All the news recently, and especially the garbage out of NM, got me thinking. We need a PR campaign to get more of the public on our side. Here’s how I see it. The political right are about a third of the people, and they’re on our side (generally, theyre us). The lib left are about a third, and they’ll always hate us. So what? The middle of the road, independents are probably about split, some may quietly own a gun or two, and others may be well intentioned, but misled, that gun control laws somehow work. Those independents need to be brought fully to our side. The only way to do that is the same way everyone else gets their messages out, advertising.
Why can’t a group like the USCCA hire a PR/advertising firm to run a series painting the legal gun owner as “the mother next door” or your friend in the accounting department who could well save your life in an active shooter situation? Get the stats out that CCW holders are the lowest crime group in the country. Show normal people training and being responsible. Get real sheriffs to talk about how they want law abiding citizens armed. There are plenty in Florida who will say it in a press conference. We don’t need to get the independents themselves to run out and buy guns if they otherwise wouldn’t, we just need them to want us to have our guns. In fact, I don’t want to persuade anyone to buy a gun who isn’t really committed, I just want them to see us as a benefit to them and all of society.
We get painted right into the same category as gang bangers with stolen guns and that’s the only way despots like that idiot in NM, or Gov Gruesome can get away with their crap. If the general public started seeing CCW holders and legal carriers as a first line of defense against crime, it could change the whole narrative. The lib left is on a smear campaign against us, in a very public, vocal way. We fight back by quietly lobbying politicians and working through the courts, but aren’t doing much of anything to really change the narrative. They’re shouting loudly from the rooftops nothing but lies, while we whisper in the back rooms the truth.
But it would have to be done carefully and correctly. The thoughts and images that inspire and empower hard core pro 2A people don’t inspire all 2A people and often turn off fence sitters. The imaging and ideas put forth need to be properly nuanced and presented from a place that those exposed to only negative images of firearms and firearm owners can connect with.
I also think the picture of your three political groups is much muddier than you present. I am an “independent” yet very strongly support the 2A with my words, wallet and actions. I also personally know dozens of “liberals” who own firearms for self defense.
The first step to gaining broad support is to remove the us vs them attitude and reach out to everyone with the facts in a clear, calm and open manner. Otherwise the 2A is dead because demographics are rapidly swinging against the rural communities where people grow up experiencing firearms as just another useful tool in the toolbox. If we can’t find a way to connect with the growing urban populations we will eventually loose our rights.
Even here in AZ, often voted the most gun friendly State in the Country, we are only a couple of seats away from an anti self defense/anti 2A majority.
In my opinion, changing minds and legislative attitudes requires good people to make the personal sacrifice to actually run for public office. Not political nut jobs who just want a government job, 'cause they can’t do anything else. Doing so is really, really painful and people may and will lose. But, stepping out of one’s private life cocoon to endure this is what it really means to be a patriot. Most of the eligible electorate doesn’t vote at all, much less do something as hard as actually run for office. Sitting on the sidelines waiting for someone, somewhere, someday, to appear and do something is 100% magical thinking that accomplishes nothing.
Ideally we would have good candidates, but not everyone can or will run for office. The point of the PR campaign is to reframe the whole national discussion about guns, and make it unaccepable to the general plublic to disarm law abiding citizens.
We need a super majority of Americans on our side, such that the politicians will have no choice but to leave us alone and find a new boogieman.
There isn’t much room for independent thinkers in our system because independent thinkers don’t show up and participate. Do you attend and participate in your local Republican/Democrat central committee meetings? Do you work with your local libertarian party (or any other 3rd party alternative to Rs and Ds) apparatus? Do you give money to or participate in legitimate independent advocacy organizations, like the Heritage Foundation, the Mises Institute, the Cato Institute or attend their events?
When I was the chair of my local Republican central committee, what I saw was the same half-a-dozen old people showing up at our monthly meetings.
Sure, if you run, you may lose and, based on my experience, running for office is personally very expensive and painful as perfect strangers will come out of the woodwork to tell you how dumb and evil you are. They are “couch-potato patriots” in my view and rightfully should be ignored, because, in the end, they do nothing but sit on their couch, watching Fox news and complaining. Good people running for office is the only way change will happen in the corrupt political world we live in.
Got some bad news for you. No one runs for office, except low-lifes who can’t do anything else except hold down a government job where they tell you what to do.
That will only change if/when good people stand up and make the personal sacrifices necessary to run for and win public office. A PR campaign, by itself, ain’t gonna change anything in our political world.
For sure no one single campaign will force changes. It needs to start somewhere. The only thing any politician fears is becoming unpopular enough to get primaried out or lose a general election. If we can reframe the discussion, and take control of the narrative, suddenly stripping gun owners rights will be unpopular to enough people that the politicians won’t bother with it. They only do it now because it’s red meat to what they think are the majority. The NM governor openly said it won’t slow crime! She knows it does nothing other than pump up her base, and that’s all because the left has total control of the loud, public narrative.
Alcohol kills way more people than are shot every year, but no politician ever talks about banning beer because they know they’ll be run out of office. Even most people who dont drink support others’ right to, at least enough that no one is talking about banning it. We need to get to the same point.
I did pretty much all these things excessively in my younger save the world days. Now I am too busy making up for all the money I didn’t earn so I can support my family and hopefully retire someday without the assistance of Social Security which is very unlikely to be there when I need it.
I still contribute to organizations whose work I think is important and I still try to make my voice heard by those in charge and those that elect them. But most people either don’t care, are too busy just trying to get by in this economic crap storm, or have already made up their minds and aren’t going to listen to anything that doesn’t confirm their biases.
So I do admit to spending a lot less time peeing into the wind these days and a lot more time trying to put my family into a position to not be completely overwhelmed by the mess coming our way.
We had a non politician run for president and actually won, because the looney libs thought that they had it in the bag with the old hag. Didn’t need to cheat. But look what’s happening to him. This is I think a warning to anyone else who thinks that they might change the political system.
I get that and respect it. Plan B is and should be how to protect one’s family and weather the coming crises, to include accumulating enough resources to walk away from the working world.
I haven’t completely given up on plan A. I just feel that despite exerting a lot of effort over the decades I have had very little impact on our political system.
I see our world working a lot less well as time goes on, so I am focusing more effort on the things in my own life that I can control.
…because the media won’t allow such independent thought. When you can defend yourself, you’ve become an independent thinker.
Slaves can’t be allowed to think or defend!
As far as I know, you can’t teach sheep to fight, but you can, with force, tame a wolf!
Not too long ago there was a Glock commercial, lasted about three weeks. I don’t recall any dialogue, but it took me three times to realize they were talking about conceal carrying of their products. Great “subliminal” ad.
If we try and portray ourselves at sporting events we’ll be considered racist. “Who ever has the youth, has the future” sound familiar, it should, that was Hitler. Right idea, wrong reason. We need the young to understand independence, how are we supposed to accomplish that when they don’t believe in our country!
We may get one or two on our side, but we need millions! They are already brainwashed! We need to tear down the institutions that are generating human robots! And poster and PR ads won’t do the trick, we need our own AOC, who that might be, I wish I knew.
Who is our voice, who is our face❓ Is it you, me, Clint Eastwood?
100% agreed. I would add, maybe imbedded or at least along side, a campaign against criminals. Pointing out that Law abiding concealed carriers with permits are backgrounded on a regular basis. Pointing out that in a large percentage of gun violence occurrences the actor has an illegal weapon and in many cases can’t legally have a firearm.
While you’re at it or at the same time we or whoever would have to change the perception of who is qualified to be in office. From what I see and watch most of the voting public think that a person has to be a lawyer to be qualified enough to hold office. A few years ago I was having a talk with a person that was an aide to a sitting senator. He kept going on about you don’t know how to write a bill, the process to follow, blah, blah, blah. Never thinking that those ppl are easily available from the party you belong to or the special interest group that convinced you of their cause.
To me, what makes a person qualified is does s/he stand for what I do and is s/he brave enough to stand up against the opposition.
