United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- When it comes to using our First Amendment rights to protect our Second Amendment rights, there is one particular mistake that far too many Second Amendment supporters are making. This mistake could very well cost us our Second Amendment rights – and the hardest part is that those who are making the mistake can even be defiant about said mistake, even as it unintentionally harms the cause they are trying to defend.
At the start of the year, when I asked Second Amendment supporters whether they had accidentally helped Bloomberg, it touched nerves. But there is a reason this question had to be asked then, and a big part of that comes from understanding Bloomberg’s anti-Second Amendment group.
While Bloomberg’s willingness to drop lots of money – as much as $183 a vote for his third term as mayor of New York City according to the New York Times – is what he is well known for, all too often Second Amendment supporters don’t look deeper. That’s a mistake – it confuses the tactics he pursues with the overall strategy – and his objective. Bloomberg’s group relies on fear in order to get Americans to support massive infringements on our Second Amendment rights. It not only capitalizing on the fear that already exists among millions of our fellow Americans, it tries to stir up even more fear.
Now, Bloomberg was not the first to stir up fear – for that, we can look to the Violence Policy Center. What he did was provide the funding to enable anti-Second Amendment extremists to mass-market the fear. It was a brilliant move. When Americans can calmly and rationally look at the facts, they reject restrictions on Second Amendment rights.
However, all the facts and the historical background about Second Amendment issues are of little good when you are dealing with a mother who is freaked out about the possibility of a mass shooting at her child’s school. They want something done – immediately. Bloomberg, of course, has his anti-Second Amendment snake oil ready to go… and the freaked-out soccer mom has been conned into becoming a fierce opponent of our rights.
Of course, to close the sale, Bloomberg needs to have someone scary for the freaked-out soccer moms to oppose. This is where far too many Second Amendment supporters walk into the trap, sometimes with belligerently declaring their refusal to comply. The reasons why are simple: They don’t consider – or don’t care – about how their Second Amendment support comes across. They do not have solutions to present to a freaked-out soccer mom who wants some sort of concrete action to protect their kids. They use techniques that turn off potential supporters. Then, in an era of media double standards, they wonder why we are losing ground.
Worse, self-appointed Second Amendment commissars compound the problem by assuring them that it’s not their fault that new anti-Second Amendment legislation passed, or that anti-Second Amendment extremists are now in office – the real fault lies with the NRA or with “Fudds” or “compromisers” – and the answer is to be even more uncompromising and to even act as if armed conflict is around the corner. They seem to think that making that argument to a soccer mom already freaked out about her kids’ school being shot up is going to really help our cause. It doesn’t, and it is well past time to say that.
It’s a version of Second Amendment snake oil, and too many Second Amendment supporters buy it. Second Amendment supporters need to be able to reach a point where they can use reason and logic to present our case. Sometimes that means limiting the short-term damage, or using smart tactics.
Bloomberg’s anti-Second Amendment extremism relies on fear to move forward. The smart move is to ensure that we prove his fear-mongering to be nothing more than a lie.
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.
Harold, let me tell you a little story. There was a time, long ago, when being honest, working hard, fearing God and trusting the government was the order of the day. Then, one day this small group of people began to cry out a warning that all those things we believed in wasn’t going to be enough to protect our God given rights. Wake up they said. But almost everyone felt the government wouldn’t do that to us. As we cogitated and discussed the problem, our rights were infringed. The government said, trust us, we aren’t after your guns this… Read more »
Harold, You are right that Bloomberg relies on fear. You are right to think that he appeals to “freaked-out” soccer Moms. You are wrong in thinking that acting passively or genteely will change the Soccer Moms’ feelings or adversely affect Bloomberg’s methods. You cannot change fearful peoples’ minds. They aren’t using their minds, they are in fight or flight mode and reasoning has left the building. Your reasoned methodology is a defensive one and as anyone can tell you, defense doesn’t make for a win, all it does is slow the loss. There comes a time when you have to… Read more »
Harold, There IS NOT ONE INFRINGEMENT of MY RIGHTS which is acceptable. As Americans WE HAVE HAD the RIGHT of DEFENSE of OURSELVES, BEFORE the Constitution was penned. The Second Amendment only REAFFIRMS and RESTATES OUR RIGHTS. The Second Amendment puts a binding RESTRAINT AGAINST governmental offices in America or on American controlled areas.
The Second Amendment RESTATES that WE, as Americans, have the RIGHT to POSSES and CARRY a weapon of OUR CHOICE to DEFEND OURSELVES.
These people who want to abscond with OUR weapons, have not learned THEIR RIGHTS – – – THEY MUST learn!!!
Go Away Harold. Yes you have a Right to speak. Even if it is stupid speak. Fear is and has always been the Great Motivator. Governments use it. Courts use it. Politicians use it. Criminals use it. Why you might ask. Because it works. The 2nd A is and was put in place to defend against fear. It was also intended as a message of fear. To anyone or any government which tried to use fear as a tool to disarm or subjugateThe People.Keep Your Powder Dry.
So, the self-appointed Second Amendment commissar gives us the Dilbert excuse: “The NRA didn’t do anything in Virginia, so the NRA didn’t do anything wrong in Virginia either.” LOL. Bloombergs firestorm in Virginia was met by the NRA’s noticeable absence. The NRA was busy with trying to keep Wayne LaPierre and his cronies out of jail and making sure everyone in the know at the NRA is on the payroll. There is a convicted felon working as LaPierre’s right-hand person and the Chief of Staff had 2 sexual harassment claims against him settled with NRA members’ funds. While Harold is… Read more »
No Harold, using our First Amendment Rights will not cost us our other enumerated rights. Our rights were purchased from tyrants on a battlefield over 240 years ago. They shall be defended on a battlefield. All of the noise in the polls and the courts is just a distant prep fire for the next American Revolution.
Harold need to grow a pair–He is the kind of person who has softly given up our rights little by little -JUST Like the NRA !!
Selling more of your specious reasoning on why we should soften our positions? It all sounds good until you get to your ridiculous conclusions and paint no-compromise RKBA supporters as stubborn idiots who don’t know how to speak to others. Facts and logic, yes. Let’s hold hands and maybe just ban some stuff, no.
Harold, please go away.
If only we could get another pro-2A judge on the Supreme Court.
Harold you have really, really, really strange ideas!