The Heller Foundation’s John Johnson writes:

In many cases, the recent spate of MDA (Mothers Demand Action) meetings is exactly what it appears to be – astroturf events rolled out by big money anti-freedom activists like Michael Bloomberg. The motions of these events are set to be on par with Mother’s Against Drunk Driving (M.A.D.D.), while appealing to the social justice bent of the civil rights movement. However, they are actually corporate sponsored skirmishes; with little, to no true moral framework. The end game is to remove firearms from the public – and they’ll use any tragedy involving guns to get their way. Basically it’s just deception masked as a grassroots movement . . .

All MDA events appeal to raw emotion only, without the tempering balance of reason or logic. Short of calling it communist in it’s approach, several defense rights advocates and liberty proponents have brushed off MDA due to it’s lack of overall impact or true grassroots appeal. Many have laughed and shrugged them off. On most fronts, we as ‘gun rights activists’ are winning, despite the fact that our opponents have stooped so low as to wave the bloody shirts of children in the face of the public.

However, I’ve personally fought this fight before and due to our arrogance, we can lose – it may not seem like a possibility at the moment, but we are severely underestimating people like Bloomberg. I’ve personally addressed the man on gun issues, even pinning him on the tyranny angle at least once. But just like a member of some strange death cult, he keeps getting up, chanting his mantra and continuing on. He’s a fighter, I know this for myself. He’s gotten some grudging respect from those of us with the guts to meet him on his own level.

Bloomberg, though a tempting target, merely represents the tip of the iceberg. There are forces well behind and beyond him that seek to further strip Americans of their precious liberty. For example:

What should be of concern to gun rights people is the fact that these forces against freedom and liberty continue to change the terms in relation to the subject at hand. Violence is now ‘gun violence’, gun banning has become ‘gun safety’ (and who can be against that, right?) and who wouldn’t be for ‘sensible gun reform’. This may seem silly to us, but it’s a tactic – and where there are tactics, there is also warfare and strategic planning going on. By defining the terms of the discussion in sheer Aristotelean fashion, they are slowly framing the debate for later down the road.

They have no desire to change our minds, since they know that’s impossible. No, what they are attempting to do is to isolate us as ‘lone gun nuts’ and turn American public opinion against our message and the core values of this great nation. By simply changing the wording, they can go a long way to meeting their benchmark of ‘gun control’.

And that is their goal. Not only do they want to take over the debate, they are planning to win a long and protracted war by any means necessary. They have ten year plans to remove each American’s ability to defend themselves from tyranny – even going so far as to having some brainwashed generals say that ‘Americans need to be disarmed!’ And sincerely mean it.

These, my friends, are indeed dangerous times. Never underestimate an enemy that is willing to spend years to destroy you and your way of life…years. How many gun rights groups do you know of that have ten year plans – of any sort? I’ll pause and let you think on that one. You shouldn’t kid yourself, we are definitely at war. However, and with great irony, this warfare will not involve guns; it will be mental, asymmetrical and carried out on the battlefield of the mind.

Stated simply, gun rights activists will have to think less like infantrymen at the moment and more like military intelligence operatives. There will be propaganda, lawfare and counter-measures – all forms of social media will be used to influence public opinion. The side with the best grasp of these tactics will most likely win in the eyes of the American people.

In addition to making it out to the range on the weekend, I’d suggest learning chess and reading up on such guerrilla warfare classics like The Art of War. There is a reason. Now more than ever, liberty, rights and defense activists need to recognize that the battlefield is changing – we have to adapt or else we’ll lose – and not just our Second Amendment rights, but possibly our whole way of life.

There are deeper and far more effective strategies to deal with folks like Bloomberg and MDA, but it’s beyond the scope of my initial article to explain these at the moment. (But believe me, we are discussing them at the moment, especially when it comes to the head games they are playing on our youth. Right now, I just want to focus on what every person can do, regardless of ability or (relative) age.

First, it’s time for every American gun owner to get out of the gun closet. If you tote a heater, you need to let others know that you do and why. I concur that this flies in the face of all conventional wisdom given to us by our forebears who told us that the ‘less the government knows about what you have in the gun closet…’ and so on. This is still wise, but they were waiting peacefully for the day when the shit hits the fan in the classical sense. What if the shit never hits the fan like the old timers thought it would (well not yet), just as these enemies of liberty continue to wear us down and take our rights?

What if they are intentionally keeping the shit from hitting the fan just for the sole purpose of disarming the American public? The point here is that it wasn’t too long ago that seeing a gun was as American and normal as it got, but they’ve made it so that we live in a world where a child can get suspended for a pistol shaped pop-tart! In this area, those ‘nutty’ open carry activists are right … if you don’t show it, you won’t own it.

I’m not advocating wearing camo and marching down in front of the courthouse, but I am stressing that we need to help desensitize every American we can to the presence of a firearm. They must be demystified and shown that arms – especially firearms – are simply tools. The only way to do this is to reach out to others and let them know that firearms are not the stick of death spray that the enemies of this country and freedom are telling them that they are. To accomplish this, more Americans need to see more real firearms, ‘more often’.

Second, each gun owner should find one person – just one – and help them buy their first gun and get them down to the range. One. You don’t need to commit to more than that. By all estimates, if every gun owner out there picked one of their friends and turned them on to the joys of shooting and why it’s important for self defense, we’ll nearly double the number of gun owners within a short period of time.

Also, inspire them to seek out professional or experienced trainers (and if one can’t be  found, you’ll do just fine in a pinch). By training more people properly on the use of arms, we create an environment of true ‘gun safety’ and breed a new generation of responsible gun owners. We remove all arguments from our enemies by doing this … and more.

Third, we need to reach out to our enemies and their ‘target market’ (distressed mothers), and show them a little gun love. Conversion is the best tool for getting under the skin of the other side, while freeing the minds of our fellow Americans. All in all, they are still Americans – regardless of the Kool-Aid they may have drunk. Instead of getting upset at that hippy girl or ‘pissed off liberal soccer mom’, imagine seeing her on the gun range, happier and with a better perspective on life, while knocking down steel.

Also, by spending time with our enemies, we learn more about who they are and what they want to do. Sign up for newsletters from the MDA, Ceasefire, the Brady Foundation and others. Go to their forums, read their websites – get to know them inside and out. Instead of turning Bloomberg off when he runs his trap on TV, listen to what he’s saying – imagine what you’d say if you where talking back to him in public. How would you counter his arguments?

Learn as much as you can about these people, who they are, where they meet and what they’re doing on a local level. And if you are willing, get in there and do a little sheep fleecing while you are at it. The less of them there are, the better off it is for us in the long run.

Get some of those gun haters down to the range and show them a good time. We do have more fun than they do! We aren’t bitter or gloomy, nor do gun owners ‘hate life’ and ‘want to kill people’. The very reason we took up a gun in the first place was because we felt that life is worth defending and protecting. Eventually, the more they realize how sincere, realistic and honest gun owners are, the more they’ll note how irrational, deceptive and silly that these ‘gun control leaders’ have been. When they realize that we aren’t monsters, then they’ll change. Who knows, they just might become gun owners themselves.

Now, I admit this is an entirely new angle for many, and it may seem a bit out there, but it will work. Even if you can’t stomach step three, at least try one or two. But, if you do decide to go for the goal and keep tabs on these enemies of liberty on a local level, share what you find out. When you feel it’s important, let other freedom/arms/defense-minded activists in on what they are doing in your city. Keep a tab on the big wigs in your neck of the woods.

You’d be amazed where these people will pop up on other issues in the area. Some of these folks are flat paid and even extensively ‘trained’ in ‘community organizing’ – they literally go to school and learn how to role-play in order to ‘affect change’ when they meet people. While you’ll most likely never be able to convert one of these hardliners over to being a gun owner, it would be nice if others working for the cause of freedom knew who they were and where they are.

As gun owning Americans become more informed about the enemies of freedom in our own backyard, we become better equipped to deal with them on a local level. If we continue to keep ‘going local’ in our own towns, we’ll win this war, and very possibly change the fate of this nation and the course of mankind. And yes, this issue is that important. But don’t let that scare you, you’ve got this covered.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

89 COMMENTS

  1. I love it!! Great read!

    I also learned two new terms today…

    1. Lawfare
    2. Carrying a “Heater”

  2. This is wise counsel and will act on your words. I would add petition representatives and be involve in the process.

    Our rebuttal to ALL anti gun groups is the right of lawful self defense. Planting that flag into the moral high ground defeats word play.

  4. Here’s my take as a former gun grabber .

    First, we have to acknowledge that the enemy holds a nuclear trump card over us-namely, direct control of the media.After Newtown, every entertainer , anchor, newspaper ,and media mogul in the left was in lockstep with the same overwheliming message.Despite gun ownership growing by the millions in the months up to Newtown, the opposition was able to move the needle on support for gun control via the Nuclear Option alone.

    Short of all of us spending a mil apiece to bankroll our own TV station, directly attacking the media isn’t an option.Celebrities will take orders from the people who sign their checks, just like most other working people.And those media moguls are die hard antis.

    Which means we must focus on the Undergound methods.And I’m not sure we can gain ground that way.Sure ,we can show the gun grabbers a good time at the range …but come election day, they’ll vote for whoever they darn well please.Considering the only party with a pro RKBA stance is one totally unpalatable to most minority voters and women in urban areas of America, that’s a major problem.

    Then we have the school angle.Set aside the issue of elementary school students being indoctrinated one pop tart at a time-because the crash will happen long before then.Rest assured, the school systems been teaching anti gun dogma for decades….and still does, in the major universities of America.That means , even if we do our part AND can convince people to protect gun rights at the polls, there will be literally thousands of people unknowingly perpetuating anti gun dogma.

    I’m 27 years old.I know exactly two people who are pro gun my age, and one of them is a Democrat.I’ve met way too many folks my age and younger who think Self Defense is a government ministry.That’s what happens when a generation raised in anti self defense schools grows up in “Condition Orange” ,DHS monitored America.

    In 20 years, well be in real trouble….unless we can , somehow, reintegrate the RKBA into the American bedrock of our culture.That’s a tough task without the media, the government, and the school system being against us.

    • The media only has as much power as we give it. Old media is a sinking ship. There are too many alternate sources of information out there, and plenty of other ways to keep up with what’s going on in the world.

      Their “nuclear option,” as you described it, is not a weapon so much as it is a liability for them. They’ve overplayed the “guns are bad, m’kay” meme to the extent that it doesn’t take much education on our part for anyone to see how poorly constructed their message on guns really is. They will look like fools as their credibility circles the drain.

      Don’t underestimate how powerful a tactic it is to simply out yourself as pro-gun and explain why you are (without any kind of overt push to change anyone’s else’s mind).

      • Yes, most legacy media is already losing credibility. I don’t mean to downplay the power NBC/CBS/ABC etc still have, but unless the Feds tighten up control on the net, the days of those old powers are numbered. More and more people are starting to view network news as a joke.

      • I agree old media is a sinking ship but I think they’ll be around for another 20 years at least.

        I’m 25 and my parents are mid 50s. Both read the news paper and watch the news. Both are aware of and capable of using other outlets that give them the exact information they want from a 1 hour news broadcast in 5 minutes. Yet they still watch the news for a 5 minute weather broadcast that can’t stand up to a hour by hour broadcast available online and on demand. Why is this? Its because old habits die hard and until the next generation is in full swing there isn’t going to be much real change in the msm.

    • Gun rights doesn’t have to be a partisan issue, that’s the point. Take your democrat friend shooting, take all your friends shooting. Don’t accept the false premise that all Republicans are for gun rights and all Democrats are for gun control.

  5. Or better yet, how about the lobbyists such as the NRA, who claim to be so all powerful, start going on the offensive for a change? Why not start working on repealing the NFA and GCA and the Brady Bill? Why not put the terms of the debate on the other foot and move forward instead of constantly fighting a rear guard action?

    The NRA excels at getting people excited when they’re afraid. How about using some of that vaunted lobbying power to actually make changes instead of fighting against changes?

    • The power of the NRA is in the membership. To recycle Kennedy’s words. Ask not what the NRA can do for you, ask what you can do for the NRA. The organization needs our support to support us. When Bloomberg throws out 12 million dollars to attack gun ownership, “gun culture” and us, personally, that is equivalent to over 340,000 $35 memberships. If every member of the NRA got one person to join that would be another 4 million, and that’s what it takes to put Bloomberg back a notch.

      The key reason that the NRA is being demonized and attacked is because the NRA stands in the way of those that strive to break us, the people, and our right to have guns, and bigger than that, our right to have freedom as individuals. Bloomberg is the guy that would legislate the size of a soft drink and thinks that “Stop and Frisk” is a “vital crime reducing tool”. There is a recognition that without the NRA that we could be ignored into oblivion and our freedoms, 1st, 2nd, 4th, most notably could be stripped from us.

      Perhaps we cannot agree on everything the NRA says and does, but one thing is for sure, we would not have a voice at all, and would have paid dearly for it.

      So get people to join the NRA and Vote!

    • The NRA, like it or not, is who represents us to the uninformed low info voter. I think it’s time for a lot more social media outreach, either directly or by proxy. We’re not only in a culture war, we’re also in the counterinsurgency business. The insurgents are the “anti” interests. NRA has the money and “top-down” legislative contacts; we have the “bottom up” arms and legs and eyes and ears.

      I think these are the mist important words penned (what an archaic but elegant notion) above:
      “Stated simply, gun rights activists will have to think less like infantrymen at the moment and more like military intelligence operatives. There will be propaganda, lawfare and counter-measures – all forms of social media will be used to influence public opinion. The side with the best grasp of these tactics will most likely win in the eyes of the American people.”

      We, as a “cohort” (including the NRA and sundry pro-gun organizations) do need to vastly improve out intelligence gathering and dissemination activities. We need to study and better identify our adversaries. No Dirk, it’s not Shannon Watts and her ilk. It’s not Mike Bloomberg; the purported banker. It’s who he talks to; who is in his network that we’re after.

      We need to study and, more importantly, understand Sun Tzu’s Art of War. Our adversaries have done this, and are using those concepts quite effectively on us. Now it’s time to turn the tables on them; to give them some discomfort. Identify and poison their investments through boycotts and social media campaigns. Do some detective work to plant stories and rumors in the social and mainstream media. Have you noticed a number of anchors moving on to “greener pastures” recently? Something’s afoot. Point out their inconsistent and contradictory stories and outright lies. Put them on the defensive.

      And probably most important, take the “long view.” The adversary cabal has had decades to study and analyze us, we’re really only just starting. Our “millenial” members are the ones who will have to fight this battle to regain lost ground. The MDAs and MAIGs will come and go, but we need to view them as tactical battles in our culture war. We certainly need to fight them, but we also need to think strategically. And we need to use all the tools at our disposal, because we understand them better than our adversaries.

  6. Read The Art of War. I also suggest Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals”. It’s their playbook. Read that and you’ll know what they’re doing before they do. Once you have that, you can counter them.

  7. This is not new or “out there” at all. In fact, I just posted a lengthy comment on the EVOLVE reboot story that I’m already doing exactly this. And it’s working.

    I figure I’m already on a list or two, and privacy is pretty much extinct these days, so I may as well put my 1st Amendment rights to some good use. You don’t need to totally abandon OPSEC to engage People-Not-of-the-Gun; just limit what you share to what’s relevant. For example, a question I’ve gotten repeatedly is how many guns I own, to which I’ll respond with helpful-but-vague answers, like “several–I have handguns, rifles and shotguns, because they all serve different purposes.” Providing a number is unnecessary, because people unfamiliar with guns have no concept of what the number might mean or how to relate to it. 5 guns is an “arsenal” to the completely ignorant.

    The one part of this article I’m not following: “Also, by spending time with our enemies, we learn more about who they are they want to do. Sign up for newsletters from the MDA, Ceasefire, the Brady Foundation and others. Go to their forums, read their websites – get to know them inside and out.”

    I get enough exposure from random news stories or whatever. Those groups are not open to conversation or criticism, so spending my time following them is a total waste of energy. What would I say to Bloomburg? “You’re irrelevant.” I send that message by ignoring the disarmament groups, and whatever tactics of theirs may be getting through I’ll meet head-on by politely explaining to my non-gun friends why what they’ve been told is crazy talk when they bring it up.

    • He who controls the language, controls the discussion.
      Despite having incapacitated a president, polio did not achieve a central position in the public consciousness until it was called infantile paralysis.

      • It’s a whole different game in the age of the Internet and social media. The old players no longer have a monopoly on The Message, although they’re painfully slow to realize it.

        Once upon a time, mass communication was broadcast. The discussion was framed and controlled by a few. Mass communication these days is largely decentralized. The harder these dinosaurs cling to clever language to “control the discussion,” the more transparent and useless their tactics become.

        Seriously, name one person who thinks the Patriot Act is about patriotism. I don’t know anyone, from any political leaning, who would defend that position. The only source that spouts that noise is the naked emperor and the tooting horn brigade of obsolete media.

  8. Whenever they mention “gun safety” we can say that’s a good idea because kids these days need to know more about how guns operate and how to operate them safely.

    Whenever they mention “reasonable” or “common sense” gun reform, we can wholeheartedly agree that there are many unreasonable gun control laws that should be reformed, that since they make no sense at all they should be repealed.

    Whenevery they mention “gun violence” we can indicate how proud we are that violent crimes of all types have been falling whilst gun ownership has been dramatically rising.

    When it comes to informing the future gunners, how about handing out reprints of some very good articles about the history of our cause. A recent article in an NRA magazine talked about their involvement in the civil rights movement. Would the NRA be viewed as negatively as some do if they knew this history as well as the racist history of gun control? As inexpensive as 1 year NRA memberships are, would it hurt us to give away a few?

  9. There are other ways besides going to the Civil disarmament organizations for info. You can read and comment on Slate, Daily Kos has a 2nd amendment portion, Mother Jones. A few pro-gun comments at least make the c–p they spew, that 100% of the world (or maybe it’s the 90%) -snark- vehemently do not agree with them.

    • On HuffPo, the pro gun comments usually equal outnumber the anti gun comments. I’m one of a number of people who swarm the comment threads there on gun related posts. One constant is that the anti gun rights folks just don’t know any facts, so it’s easy to set them straight.

    • All great tactical measures! Good places to frequent are Mother Jones; HuffPo; Natural News; Gawker; Wired; and Salon. And of course, your local paper and TV station.

  10. Yeah, broadcast to everyone you meet youre carrying a concealed gun so some anti gun zealot can claim you brandished it and get your ass locked up by a wildeyed cop who thinks nobody but cops should have guns. Great advice.

    • Good point Orton.

      I simply tell them I have a 3D printed 88 Magnum and that it shoots through schools.

      (Since you obviously didn’t read the article, I doubt you’ll get the reference either – or the jest.)

      • “First, it’s time for every American gun owner to get out of the gun closet. If you tote a heater, you need to let others know that you do and why.”

        Yeah, I twisted the words and didnt read the inane advice in the article. You can keep your gun if you like it. Put yourself on the radar, I dont care. There is plenty of stupid advice being thrown around, do whatever you want! Wear a shirt with an AR15 or pic of Bin Laden onto a plane, carry a 50 BMG to the library, demand your rights, blah blah blah.

        • The way I read it… the author was not advocating shouting it from the rooftops, necessarily. I don’t go around unilaterally announcing to complete strangers that I’m carrying. But, if a conversation with someone I know happens to bring it up, I do not keep my position on the subject concealed. I let them know that I am a gun owner and that I am licensed to carry concealed. I don’t say, “I’m carrying right now… SEE? Here it is! LOOK!”

          There’s a subtle art to the conversation.

          I am licensed to carry.

          Wow. Are you carrying right now?

          You’re standing there looking at me. What do you think?
          (I let them try to figure it out without confirming nor denying.)

          I don’t know. Are you?

          In the Navy, we used to say, “I can neither confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons on this ship.” Loose lips sink ships.

          Concealed is concealed. But, the point can still be made in conversation.

  11. Here I am wondering how difficult it is to get a Green Card. This is the kind of thing that makes me deeply regret I am not an American, despite being as pro-gun and supportive of RKBA as it gets.

  12. Great article and “call to arms,” so to speak.

    I agree that all of us, individually and collectively can win the protracted war against our freedoms.

    I’m doing everything I can to spread the gospel. I’ve converted several people to first-time gun-owners. I love taking newbies to the range and watching that irrepressible and involuntary grin after the first shot on target.

    I regularly post articles and opinions on Facebook, blogs, and other online forums, where I’ve converted some (by their own admission) long-distance.

    I’ve even appeared on national TV advocating for our right to keep and bear arms.

    I’m not shy about it anymore. It’s one of the great liberating things that come with age!

    To Bloomie, the Mothers, and the Bradys…. BRING IT ON.

    • I’m the very opposite of what is popularly-portrayed as a “gun nut.” I’m a clean-cut and articulate professional with a doctorate education. I rather enjoy blowing the minds of people who do not expect me to be a gun owner and advocate for our Constitutional rights (all of them).

        • Why? Because a clean cut professional with a doctorate’s education is somehow superior to the other batters in your lineup?

          The working man with dirty torn clothes and a beater pickup who works a 60 hour week and takes his family to church on Sundays is just as valuable to our position.

          The single working mom who rents a run-down apartment and works two jobs trying to keep clothes on her daughter’s back is just as valuable to our position.

          The elderly woman who survived the Holocaust and can personally attest to what happens when a segment of the population is disarmed is just as valuable to our position.

          In all actuality, we need to be getting as many people as possible, period, to step up to the plate. When you see someone you can relate to doing something like this, that’s a good thing. And showing the world that we’re not a bunch of backwoods farm boys (who are also just as valuable to our cause) can only help, by demonstrating that gun owners really DO come from all walks of life.

        • Alaskan Patriot, I wouldn’t read into it what you might have felt I implicated, nor was I trying to pidgeonhole the concept – so no worries man. Simply said – in direct response to Racer88’s comment and his comment only – they aren’t expecting a clean cut doctor or etc.

          Was in the Infantry myself and grew up on a farm, so I don’t fit the doctor bill either.

        • Alaskan Patriot,

          Why? Because a clean cut professional with a doctorate’s education is somehow superior to the other batters in your lineup?

          Gosh… defensive much? Infer much?

          Of course, my point has no such implication. My point is that the ANTIs have a preconceived notion of what a gun owner is. To THEM, a gun owner is a knuckle-dragging redneck troglodyte. My image COMPLETELY contradicts that. My outward appearance, education, profession, and manner of speaking is diametrically opposite of their strongly-held beliefs. I am a “slap in the face” to their beliefs.

          I am not superior to any other gun owner. They are my brothers and sisters, as far as I’M concerned.

          My point is that I have some fun with the anti-liberty folks by completely blowing their theory out of the water. Then they try to justify their position by saying, “but, but, but… well… you’re the exception.”

          NO… I’m NOT the exception. I AM the “typical gun owner.” THAT’S MY POINT. Please don’t read anything more than that into it. If you met me, you’re more likely to be surprised I am a “doctor.” I’m quite normal. “Abby Normal.” (a little Mel Brooks reference thrown in for good measure and good humor)

          PS… Part of my childhood was on a farm. I’ve served in the military, too. 🙂

        • Alaskan Patriot,

          John is encouraging people who are OUTSIDE OF THE WHITE-GUY REDNECK GUN OWNER STEREOTYPE to step forward and speak out. What you described, a working man with dirty clothes driving a beat-up pickup truck who goes to church (“bitter [Bible] clingers”) is exactly the stereotype that gun grabbers keep bringing forward. It is incredibly valuable to demonstrate how wrong that stereotype is.

        • Oh… one more thing… I just signed up to become an NRA-certified instructor. I figured since I enjoy taking newbies to the range, I might as well have some structure to what I’m teaching (instead of winging it). Plus I thought having the certification might lend more credibility to my arguments.

    • ” I love taking newbies to the range and watching that irrepressible and involuntary grin after the first shot on target.”

      Tannerite. I have never converted so many, so fast.

    • Blacks and women are the most likely to need to defend themselves in america, so gun control is both racist and sexist. So Shannon Watts is actually racist and sexist. Lets run with it.

      • MDA’s demographic is the same as that of “feminists” in general: upper middle-class, white women.

        • Correct and feminism is a vector in forwarding the socialist and communist agenda.

          Feminism seeks to emasculate men because men will fight back against the progress of socialism. As well as use their guns to fight it.

          Taking away your guns is an excellent first step. Making you not want them is the desired step.

          http://vimeo.com/63749370

  14. I love TTAG. I just can’t get enough of this place. I bet I’ve read every article since February of this year.

    • It’s an addiction, coupled with obsessive compulsion, and a dash of bi polar.

      Manically hitting refresh hoping for new articles/comments, then getting angry when there’s so much new content I can’t follow it all.

      And I wouldn’t trade it for anything….

  16. What if they are intentionally keeping the shit from hitting the fan just for the sole purpose of disarming the American public?
    …
    To accomplish this, more Americans need to see more real firearms, ‘more often’

    Some of us have been saying this for a mighty long time now. It’s good to see that it’s becoming mainstream thought in the RKBA community. Good article!

    • This has been a simmering issue in regards to demonizing guns – isolate and expire the problem without cause for notice. I learned something about just hiding ‘it’ a long time ago from the outlaw pot growers who used to ‘show their grow’ in various underground media outlets. They knew that their craft would never see legalization as long as they ‘kept it in the grow closet’. I used to think those people were nuts and say to myself; “These guys just want to get arrested. What idiot would share anything like this to the world? In a magazine?” However, that little thing – while small, persisted in helping to gain them public acceptance. And years later – while I may not agree – has helped them win Colorado. Something to think about. You can learn alot from people you don’t agree with or want to read about.

      • It is not just demonizing guns. It is about emasculating men.

        That is the bigger picture.

        So why do they want to emasculate men? To turn them into useful idiots, to forward feminism and to forward their Socialist agenda.

        They can’t get that done with men who have their balls walking around and acting like men.

        Guns are a visible affectation of malehood. Not to mention they are great tools to fight tyranny. So are balls.

        They must be eliminated in order for them to forward their agenda.

        http://vimeo.com/63749370

        • In a world where feminists are offended by men sitting on a train with their legs apart (i.e. normal man posture) – how is there to be a place for guns? No room for balls. No room for guns.

          Feminism not gun control is the enemy. Know your enemy. Know yourself.

          “Swedish feminists: men must sit with their legs crossed
          I wish I could state confidently that this is some sort of a prank. But it seems to be serious. A Swedish feminist group has set up a website in which they post photos of men sitting with legs apart on public transport. This they consider to be an act of masculinist power over women. From their manifesto:

          Macho in the public transport system is a standard critical action group. We were created to draw attention to a normalized and often invisible and unconscious power of expression in a casual and communal area. The trains, buses, commuter trains and subways take more space than you physically have, by example, by spreading your legs or falling down on the seat is a concrete example of how power and masculinity co-create. Taking over someone else’s site is a symbolic and active recreation, not only of power but also of a stereotypical masculinity.

          We believe in a world where gender does not play a part in the opportunities, rights and responsibilities we have. Male, female, power and non power is created by social structures. Who can and will power is not a biological fact but a natural occurrence and re-created all of us.

          It may not sound like a much problem when there is rape, starvation, beatings, sexual harassment and unequal pay for equal work. That’s not true. In a world that is so clearly marked by a gender power structure all the little details are important.

          Guys are taking more space in many situations, particularly in public transport. We want to highlight and problematize why girls and boys are different. Why does the stereotypical macho man sit more widely? How does the way one sits in public areas recreate a structural advantage for men?

          The google translation may not be perfect, but it gives you an idea of what the group is about. They believe in the standard left-liberal idea that society has been constructed to enact male power over women and that therefore both masculinity and sex distinctions ought to be deconstructed in order to bring about equal rights.

          They seem to take this left-liberal idea so earnestly that they believe that a man sitting on a train with his legs a little apart is an expression of male power over women.”

        • We see that alot here, even with mother’s inspiring their children to be bi-sexual at extremely young ages because it’s ‘progressive’.

          What’s ironic, in the morass of political correctness that we live in here – as a group of male friends, mostly combat or combat related veterans – attract more finally disgruntled women due to the fact they are tired of playing the pretty boy hippy yoga guy non-committal game. And the types of men they want to breed are incapable of resisting anything other than the next bong hit, music show or potluck.

          Many, not all – there are a few, but many of them make horrible fathers. Our local ‘missed connections’ on Cragislist are filled with women looking for the guy that knocked them up. Some don’t even know the guys name.

          This is the world they want for America.

          Progressive is a code word for communism. They just don’t realize it yet.

      • If you do only one thing this week, watch this documentary.

        I promise it will be very, very useful to you in your efforts.

        The feminists. The feminists are behind gun control. And the socialists are behind the feminists. Watch the video.

        http://vimeo.com/63749370

      • also, this:

        “What’s ironic, in the morass of political correctness that we live in here – as a group of male friends, mostly combat or combat related veterans – attract more finally disgruntled women due to the fact they are tired of playing the pretty boy hippy yoga guy non-committal game. And the types of men they want to breed are incapable of resisting anything other than the next bong hit, music show or potluck.

        Many, not all – there are a few, but many of them make horrible fathers. Our local ‘missed connections’ on Cragislist are filled with women looking for the guy that knocked them up. Some don’t even know the guys name.”

        There is a LOT more to this than you know. And yes of course it has Feminism’s ugly hands all over it.

        But inside THIS TRUTH of which you speak is the ANSWER to winning the gun control battle.

        Really.

        Email me and I will share with you some really eye opening relevations that I have been working on gelling together.

        mina at udonet dot com

  17. Thank you. And great to see few (or no) comments pushing thus aside with the usual “we don’t need to expand the tent” / “if they disagree politically we don’t need em” macho insular puffery.

    Convert, convert — start with your friends. Co-workers. Make them juxtapose the image they have of you with the way the media portrays gun owners. Bend their mind , force them to think , and confront the propaganda with logic on their own terms.

    • Raised by a gun totting Girl Scout leader with seven sisters on a farm if that helps to explain things . 🙂 Thank you too for pointing that out about forcing them to change their image of who we are. My friend Oleg Volk does this on a supremely awesome level – his photos of actual raver hippy ladies on the range was my first exposure to this kind of thinking. We posted an interracial couple open carrying from a photo op he did and used it for the open carry community in a liberal town. This forced them (the anti-gunner types) to quit going “All gun owners are intolerant, male chauvinist redneck racists who should stop bringing guns around children!” The guy in the photo was obviously a computer geek art type and his wife had dreadlocks – both were open carrying Glocks with their child wrapped around their legs. Touche.

  18. The author makes some good points, and if you want to fight this war on the gun rights front, that’s fine. But keep in mind that gun rights are just one front. The real war is against Progressivism (leftism, communism). The Progs have really overreached with Obamacare, and I’m pretty sure the tide is about to turn for a few decades. Use that momentum to vote in people that are generally and genuinely for personal liberty and return to constitutional rule of law. Don’t let any politicians buy you off with promises of just gun rights, because they won’t be reliable long term.

    • Notice in everyday language how often everything is framed such that centralized control and the need for permission is assumed. It’s quite frightening once you notice it.

      • Yeah. Not on topic but I just walked past a bunch of DHS cops in body armor at the subway station on my way to work. No Amtrak or other Federal interests anywhere close. Getting us used to seeing them around. Nothing to worry about, just your friendly neighborhood DHS brownshirts.

  19. So true, so true. I now have 5 people that would have never taken it upon themselves to take professional firearms training classes and follow through with obtaining conceal carry permits as well as purchasing their first pistol. We can make a difference.

    • I have been around firearms my whole life. I completed Hunter Safety at age 12 and hunted on and off. I had at least a .22 caliber rifle wherever I lived. And that was about it.

      One day, I learned that my wife’s cousin had a concealed handgun carry license. I was curious and inquired with him. Four years later, five people now have their concealed handgun carry licenses or are in the process of getting their licenses and three of them are activists because of him.

      It is infectious in a good way. Talk to your friends, neighbors, and coworkers about firearms. You will be surprised who is interested and moves on to become an active liberty minded citizen.

  20. Arguing with a gun-grabber is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter how good I am at chess, the pigeon is going to knock over the pieces, crap all over the board and strut around like it’s victorious.
    -Anonymous

  21. “The very reason we took up a gun in the first place was because we felt that life is worth defending and protecting.” — John Johnson

    ____ Life is worth defending and protecting. ____

    This has to be our mantra and our starting point for every exchange with a gun grabber. Ask a gun grabber why their position is that life is NOT worth defending and protecting.

  22. This is analogous to counter-insurgency. Instead of countering their claims with louder voices, we – the firearms community – quietly ‘convert’ as many as we can. They have the loudest voices, with media and celebrity support, but we have the facts and truth on our side, and the majority of Americans seek the truth. It takes time, we must have patience. I am a certified instructor, and I feel like I can do my part by hosting free gun introduction events, get a range involved, make it light and fun. Start with friends, neighbors and expand to the general population over time. Host events specifically for women and their kids, get female instructors involved, female shooters. We can do this!

  23. Great article. And in this lull between major gun control battles we should be preparing for the next, and not sitting around, kicking it till the next emergency shows up. Well, there shouldn’t BE a next emergency as we are in control of the conversation, and not them.

    Just look at gun-controls facebook pages! How much talk has there been about school safety and control after this last school shooting after it’s been revealed that an armed guard stopped the shooting, and the shooter himself was a left leaning, pro-gun control advocate? (or, why are we not reminding/telling people more before interest in the story fades?)

  25. Google “Hacktivism” and study the successful campaigns for pointers on successful Internet (and other media) guerrilla cultural warfare.

    • Yeah, that’s a good one.

      Alona Hagay Frey is one of the current savants of the Communitarian Network. Right now, he’s working to get Americans called ‘American Terrorists’ under International Law, even in our own country. So if an American attacks or resists a ‘communitarian function’ in the US, read communist, they can quickly be called a terrorist and lose their Constitution Rights.

      They don’t bring alot of attention to Alona Hagay Frey (I forget his Israeli name), but you can read more on his current work here:” American Terrorists as Perpetrators of Communitarian Assaults”

      Spread the word about this guy. He’s a professor at George Washington University (sadly enough).

Comments are closed.