Apathy of a gun owner

[bstrawse]

My point originally was to remind folks to talk to other gun owners in their lives and remind them that we're all in this together. The opposition is counting on apathy.

If you choose to use a variety of quasi-valid pro-gun memes to make your point, so be it. That wouldn't be my strategy. IMHO, the Hitler analogy plays well only to the choir...appealing to the grouse/deer hunting crowd and those on the sidelines is my game.

You followed the hearings this year....do you recall the exchange where a DFL'er poo-poo the mention of armed Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto...It seemed like he was working off of 'Anti-Talking-Points' and his point was essentially 'resistance is futile'

Yes, we were both there nearly everyday. It played well to the crowd and to the base.

It made no difference to the general public. Again, I don't believe this is material that helps us win over the electorate or elect more pro-gun defenders of the 2nd amendment to the MN leg.
b

[crbutler]

The give me liberty or give me death/the purpose of the 2nd A is to defend yourself from the government plays well with a very limited group of people, and coincidentally, they already support the pro gun status, so it's really useless as a political persuasion point.

Giving police response times, and pointing out that really, you are responsible for your own safety reaches more, and as long as its not done in a fear mongering way, generally is supported.

Lets face it, the statistics support gun owners in public safety and the lack of incidents with the law abiding gun owners. When you remove suicides, it really does look good for us.

Unfortunately, while we win the logical argument pretty well, the vast majority of people who are against us are so from an emotional point of view. Somehow, those folk need to be reached, as an example, I have a co worker who was very anti gun; she moderated some what when she found out that I was a competitive shooter/hunter, and despite having a carry permit, didn't bring it to work (because the rules prohibit it) and admitted that some folks could safely own a gun, but still didn't like that I had them. Now that her son is really interested in shooting and is going through gun safety and wants to hunt with some old family friends, she is no longer anti gun. What reached her was a combination of knowing reasonable folks and then someone she loved getting in to it; it is not impossible to reach the emotional, but some times the only way is to have someone they will not attack join you. Another anti at work changed his mind once it was pointed out (and given proof of) that the original basis of the gun laws in the US was in Jim Crow laws to disarm the blacks in the south- and as a black man, that really outraged him.

Some are impossible to reach, because you can't find the lever to get through their emotion, and as such, this will be a never ending battle.

[photogpat]

You'll never reach the "other side" because its an emotional fight....not a logical one.

That's why the "battle" is for the middle (and the apathetic)!

[gunsmith]

You'll never reach the "other side" because its an emotional fight....not a logical one.

That's why the "battle" is for the middle (and the apathetic)!

Yeah I think I came across a booklet with advice for Anti's and it repeatedly emphasized "don't get bogged down in

arguments....appeal exclusively to emotion."

Bloomberg has 24 BILLION DOLLARS to play with and he won't be NYC mayor anymore....I hope we do as well in the next round

at the legislature as we did in the last.

[LePetomane]

I suggest substituting the phrase 'Universal Gun Registration and Background Check' for 'Universal Background Check' whenever possible.

I would also suggest substituting "Mayors against Gun Owners" for "Mayors against Illegal Guns" whenever Mr. Bloomberg's organization is mentioned.