Carrie Lightfoot the well armed woman
courtesy carrielightfoot.com

By Carrie Lightfoot

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.” – Abraham Lincoln

Sadly, we see our country becoming more and more divided. It’s heartbreaking to see division ripping our country apart. There are no longer conversations. It is literally impossible to discuss any issue without it turning ugly, even among friends, workmates, and family. Regrettably, the effects of division have infected so many areas of our life including the political, social, religious and cultural arenas and yes, in the fight to protect our Second Amendment rights too.

Any organization or community of people must be united in their shared goal to attain their purpose successfully or to protect it. They must lock arms, side by side with the core purpose protected within. Naturally, the people who share a united mission will be diverse, with varying opinions on any or even all other subjects and beliefs. They are committed and loyal to the core purpose, yet they must be able to honor and respect the differences amongst them. With unity comes strength, influence, and power. Significant accomplishments are achieved when we are one in purpose. The fruits of unity are so attractive, that new people are drawn to the cause. That is where our strength lies and what is required in the battle to preserve our Second Amendment rights.

To fully understand the importance of unity we must understand what division is, what it looks like, and the effect it has on us personally and collectively. To protect what we together and personally hold dear, we must fully understand division to prevent it from taking hold and wreaking destruction within the community.

What is Division?

  • The act, process, or an instance of separating or keeping apart
  • To separate into opposing sides or parties
  • Separation by difference of opinion or feeling; disagreement

Here is the most important thing to understand about division: It isn’t spontaneous or something that just happens to us. IT IS INTENTIONAL!

IT IS A TACTIC!  Division is a strategy to gain power, and it has a purpose.

This strategy has been used since ancient times. I am sure you have heard the phrase “Divide and Conquer,” it comes from the Latin dīvide et imperā and this tactic has been used throughout history. It is used to gain power and to control enemies and potential enemies. It’s rather simple, to increase power, any opposing groups must be divided and therefore weakened and must not grow in strength. The breaking up of existing groups that have power or influence is the key to gaining control. Additionally, we can see this play out with mentally unhealthy individuals as well. Narcissists and abusers divide and break up the other relationships of the abused as a way to control and manipulate them. They use this tactic to have or to get the attention or power they crave.

What does this intentional use of the tactic of division look like in our fight to protect the Second Amendment?

  • Gun owners and Second Amendment supporters are bullied and demonized. We are told we don’t care about children, or that we are terrorists. We are publicly ostracized and are losing the ability to do business or told our business isn’t wanted. At times, we are even physically threatened. Bullied people are quiet people who can’t grow in power. This is the goal of the dividers.
  • The pitting of one against another by provoking people or groups within the community to fight amongst themselves and to not trust each other. False accusations are made, and seeds are planted that the leaders of the Second Amendment community are doing something wrong or aren’t genuinely working for the collective best interests. This fosters distrust and jealousy amongst the ranks and yes, weakens our ability to stand and fight with strength, power, and influence to protect our Constitutional right.  When divided, little things become big things, and our common purpose is blurred. The result is our unity and strength are weakened. This is the goal of the dividers.
  • Our diversity as gun owners and Second Amendment supporters is being used as a tool to divide us. We see this tactic in the language and rhetoric being used that pits conservatives against liberals, Republicans against Democrats, and people of one color against those of another. Language matters and words are being used to divide us. This is the goal of the dividers.

Who We Are

American gun owners and Second Amendment supporters are people who believe in the right of self-protection from harm, by others or by a tyrannical government. That’s it! That is where we come together to join in the battle to protect this right. The battle is between people who believe in the people’s right to bear arms and those that don’t. Period! Our diversity is being used against us. Our differences, which is a strength of our community is being used by those seeking to create division by creating tension among us. They shine a light on the tensions that are naturally found in diversity and are using them as a tool to divide us. This is the goal of the dividers.

More Effects of This Division

  • The introduction of false facts and false accusations create distractions both intellectually and financially on the Second Amendment organizations and their leaders. This causes the organizations to spend precious resources, both human and financial in having to deal with multiple “side” issues. This keeps the organizations that we rely on off of the focused work on the primary goal of protecting the Second Amendment. This is weakening our power and influence. This tactic exhausts all resources. This level of distraction decreases the efficacy of the community and creates more opportunity to take the community down by dividing it. We are making the job of those opposed to our Second Amendment right easier. Their battle for power or control is won with less physical resources. Our Second Amendment community is weakening itself! This is the goal of the dividers.
  • Weak and predatorial people within are being enlisted and seduced. Sadly, they are willing to cooperate and assist with the division for some form of personal gain. Moles exist in almost all communities, these are the “me first” people who are in it for themselves and what they get out of it, not for contributing to the community for the unified purpose. Therefore, they are easy to seduce and entice into participating in the division. This is the goal of the dividers.

What About Us?

Regrettably, these tactics are being used against and within our Second Amendment community. Outside forces, influencers, dollars and the application of these tactics are weakening our ability to protect our precious Second Amendment. These are creating gaps in our chain of locked arms that our core purpose within, the protection of the Second Amendment resides. You have to see it too. People and groups that are forming cliques that are causing us to focus and fixate on details and sub-issues rather than our immediate need to just fight to keep our Second Amendment right in existence.

I am not judging these opinions and beliefs nor saying that they hold no validity. What I am saying is that now is not the time.  We are dealing with all of the above while we are trying to fight battles on EVERY possible front. Precious resources are spent in every direction while we grumble, complain and question them while we simultaneously “expect” them to protect the “core,” our Second Amendment. Yes, this is the goal of the dividers.

What Can You Do?

Please, understand the very real threats that exist to our Second Amendment TODAY. The midterm elections and even the 2020 Presidential election pose severe and imminent threats. Recognize the intentional use and the purpose of the tactic of division. My plea to you is to look for any evidence of division in your Second Amendment world and expel it. Then, lock arms in unity with your brothers and sisters in arms and let’s get to work together now to protect our common core, OUR Second Amendment.

About Carrie Lightfoot

Carrie Lightfoot is the founder and owner of The Well-Armed Woman, LLC and is the founder and Chairwoman of the Board of TWAW Shooting Chapters Inc. a 501(c)3 Non-profit organization. Carrie was elected to the National Rifle Association Board of Directors in 2018 and is an NRA Benefactor Life Member. Carrie was named by Newsmax as one of 2015’s 100 Most Influential Pro-Gun Rights Advocates. Carrie is a published author and frequent guest in national media. She is an NRA Certified Instructor  with multiple certifications and is an USCCA Training Counselor.

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108 COMMENTS

  1. Yea right. We won’t be divided as long as you agree with me.

    We all know Trump is mentally ill. He has narcissistic personality disorder. He cannot help what he does or says. And that would stand up in court. So now if we don’t genuflect to Trump we are the bad ones? This is how civilizations fall. It begins with a benign patronage of a mentally unstable leader. Moves on to a division of citizens. Then a claim (such as this article) that we all must align on one side. Then the killing begins.

    You don’t have to change. Survival is not mandatory.

    • The most common personality disorder these days is obsessive hatred of Donald Trump. He is to modern day Marxists what Trotsky was to Stalinists.

      If you see EVERY issue as somehow related to Trump, it’s YOU with the mental problems.

      Remember, if you can hear the “dog whistle”, YOU’RE the dog.

        • I never said Trump was ineffective. I never said he shouldn’t be president. But trump is like having a wolf for a pet. The wolf will be a wolf and it’s our fault if we think otherwise and get mauled. Trump doesn’t know the first thing about anything but that is what his cabinet is for. And congress must keep things in check. So telling everyone to agree is a recipe for disaster. But don’t worry. It’s also unAmerican and impossible.

          Disagreement is democracy action. If you don’t like it may I suggest moving to Saudi Arabia. I’m sure the king would happily do your thinking for you.

        • No you just jumped straight into the Trump is insane and will destroy civilization and killing people scenario. Like your reading from an ANTIFA pamphlet.

        • I am not judging these opinions and beliefs nor saying that they hold no validity. What I am saying is that now is not the time. We are dealing with all of the above while we are trying to fight battles on EVERY possible front. Precious resources are spent in every direction while we grumble, complain and question them while we simultaneously “expect” them to protect the “core,” our Second Amendment. Yes, this is the goal of the dividers.

        • At first, we only needed a little dolly so that people could show us where the Bad Policeman touched them. Now, we need one dressed in a Snowflake costume for the wounded in spirit to show us where the Bad Donald touched them.

          There are, obviously, people who post here who, akin to those that only post about the Evils of the NRA, have little thought for anything besides Donald Trump.
          When they mount their Good Lady Wives, Trump is always there, too. When they misplace their keys, it’s ‘Trump!’ Bad day at work? ‘Trump!’ Constipation? Heartbreak of Psoriasis? Cancer? ‘Trump!’

          Rather sad, really. Pity them; It’s all that we can do, as it’s only going to get worse.

        • Have you heard of Desperate Obama Defense Derangement Syndrome?

          http://ethicsalarms.com/2014/10/13/jack-ogmans-cartoon-and-desperate-obama-defense-derangement/

          In the case of Barack Obama, it is Desperate Obama Defense Derangement (DODD) that we are seeing. So horrible is the prospect of having to admit that this President is an unequivocal, incompetent flop by almost every measure imaginable that disappointed, panicked partisans in the media, the President’s party and bitterly disappointed hope-and-changers are resorting to obvious rationalizations, absurd analogies and insane arguments to avoid facing the miserable, depressing truth.

    • ‘We all know….’ What else do we all know? hillary is a murderous traitor. Check. Liberalism is a mental illness. Check. Antifa are the new brown shirts under the control of the democrats. Check.

      The list of what we all know is endless.

    • Does he have NPD? Probably. Did his predecessor? Yes. Did we survive? Yes. I’ve seen a very good case made that you have to have NPD to even run for president anymore.

    • “So now if we don’t genuflect to Trump we are the bad ones?”

      Yep. That’s pretty much it. But here’s a somewhat larger question: What aspects of our 2nd Amendment rights are you prepared to give up in order to get along with the other side?

      • “What aspects of our 3nd Amendment rights are you prepared to give up…”

        Well…

        I wouldn’t mind being quartered with Kinsey Bligh.

    • It’s hilarious and predictable that your assertion about Trump is in response to an article about stopping the bickering about meaningless crap, and which did not mention Trump even once.

      Normal Person: “Guys lets come together for the 2nd Amendment”

      NPC suffering from TDS: “Ahhhhh Trump is mentally ill and we are moments from gulags because of tweet rhetoric!!!!!!”

      But something something Trump is crazy ammirite

    • When someone states “we all know” something it goes downhill fast from there.

      Keep that in mind for the next post.

    • I believe I can hear CNN and MSNBC in the background—BearPaw….So maybe YOUR just trolling for the Deep State…Did SOROs pay you YOUR $15.00 hour, & $1.00 per worded political insults….?

    • Wow. Go figure. The very first comment is divisive, irrational, Trump derangement syndrome comment. Conservatives never got this insane during Obama’s term. Not even close. Liberals have serious mental issues.

    • Trump wasn’t mentioned in the article.

      What she means is “…shall not be infringed.”

      Let’s not allow them to play the hunter card, or the semi-auto card, or the NRA is a terrorist organization card, etc.

      Shall not be infringed means just that and we all need to stick together.

    • People who offer evidence including “Everybody knows xxx” are invariably liars, and they almost invariably know it and do it for evil purposes.

    • What a pathetic life these TDS people must have. They probably wake up in the night screaming “TRUMP!” While sweating profusely. Images of Trump must appear to them at random parts of the day leading to hyper ventilation and panic. I imagine them alone in a dark room staring into a picture of Trump obsessively until finally going mad and ending it all.

    • Bearpaw, so who would suggest we have as POTUS? Certainly since you’re obviously such an expert on that subject you are capable of formulating an opinion. Or is it as I expect, you aren’t capable of committing such a defining act? Trump was by far the best choice in 2016, he isn’t perfect, but given the alternatives we were given Trump is heads above all the competition. He is exactly what this country needs. His whole agenda is to shake things up and wake us to our rightful power of “We the People”. Now if you want to keep your head buried in the sand so be it. I think he’s doing an admirable job all things considered, and he’s doing exactly what he promised throughout his candidacy. He is comparable to any and all the great Presidents throughout this countrys history. Time to put your liberal ideology in the backseat pal and jump on the Trump Train. Hold on and enjoy the ride, because he’s just getting started shaking up the corrupt DC politics as usual.

    • Just remember what the Facist Liberals said before the election “You have to accept the outcome”. Even though the rigged election still wasn’t enough for them they are still crying almost 2 yrs later. It’s apparent they just can’t accept defeat. Can’t wait for Trumps re-election party in 2020 that’s when all the criminals (liberals) will really go insane thinking they could overtake the Govt & the people. That’s when the real guns will come out kinda like “the purge”.

    • Wow. Just wow. TRD is real.

      Being a liberal is so freaking easy. No research. No reasoning. No positions you have to defend. No support. Just popping off and name calling. And then pretending you actually have a point.

      Hey – cool Indian name you have there. Any kin to Elizabeth Warren?

  2. Ever read Leviathan, by Thomas Hobbes? Bellum omnium contra omnes.

    Or any of a thousand other works, modern and ancient, including religious ones. War is what we do as a species. We used teeth before the sword.

  3. It’s people like you Bearpaw, who make me certain this country can’t be saved at the ballot box. And I know many more are coming to that conclusion every day.

  4. The ones what be losing scream the loudest…who are the ones screaming now…the losers. We’re winning…shut up and deal, I’d lief be home by mornin’. -30-

  5. My plea to you is to look for any evidence of division in your Second Amendment world and expel it.

    I guess we have to start with the NRA leadership.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtGOQFf9VCE

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q47hkwpfaN0

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgMRP4KOALw

    All they do is tell us that traitors are trying to destroy the NRA and Republicans when these “traitors” are trying to get the 2A crowd on the same page of “shall not be infringed.” Members resist, when those “traitors” are trying to bring different groups together, by claiming diversity is cancer and a Democrat agenda. They mainly cater to the older generation over the black rifle generation. Etc.

    • ” . . .claiming diversity is cancer . . .”

      It’s is truly amazing how, in the midst of inadvertent commentary, great truths are revealed.

      • It was intentional.

        A lot of white men claim they are the rightful rulers of all humans throughout the world. That they are the supreme of all races. That women are irrelevant to progress and should only contribute inside the home. That their religion should be the way of life for all. And whatever else the Alt Right spew out.

        Without an actual diverse group you are limited… Group identity and group think becomes strong, which leads to imperial conquest and tyranny against the other. Progression of the human species becomes stunted by tribalism over ideas. The potential for great leaps in human evolution is artificially suppressed for the more intelligent and ruthless to maintain control over the masses.

        Good ideas are more important than your environmental mutations. You should rally behind the proper ideas rather than people that look like you. If you genuinely think white people are more important than human rights under law, you would return to your people’s ancestral homeland to retain its greatness. If you stay in America you are here for the ideas not race, ethnicity, gender or religion.

        I wouldn’t artificially limit the 2A crowd to white Christian males. Sure, that was the beginning of the NRA, but it could also be the ending. Same applies to the country as a whole. If you can’t get the proper ideas into the heads of everyone you are doomed because the only other option is war.

        You should know by now that Democrats pervert the definition of words as one of their tactics. They redefined “diversity” to mean something bad. They successfully manipulated you into tribal politics instead of protecting human rights with all like minded people. If you continue to believe diversity of people united for liberty is bad, then you are telling me to GTFO, which is obviously self defeating division.

        • Yep. This blood-and-soil racialist nonsense is as senseless as the SJW’s obsession with cultural appropriation. Cultures appropriate. People migrate and mix. That’s the way the whole human thing works.

          Hell, what we think of as intrinsically European is actually the result of a migration and mass-replacement/mixing that happened several thousand years ago in the stone age. These grievances and tribal ethnic identities are totally arbitrary in the big picture.

          The real question is what you believe in.

          And if we’re not willing to stick together enough to fight together for the core of what we believe in — the essential freedoms that stem from our natural God-given rights, the Constitution’s protection of such, and a government that keeps its nose out of the people’s business — then what we believe in will disappear.

        • A whole lot of drivel there.

          And to you “black rifle generation” That would be anyone born after WWII.

        • And who created Western Civilization? And most of the technological advances in the last
          300 years? And the Constitution and Bill of Rights? And the United States of America? White men.

      • And less than a week later… a shooting at Pittsburgh synagogue by a man who hates diversity:

        https://heavyeditorial.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/qioblzc.jpg?quality=100&strip=all

        See how it is self defeating? White man, who hates diversity, uses his AR-15 to kill Jewish people to save whiteness in America. I assume people like me will be next because these types of people don’t want us to repopulate America with the original Americans, they only want Europeans-Americans. Let’s hope he isn’t a NRA member because it’s obvious my family needs some black rifles.

    • Yep. Blame the NRA. Don’t even consider blaming the people actually at fault for all this shit. Just continue to blame and attack our own side. Sounds an awful lot like what a subversive liberal troll would do.

      • Amen brother. I swear Soros populates these responses with the best he’s got, and it’s a pretty sorry lot.

  6. Nobody, as in no one, has a natural, human and civil right to disagree with me about anything. Proceed at your own risk.

    (How’d that sound?)

      • “Nobody, as in no one, has a natural, human and civil right to disagree with me about anything. Proceed at your own risk. (How’d that sound?)”

        “When you put it that way, it sounds like the motto of Antifa.”

        Well, rats. I was trying to come off as uncompromising, stubborn, idiotic.

        Oh wait….I think I nailed it.

  7. The anti-gun forces are very much like the pro-slavery forces in the immediate pre-Civil War period. They can’t admit the corruption and failure of heir ideology, hence they must impose it on others everywhere. Slavery a lousy system in Alabama? Spread it to Kansas and California. Invidiously racist gun controls not working in New York? Spread them to Ohio.

  8. I respect you Miss Lightfoot. When your on the Black man with a Gun podcast, I learn from you.
    But the gun community is divided because most of the “gun community” does not know what the Second Amendment is for.

    It has nothing to do with hunting.
    It has nothing to do with your grandfather taking you shooting.
    It’s not about childhood memories of hunting with a father or mother.
    It’s not about trap or skeet.
    Collecting guns is not why we have the 2A.

    A big part of the problem is city gun owners vs country gun owners. And the different politics between the two.

    And sadly most are poorly educated on American history and gun ownership. Are they willing to learn? I don’t know.

    There is a difference between learning about guns and learning about the Second Amendment.

    I honestly do not know a lot about guns. But I do know a great deal about the Second Amendment and its history in the United States.

    • The great divide is between us absolutists, and other POTG (non-fudds). Absolutists recognize that any relaxation of “Shall Not Be Infringed” is always exploited by anti-gunners to reduce the effect of the Second Amendment. The non-absolutists look for ways to improve existing regulations so as to be “sensible” without being a complete cave. These “ways” include required training, waiting periods, “improved” background checks, “sensible” regulations for keeping guns from felons (all of them) and obviously mentally disturbed people, (maybe even blind people), open carry only, concealed carry only, national reciprocity, and the like. In short, gun owners have their own internal civil war. And we treat each other the same as we treat anti-gunners.

    • “And sadly most are poorly educated on American history and gun ownership.”

      You could have stopped at “poorly educated”. And that’s by design.

      The ignorant are easily led to slavery… or the slaughter.

      • “The ignorant are easily led to slavery… or the slaughter.” aka more compliant Sheeple who don’t know they have rights or what they are.

    • The Second Amendment actually is about ALL of those things. All of them together, woven into the universal, natural human right to the means of self-defense against criminals and tyrants both great and small.

  9. Our House and Senate have almost always been divided, by design. We the people have almost always been divided on many subjects, consensus is just a nice name for mob rule.

  10. Carrie Lightfoot : thank you for taking the time , and effort to write this article for TTAG readers. I believe every thing you stated is factual. Now if only people here would reflect on what you have said , maybe we as 2nd Amendment POTG can work together. We hold the 2nd tight , and do not let those that would disarm us win. I fear if that happens chaos will ensue. We have to stand together on this , or we will fall.

  11. I will continue beating the dead horse until it sinks in. Far too many people in our nation operate on whimsical emotions and Utopian ideals. Such people have no timeless truths and no timeless standards of right-and-wrong. They simply act on their passions, moment-by-moment.

    They are a proverbial ship without navigation charts, without a compass, and without a rudder. They are guaranteed to eventually crash onto a rocky shoal. While it is entirely righteous for us to attempt to educate them and persuade them, we must ALWAYS be prepared to handle the inevitable shipwreck.

  12. The quote is not Lincoln, it’s Jesus (Matthew 12:25, Mark 3:25, Luke 11:17), but to many Americans Lincoln is more of a diety than The one true God.

    • It’s pretty sad that this is the first comment to call out the true author of this quote, Jesus Christ.

      • “It’s pretty sad that this is the first comment to call out the true author of this quote, Jesus Christ.”

        My bad. I thought everyone knew.

          • “It’s pretty sad that this is the first comment to call out the true author of this quote, Jesus Christ.” My bad. I thought everyone knew.”

            “Who cares?”

            Thanks for tripping the wire.

            One could be considered naive for thinking 2A supporters would be studied in the history of the founding, the constitution, the history of the nation, the lives of the presidents, enough to understand historical references and quotations. Not knowing about that, and claiming to support 2A, rings a little hollow, doesn’t it? If all one cares about is “muh guns”, without a thought to the “why”, then that one is ill prepared to defend the constitution (all of it) against the wave of assaults against the constitution. In short, not knowing is irresponsible.

            I rather thought POTG would be steeped in the knowledge of what the founders gave us, rather than just sloganeering, thus “My bad. I thought everyone knew it.”

  13. I have NEVER seen, not once (and I very rarely use absolutes), seen someone calling for “unity” when they didn’t very obviously mean “stop arguing with me and just accept that I’m right already, dammit!” So kindly fvck off, Carrie. I respect what you do and I like your organization, but I will never stop arguing against gun control or stop calling out fudds. Caving into their kind will destroy us faster than division ever could anyway

  14. -Abraham Lincoln, quoting Mark 3:25. Having dismissed that there is absolute truth, how can some grasp the concept of natural rights? We can be divided on many things, but the relativist is a nihilist and will concede anything on your behalf.

  15. Marxism is incompatible with a Constitutional Republic. The Democrats are Gramichen Marxist. I want them defeated, destroyed, punished and banished from the Republic. I don’t want to work or come together with them.

    Why would you want to work with someone who seeks your destruction???

    • Most of America identifies more with the Democrat party. The youth are mostly Democrat. Woman are mostly Democrat. Minorities are mostly Democrats.

      You cannot kill or expel half the nation. You have to enlighten them and lovingly welcome them to liberty and self empowerment. Aggressive confrontation causes people to become strongly guarded, it pushes them to create a bubble of safety. The fear and distrust makes them react irrationally and with a closed mind.

      Government schooling and political parties have created this cultural problem that is destroying America from within. Republicans and Democrats have rejected the ideals of America and are using their schools to instill their corrosive ideas in the minds of the children.

        • You lose your country in war. You don’t only lose yourself and your family.

          You will be fighting for a Nationalist Socialist Imperialist party against a Globalist Communist Dictatorial party. I don’t see any winning there.

        • Gramscian — from Antonio Gramsci, an Italian Marxist theorist. Most of the people I went to grad school with worshiped the guy. He (and they) are the reason why we have the SJW’s unified theory of cultural oppression.

          Heck, this whola antifa thing is a reenactment of fascists vs. communists circa 1935. Mussolini’s fascist (socialist) government threw Gramsci in prison for being the wrong kind of socialist.

          You’re right, if this gets far enough it’s going to mean civil war…unless our side surrenders the will to fight. That’s what they’re banking on.

        • Partial poem by Ezra Pound (Sestina Altaforte) .

          “The man who fears war and squats opposing
          My words for stour, hath no blood of crimson
          But is fit only to rot in womanish peace
          Far from where worth’s won and the swords clash
          For the death of such sluts I go rejoicing;
          Yea, I fill all the air with my music.

          VI

          Papiols, Papiols, to the music!
          There’s no sound like to swords swords opposing,
          No cry like the battle’s rejoicing
          When our elbows and swords drip the crimson
          And our charges ‘gainst “The Leopard’s” rush clash.
          May God damn for ever all who cry “Peace!”

          VII

          And let the music of the swords make them crimson!
          Hell grant soon we hear again the swords clash!
          Hell blot black for alway the thought “Peace”! ”

          Ezra Pound

  16. Pathetic responses here. To the absolutists: YOU ARE THE PROBLEM. You are why we can’t have nice things. Why? Because you torpedo any possible progress.

    You’re like the Bernie supporters. No, America great s not going to go Socialist, but the Bernie Bros were so dead set on the purity of their cause that they fought Hillary every step of the way… And the result is that Trump was elected.

    The Bernie Bros got their worst possible outcome, because they would not get behind the only obvious choice that would get them CLOSER TO THEIR GOAL.

    You’re like abortion supporters who will only settle for free, government subsidized abortion on demand up to and including the day of birth. If a candidate came along offering abortion on demand up until the last week of gestation, you’d fight against him, even though the only alternative might be an abortion abolitionist candidate.

    You’re like a quarterback whose only play is to throw for the end zone on EVERY SINGLE DOWN. Think that’s a winning strategy? Try it sometime, let’s see how it works out for you.

    Please pull your heads out of your asses and learn to evaluate things on a more practical basis: does this action lead us CLOSER TO the ultimate goal of true liberty? Or does it lead us farther away?

    Incremental gains are still gains. And cutting your nose off to spite your face is about as stupid and pointless a gesture as immolating yourself to make a point. You’re virtue signallers, and you’re hurting the cause of regaining liberty.

    • “Pathetic responses here. To the absolutists: YOU ARE THE PROBLEM. You are why we can’t have nice things. Why? Because you torpedo any possible progress.”

      And the non-absolutists have achieved….what? Slow loss of constitutional rights?

      BTW, the use of the term “progress” is suspicious. “Progress” on “gun rights” invariably means more restrictions.

      BTW2, “progress” on “gun rights” would have to mean “fewer and fewer anti-gun regulations and voters.”

    • I assume you think that so called “national reciprocity” was a step forward? Guess what… it isn’t. That scam was an attempt to fool gun owners into giving the federal government unconstitutional power to use permission slips instead of the 2nd amendment. You can think of it as congress giving the president the power to initiate a conflict instead of congress legally declaring war.

      I am for small or large steps forward whenever possible. However, there are charlatans out there masquerading as supporters and defenders of liberty. They offer false progress through bureaucracy and empowerment of those who seek the destruction of human rights under law. I say draw the line and hold it; don’t keep redrawing it and claim progress.

      Small steps forward will mostly come from the states. Trying to get the federal government to pass something positive is the hail mary. The federal government refuses to enforce the law on the states, therefore relying on them to help you is foolish. The country got to where it is because the states degraded; that is the fault of the people within those states. The federal government is supposed to save those people from themselves, but they are derelict.

      Go ahead, grace me with your wisdom. Tell me old bull, how are we supposed to handle this situation and what is progress? What’s your strategy to victory? Stop us from going full Vincent van Gogh. Quick, while we still have ears…

      • Ensuring reciprocity between the states in cases like this actually is the federal government’s business. That’s one of the few things it was always meant to do…and of course it’s not doing it.

        And things have got so backwards with its constant usurpation of power that we don’t even dare to ask the federal government to do its job because we’re legitimately afraid of what else it’ll grab along the way. This is truly sad.

        • The “reciprocity” they offered was a bill to redefine what a gun is and create all kinds of other problems. It was such a stupid idea I stopped reading it almost immediately. We already have our national reciprocity, it’s called the The Constitution of the United States of America, specifically the 2nd Amendment of The Bill of Rights. They rather give us more gun control than to actually enforce existing laws, which is their duty and oath of office.

          Of course they will enforce federal cannabis laws on all the states using armed agents regardless of it being legal in some states.

          Where are our patriots? I don’t see them in office.

          • Ask a Pennsylvanian driving through New Jersey with a gun on their person how well the second amendment keeps them from getting arrested if they are stopped.

      • Exactly correct. Very similar to the abortion argument I espouse to those who believe abortion should be against federal law. A government which has the *authority* to prohibit abortion also has the authority to *mandate* it. Currently, the government has neither, and cannot legitimately gain that authority without amending the constitution. It is easy to agree the government should not be spending taxpayer dollars providing abortion, but it should also not be spending those dollars preventing it.

    • TexTed,

      Be careful with your extremely broad brush strokes. I consider myself an absolutist and I will happily accept incremental gains. I will even support candidates who only move incrementally towards our ultimate goal.

      What I will not support are politicians who employ the appeasement approach and claim that they are good because they are moving us in the wrong direction more slowly than we would otherwise be moving in the wrong direction. If you are berating me for opposing such politicians, YOU are the problem.

      • You are the opposite of the absolutists I am talking about.

        The goal is absolute liberty. Steps towards that goal are good. Bigger strides are better.

        I am talking about the absolutists who would organize and fight against an R who supports, for example, reciprocity but who doesn’t yet advocate for enforced Constitutional Carry. These absolutists would rather “punish” a “traitor” and, in doing so, lose the majority in the Senate or the House. Like I said, cutting off their nose to spite their face.

        As far as “what progress has been made?”. Again, how blind can they be? 30 years ago Texas had NO carry. Then we got concealed. Then, later, we got licensed open carry, and campus carry. There’s going to be a significant push for Constitutional Carry this next legislature or two. Rights are being restored. Progress is being made.

        But the absolutists like Kory Watkins would rather fight those who are making progress, because they’re not “pure enough.”

        If twant to win at football, you just have to make three yards on every play and you’ll be unbeatable.

        • Every gain you list in Texas is subject to legislative whim and largess. Once the major cities become full-blown active detachments of Californication, the legislature will be changed to remove all those gains. How do you think Californication got the way it is? National Reciprocity is no different; legislative largess – if it happens.

  17. The ultimate goal is true liberty? OK, fine. Define “true liberty”. Good luck with THAT, bunky. We can’t even decide whether chilli should served over beans or with beans on the side. My ultimate goal is to beat, confound, demolish, demoralize and ridicule as many of my enemies, foreign and domestic, as I can, for as long as I can. As people, we are all born to die. That is the way it is, democratic, equal, fair deal, universal and, brace for it, children…not negotiable. Between now and then, I will continue to fight my enemies, whomever they reveal themselves to be, by any means, fair or foul, until the last curse of defiance is shouted, the last bullet is sent down range and the last drop of blood flows out of my body…I need some hope, people, c’mon, help me. From life experience, without lookin’ it up on google, does anybody out there understand what Foxtrot-Kilo-Alpha stands for? Anybody else want to claim it as if it were your own?…kinda doubt it… -30-

  18. POTG are rugged individualists. We are independent. For every two POTG there are three opinions. It’s the way we are. I don’t think it’s a strength or a weakness, just a fact. We do not conform, and anybody who doesn’t like it can shove it sideways.

    • That’s a good point, and that’s exactly why there is a global agenda against individualism….herds, groups, the collective is (are)much easier to control than rugged individuals.

    • “Even the anti gunners disagree on a lot of things.”

      Every. Last. One. Of. Them. wants “Universal background checks’, AKA, universal gun registration. Makes it a lot easier to go out and seize them (Australasian gun control) when they have a nice list of where every one of them are…

  20. It seems that quite a few gun owning people I talk to seem to favor banning types of guns other than the types they own.
    This is why the anti-gun groups are always trying to split the Fudds from the hard core gun owners.
    My own views are that if I ran things, the veteran that bought the M14 would have nothing to worry about.

  21. Speaking of poorly educated: Lincoln is not the source for the “house divided” quote – he was quoting another rather more important fellow….please google “Matthew 3:25”.

  22. I blame the Austrian/Germans. They lost the world war back to back, so they invented Glock to divide us who use 1911.
    Everything else is history.

    You might not NEED X gun or gadget, but the others have the RIGHT to it.
    Get in line with the #2A and it wasn’t written for your pleasure activities.

  23. There are human liabilities in the pro-gun camp. One group is those more concerned with the fortunes of a certain political party. Another is spineless compromising peasants who can’t think through a false dichotomy.

    Division is good. The cause is better off without that garbage. Failing that, division still lets them know they’re not fooling everyone, gives them some social structure to help them be of use, in place of natural spine and moral fiber.

  24. A house without rafters, floor joists, Studs and a foundation can’t stand. A house divided is just left over debris from an earthquake or tornado

  25. Why…before the tyrant strikes…would anyone be willing to compromise on any point, that one would not be willing to compromise after the tyrant strikes?

  26. This division has forced many people to take their mask off. I’m finding more honesty in the community. Its not making them more reliable. But at least I know who I don’t need to invest my trust in. I think these “gun owners” need to get a thicker skin.

    If a member of the John Birch Society wanted acceptance, would you give it to them??? I know the history of the JBS regarding the Mulford Act. They were publicly against it.

  27. ALL firearms laws are unconstitutional on their face. Imagine the hue and cry if “reasonable” restrictions were placed on First Amendment activities, especially with the “mainstream media”. The Second Amendment is clear–what part of “shall not be infringed” do politicians and the media not understand…of course, they understand full well…it’s part of their communist agenda…
    Even the NRA bears some responsibility for capitulation on matters concerning firearms. The NRA failed when it allowed the National Firearms Act of 1934 to stand without offering opposition, the 1968 Gun Control Act, the NICS “instant check” system, the “no new machine gun for civilians” ban in 1986, the so-called “assault weapons ban in 1991, and other infringements on the Second Amendment. Let’s face it. What better way to increase membership than to “allow” infringements to be enacted and then push for a new membership drive. Yes, the NRA has done good, but its spirit of “compromise” will only lead to one thing…confiscation.
    If the NRA is truly the premier “gun rights” organization, it must reject ALL compromise…

    • “Imagine the hue and cry if “reasonable” restrictions were placed on First Amendment activities,”

      Well, “hate crimes” seem to be a nifty restriction, as is “hate speech”, which is considered a crime itself.

  28. Quite often, firearms owners are their own worst enemies. The duck hunters don’t like the AR-15 “black rifles” so they see no problem if attempts are made to ban them. The traditional rifle owners don’t like machine guns, so they have no problem with them being legislated out of existence. Some pistol owners see nothing wrong with certain long guns being outlawed just as some rifle owners would have no problem seeing pistols banned. You see, anti-gunners want them all. They will chip away a little at a time until their goal of civilian disarmament is complete. They have an excuse for banning every firearm. Scoped bolt-action rifles are defined by anti-gunners as “sniper rifles” because they are “too accurate”. Magazine-fed weapons are suspect because of high (actually normal) magazine capacity. Handguns are suspect because they are “easily concealable”. The gun grabbers want them all and have made (flimsy and suspect) excuses for banning every type of firearm. They don’t care how long it takes. and will use incrementalism to their advantage.
    Friends, ALL firearms advocates must “hang together” and realize that an assault on ANY means of firearms ownership and self-defense is an assault on ALL forms of firearms ownership and self-defense.
    There is absolutely NO ROOM for complacency among ANY Second Amendment supporters. An attack on one is an attack on ALL…
    ALL firearms laws are unconstitutional on their face. Imagine the hue and cry if “reasonable” restrictions were placed on First Amendment activities, especially with the “mainstream media”. The Second Amendment is clear–what part of “shall not be infringed” do politicians and the media not understand…of course, they understand full well…it’s part of their communist agenda…

  29. The problem is, we have allowed the anti Second Amendment crowd to define the terms.
    A firearm is a tool which possess no evil intent on its own. Assigning intent to an inanimate object is the epitome of insanity. Demonizing a weapon on “looks alone” also marks the accuser as an unstable individual who is also insane. Call them out on their illogic and insanity.
    Another dirty tactic the anti-Second Amendment crowd uses exposes children to potential and actual harm by putting them in “gun-free zones”. These people care not one wit about children, but uses them for their own nefarious purposes.
    We need to TAKE BACK the argument…
    When the antis blame the firearm for the actions of a criminal, state that: “a firearm is an inanimate object, subject only to the intent of the user. Firearms ARE used to preserve life and make a 90 lb. woman equal to a 200 lb. criminal.
    When the antis attempt to justify their “gun free zones” counter their misguided argument with “you mean, criminal safety zones” or “victim disarmament zones”. State that “we protect our money, banks, politicians and celebrities, buildings and facilities with PEOPLE WITH GUNS, but protect our children with “gun-free zone” signs”.
    When the antis state that: “you don’t need and AR-15”, counter with, “Who are YOU to consider what I need?”
    When the antis criticize AR-15s in general, counter with: “you mean the most popular rifle of the day, useable by even the smallest, weakest person as a means of self-defense. Besides, AR-15s are FUN to shoot”. Offer to take them to the range and supply them with an AR-15, ammunition and range time. I have made many converts this way.
    When the antis state that: “You don’t need an AR-15 to hunt with”, counter with “AR-15s ARE used for hunting, but in many states, are prohibited from being used to take large game because they are underpowered”.
    When the antis state that: “AR-15s are high powered rifles”, correct them by stating that “AR-15s with the .223 or 5.56mm cartridge are considered medium-powered weapons–NOT “high-powered” by any means”.
    When the antis state that: “the Constitution was written during the time of muskets, and that the Second Amendment should only apply to “weapons of that time period”, state that: “by your logic, the First Amendment should not apply to modern-day telecommunications, internet, television, radio, public-address systems, books and newspapers produced on high-speed offset printing presses. Only “town-criers” and Benjamin Franklin type printing presses would be covered under the First Amendment”.
    When the antis state that “only law enforcement and government should possess firearms”, remind them of the latest school shooting, as well as Columbine, where “law enforcement” SAT ON THEIR HANDS while children were being murdered, afraid to challenge the shooter, despite being armed to the hilt. The government-run murderous sieges at Ruby Ridge and Waco are also good examples of government (mis)use of firearms.
    Gun-banners want ALL guns, even if they attempt to get them a little at a time, chipping away at the Second Amendment. Here are the “excuses” that the anti-gun crowd uses to “justify” their misguided position:
    Handguns–“too concealable”
    Rifles–“too accurate”
    Shotguns–“too deadly”
    The Second Amendment is the most “infringed” of any part of the Constitution.
    This tome can be used to counter any argument against any infringement of our Second Amendment.

    • “When the antis blame the firearm for the actions of a criminal, state that: “a firearm is an inanimate object, subject only to the intent of the user. ”

      This is where you have it all wrong. The mere existence of guns causes people to do crazy things they would not do if guns did not exist. Guns cause a person to have an inflated sense of their own power, and what value is power if you don’t use it? It is settled science that if people even walk past a gun, their thinking processes are invariable altered into a condition where all the pent up rage and emotion is released from societal restraints, and the person walking past a gun begins to speculate, “What if I had a gun…?” The thinking then escapes its moral bounds, and the person takes the next step, the actual purchase of a gun. Then the person begins to feel capable of resolving lingering resentment through the use of the awesome power of the gun. And the circle feeds on itself until the person with a gun just has to find out “what it it like” to actually use that gun. We have only been really, really lucky that thousands and thousands of people don’t shoot up malls and schools. We cannot continue to depend on luck. We must do something; for the children.

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