job of effective Second Amendment advocates that much harder.
Put it this way, folks, have any of Beto O’Rourke’s rants since the mass shooting in El Paso convinced you to change your mind on our God-given rights? If that hasn’t worked for a media favorite like Beto, then what makes anyone think it will work to advance our cause, which the media is hostile to? While the anger at the injustice that Dianne Feinstein, Charles Schumer, and Michael Bloomberg seek to inflict – the unwarranted deprivation of our God-given Second Amendment rights for horrific crimes we did not commit – is very understandable, if not channeled properly, it becomes a liability, not an asset, to efforts to defend the Second Amendment.
Second Amendment supporters need to ask themselves this question: Who does more damage to the Second Amendment, the person calmly thinking about how to best approach a given situation, be it a conversation with a fellow American, how to defeat upcoming anti-Second Amendment legislation, or how to help a Second Amendment support win (or retain) elective office, or the person who spouts off and threatens “revolution” if “they come for our guns” and denounces anyone who doesn’t dot every I and cross every T as a traitor?
In New York and California, we have seen the combination of media bias and poorly planned Second Amendment advocacy exacerbate a bad situation. This bad situation came about for many reasons. One was a failure to understand the fact that the other side played a very successful long game predicated on brainwashing Americans against Second Amendment rights. Far too often, we had tactical successes, and we have seen success over the years in moving the courts our way, but we forgot that we also had to build a pro-Second Amendment culture in this country. As a result, Second Amendment supporters face a social stigmatization that is intended to make them not defend their rights.
However, while things in those states are very bad, there is a chance to turn it around. Court rulings like the Duncan decision in California can help shift the landscape and give us a chance to explain the facts to our fellow Americans. In fact, over the short term, those may be the best chance to improve the lot of those who wish to exercise their Second Amendment rights in those states.
But over the medium and long term, turning those states around is going to require a lot of hard work. The gains won in a courtroom could very well be reversed by a packed court if Second Amendment supporters do not take the right approach and have pro-Second Amendment solutions to address the concerns of their fellow Americans after the court decisions.
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.
Unless gun owners get out and vote in force we are going to continue to lose our rights. I know many gun owners who don’t vote or vote democratic because of unions.
Amen you hit the nail on the head. Most are to lazy to go vote, same as in kalifornia. You look at overall voting numbers, they don’t add up
Amen brother. Exactly what needs to happen. Every gun owner needs to get off their butts and vote, send letters, email, call, join a pro 2A group like GOA. I find it funny when people say they’ll fight in a revolution because they can’t be bothered to show up to the polls I doubt they’ll show for a war.
Keep introducing new shooters to shooting as well.
Remember, “AOC” was elected with a 28% voter turnout.
“When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.” ~ Thomas Jefferson. “Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.” ~ George Carlin. These two aphorisms were true over two centuries ago in Jefferson’s time and even more so today.
The propensity to lock ourselves into the chains and false security of tyranny has been a collectivist human failing for millennia. I doubt that it can be defeated without yet again refreshing the “tree of liberty … with the blood of patriots and tyrants”. ~ Thomas Jefferson
Add one more to your intelligent and clever quotes: “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.” – Winston Churchill
This op-ed reminds me of the two people some years back dressed like slobs in a Starbucks wih rifles hanging over their shoulders. Okay, yes I know, but just because it s legal doesn’t make it pragmatic. Scaring soccer momms isn’t going to win any hearts and minds.
“The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government, …”
Each state needs to have its own Electoral College.
Democracy is for losers.
DEMOCRACY is ONLY used when we vote. That is, one vote per person and majority wins. The STUPID anti-America communist democrats say “our democracy” all the time to brainwash the uneducated Americans into thinking we have a democracy because the democrats gave it to us. Have your kids record (in secret) the lectures of any government or civics class. You will think you are in Russia 1946. Republican form of government means the PEOPLE are the power and must make all decisions.Those decisions are enacted through elected representatives UNDER CONTROL AND WITHIN THE BOUNDRIES of a Constitution. Americans have a… Read more »
62 counties; 7- 9 dominate the others. Yes, a “state electoral college” might solve the problem. … More immediately if the upstate freedom loving, gun owners would actually vote …
I’m with you on the voting. I registered to vote, when I was of age, I think I voted once or. Well anyway I lived in S. FL at the time, Broward County, and the county commission had proposed magazine bans, or something to that effect. This was before FL passed State preemption. Now this pre-dates all of the hyperbole that led to the Brady Bill / Assault Weapons Ban. So because of this me and a co-worker made absolutely sure we went and voted against this local infringement on what “…shall not be infringed” IIRC it passed as did… Read more »
Texas 254 counties. Three can control any state election: Harris (Houston), Dallas, and Bexar (San Antonio). Harris County is the largest in Texas and third largest in the U.S. Last year 40,000 American citizens moved OUT of Harris county, replaced by 30,000 immigrants. Next thing that happened: $115 million in FEMA flood control money was diverted by Harris County to new low income housing. Like California, three of the ten largest cities in the U.S. are in Texas. Also NYC population exceeds that of the bottom five of the ten largest combined. THAT’s why we need the Electoral College. BTW… Read more »
The Seattle Times says it is time to get rid of the Electoral College because it dienfrangises the votes of people and awards to the presidency to states in the south and midwest. I think there needs to be an expansion of the EC to states because of the example of this article. The most effective way to control the progressives is for the people to actually go vote. You have no right to bitch if you do not do your part in solving the problem.
New York and California are not the only state suffering from control of the major population centers over the small towns and rural communities (where the majority of the states’ populations live). New Mexico (or more appropriately, Santa Fe and Albuquerque) recently elected a raging liberal governor and legislature that passed and signed some of the most draconian anti-gun laws anywhere. However, the majority of the state counties declared themselves 2nd Amendment Sanctuaries and are not allowing those laws to be enforced. If the states had something similar to the Electoral College, where the all the counties have an equal… Read more »
Yes, it would probably be a great idea to take a look at elected servants who have taken the oath of office and lied about it, only to display a Tyrannical way of thinking. Since no one has been held criminally responsible for depriving law abiding citizens of their Constitutional rights, there’s only one way to correct such disloyalty to the American people..Vote them all out..all of them.
@Stripe, voting them out does not seem to be working, and there are other options. The National Command Authority could declare the state governments of Ca and NY in rebellion, and go kill them.
But that would be expensive. Maybe DJT could use his collusion connections to get the Ruskys to nuck NY city and the China trade deal could include nucking Excremento, CA.
Tough crowd this evening.
We will NOT! This is precisely why the anti-Americans like the current Gov. of Colorado and others want to dissolve or modify the Electorial College. THE REAL DANGER is the liberal morons fleeing these states for a better life in other states–pollute the politics because they simply cannot help themselves and now work to turn the new states left and worse politically.
Exactly. They ran from California, only to turn Colorado into East California. Now they’re working on Texas and Montana. I think the New Yorkers are what has happened in Florida–the first state to issue concealed handgun permits to civilians. D.C. was a tumor on Virginia, and now it has metastasized and the whole state is leftist cancer-ridden.
Unfortunately, when it comes to the game of politics, Democrats are smarter than Republicans, especially since their party has been taken over, during the past forty odd years, by acolytes of the Left. They succeeded in flipping large red states such as California, New Jersey, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and are on the verge of doing the same to Florida, Texas and Arizona. When has the Republican Party succeeded in flipping one blue state to red? The immediate future looks grim, not to mention that the mainstream media, as well as academia, are in full orchestrated mode to take down Trump and… Read more »
It is a far more appealing argument to the career welfare takers and chronically lazy to say “We will take from the rich what they owe you” than it is to say, “We’ll improve the economy so that you can get a job and a career and earn every dollar your work and productivity warrants.”
The Work party has no chance against the Freebee party.
@Bowser, Yep, that is one of the big reasons Romney lost. He said Your life will be good; we’ll get you a job, and terrified millions.
@wjd, Yeah, at least old grouchy McCain had Palin.
Palin was McCain’s ONLY hope, but the way he went about introducing her made it look like a circus act on live TV for the whole world to see. He presented her as an IT instead of a WHO!
@Wass? If the Democrats are so smart how is it that they got their party stolen out from underneath them since the assassination of JFK?
@Grunt, that is a good point. The Communist party ran a candidate for years and got no where. So they infiltrated the dnc. Now, they have control, funds, political operative structure, and unaware voters.
California is a one party government, how it got there was by mob rule and lazy conservatives.
This state, like others are controlled by citys with large population concentrations. State career politicians and bureaucrats would never submit
to an Electoral College type system as evidenced by democrats now trying to eliminate the Federal Electoral College. Term limits would solve some of this, but that’s not going to happen with lifetime politicians in control.
I COULDN’T AGREE MORE! The Left is using the same long-term strategy that was successfuly used in the LGBT moverment over the past 30-40 years. Consider the similarities: – USE OF MEDIA AND HOLLYWOOD: The LGBT agenda was viewed favorably and those who opposed were increasingly stigmatized. Consider how the media and Hollywood are impacting public opinion of gun owners. . – USE OF EDUCATION: Over time the youth were indoctrinated into viewing LGBT behavior as a normal alternative lifestyle. Consider how the youth today are being indoctrinated against the 2A; with increasing numbers viewing gun ownership as evil. –… Read more »
I’m still trying to figure out why people are having discussions around already known False Flag Active Shooter programs within FEMA/DHS ? We have the seen the Crisis Actors & Documents that do exist. Why are people talking circles about a Hyper-reality events ? Shouldn’t the real discussion be about why the government has these programs at all ? Didn’t Hitler seize power from his infamous Reichstag Fire ? I learned the term ‘False Flag’ in an American High School ? Surely Americans are not that blind or dumbed down entirely ?
More mush from the wimp.
Your freedom of speech allows you equally to burn a Bible or a Koran on YouTube. Which would you be more concerned doing?
It’s because there’s a difference between how Christians and Muslims “come across.” Think about that.
We need to be similarly intense against people who want to abrogate our rights if we want others to think twice before doing it. That’s the only thing that works — not articles, not speeches, not debates, not statistics, not press releases, not votes, and certainly not smiles.
@Larry, would burning the someone’s holy book, or burning out flag be like dressing “like slobs in a Starbucks wih rifles hanging over their shoulders.”?
Gee, Bill, I don’t know… maybe it’s more like “walking around in broad daylight dressed in black with a black mask on and carrying a baton and a bike lock.” The Man never bothers those asshats, perhaps we can figure out how to get that kind of respect.
@Larry, I can see that I have not written clearly. My apologies. Just as the S. Ct upholds burning out flag is protected speech by exhibition, so burning the koran or wearing one’s rifle to Starbucks is also protected speech. And we should use it!
Internet warriors who think they are going to shoot their way to recovering 2nd Amendment rights are the BIGGEST threat to gun owners. They are lazy and cheap, failing to give anything financially to support those who through legal channels fight for our rights. They are also too dumb to get off their keyboard and find a political candidate, run for office, logistically support a pro gun guy in an election, work a phone bank, stuff envelopes or canvass door to door for votes. Instead they hoard ammo and post their molon labe fantasy quotes and stand back while others… Read more »
Chances are good that the history of Concord and Lexington will have to repeat itself in NY and the California Rainbow Socialist Republic.
The patriots of Lexington and Concord had the moral authority to violently revolt because they had no political options under a monarchs thumb. You as a US citizen with full voting rights,have the ability to petition your elected leaders, and convince fellow citizens of your position. Thus, you have no such moral authority to shoot anyone over gun rights. You don’t like the results of the people’s choice. Tough. Fight them politically or accept your losing. The author of this article is telling you to stop with the violent fantasies and get involved. You are enemies of the 2nd Amendment… Read more »
I think that if we had electorial college voting for governors in each state like do for the president things would be different.
Turn these states around? Seriously? I’ll save you time and let you know that that’s never going to happen. The United States is done. The goal now is to planning for a piece of post-America where gun rights and first world civilization can still endure. The Democrats realized decades ago that converting new voters was a fool’s game and decided to just import new ones. It worked, and now Texas will go blue forever in 2024 thanks to immigration (along with Arizona, Florida, and some others most likely). At that point, the whole election game is officially done, but it’s… Read more »
@Whisp, I’m sorry my friend but I have to disagree with you. “IT’s” not over until the LAST United States Marine is dead!
Take every DEMOCRAP politician from these two states, put them on a boat and send them to Venezuela or Cuba or maybe just sink the boat.
Texas lost some good public servants in the last election. The gullible Hispanics and welfare class fell for Robert O’Rourke’s story, but being too lazy or short attention span to actually read entire ballot, just pressed the button for straight ticket Democrat. Luckily there weren’t enough of them to put O’Rourke into office, and we still have Ted Cruz. I’m told the legislature has removed the straight ticket option from future ballots, but we’ll see. Something that makes it easier for Democrats seems like it would be hard to eliminate.
Straight ticket voting has been removed! Now if we can just get it across to the masses of dumbasses that we have to do away with ELECTRONIC VOTING! for some reason these people just don’t seem to understand and realize that through electronic voting the outcome can be manipulated from far-off countries like Pedophile Island? I joined the Presidio County Republi an Party and was voted in by board members as a Precinct Chairman. Since then the Republican party in Far West Texas is starting to grow people are starting to realize there is hope to turn things around. Bit,… Read more »
You’re right on!!
I have always wondered how come Most of the NY Governors are elected from NYC? During the 2016 Election Hillary’s victory party that was covered by the television shows, a mistake was made by NBC. Their camera accidently caught a Town Democrat big wig talking to one of his cohorts. What he said was we round up a bunch of street people and offer to pay them for the day, they have to get on a bus and vote for the candidates that they want. They are fed and bussed to as many voting
As I read this I was thinking that there was some merit to the argument. A few valid points were made. However, upon finishing it I felt the urge to dismiss the whole thing out of hand. Why, you ask? Because as I scrolled past the end I saw who authored it. Harold Hutchinson, the yellow coward so willing, No not willing, EAGER to capitulate and surrender bits and pieces of our rights to avoid upsetting the opposition. He is a perfect example of just the type of the strategic incompetence he speaks of. His deliberately obtuse defense of the… Read more »
Something’s going on. I think the NRA has sent out payoffs or threat-men. Recently, a few radio and publishing personalities have softened on the NRA scandal (which has not been resolved even 1%). Mark Walters of Armed American Radio sent “mad props to the NRA” for moving the directors meeting back to DC. He even credited them with some successes that they had nothing to do with. I don’t know if it’s threats or bribes, but the totally corrupt NRA and its top management needs to be put out of business and people jailed for Federal Income Tax evasion. They… Read more »