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Thread: Decent article on banding GC 2.0 together

  1. #1
    Site Supporter Totem Polar's Avatar
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    Decent article on banding GC 2.0 together

    I can get behind this way of thinking.

    https://tinkertalksguns.wordpress.co...come-together/

    Yes, Americans are an exceptionally diverse people, with many regional and ethnic cultures in the mix. But we only have one Constitution, and I have sworn to uphold it.

    It’s very popular in mainstream gun culture to demonize Liberals and poke fun at them. But the fact of the matter is that by the latest estimates a minimum of 30% of gun owners in this country identify as ‘Liberal,’ and we can no longer afford to demonize almost 1/3 of the folks on our side.


    Preaching to the P-F chorus, I realize. Nice to know that there are other select choirs out there as well.
    ”But in the end all of these ideas just manufacture new criminals when the problem isn't a lack of criminals.” -JRB

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    I don't think I can quite agree. I think it has always been a culture war, long before the NRA decided to launch its 'Stand and Fight' campaign styling a few years ago. And if that's not the case, the organization the author links to certainly seems to advocate treating it that way anyhow.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Yung View Post
    I don't think I can quite agree. I think it has always been a culture war, long before the NRA decided to launch its 'Stand and Fight' campaign styling a few years ago. And if that's not the case, the organization the author links to certainly seems to advocate treating it that way anyhow.
    I’m curious - What is it precisely that you can’t quite agree about?

    There are many culture wars. But there is no reason whatsoever we can’t agree on the 2a and jointly try to advance that for all Americans. Unless one feels only one side “deserves “ weapons and to be armed? That’s certainly and obviously not my view, but at times it sure seems to be the view of orgs like the nra and others.

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    My disagreement is mainly based on my impression that the author thinks the idea of the battle for the 2nd as a culture war is just a political narrative. Yet at the same time, Open Source Defense puts in their mission statements that culture drives politics.

    My disagreement is also slightly based on not being so sure what the author might define as a race/religion based hate group 'and the like', as well as whether being a gun owner is really a brand; I personally draw a distinction between gun owners and armed citizens, and I have to wonder if gun ownership being seen as a brand isn't part of the poison in the first place. The entire blogpost really could have done without that last asterisk.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sidheshooter View Post

    It’s very popular in mainstream gun culture to demonize Liberals and poke fun at them. But the fact of the matter is that by the latest estimates a minimum of 30% of gun owners in this country identify as ‘Liberal,’ and we can no longer afford to demonize almost 1/3 of the folks on our side.[/i]
    I'm choosing to respond to the positive comment here, rather than to the second post.

    Because I do agree with this, and as someone who has had to write policy and balance interests in the past, it's the only way forward.

    I live in a town which, inside the city limits and looking only at election results, has become fairly progressive as city folks have moved in over the past few decades (in reality it's a little more complicated than that). We're surrounded by ranching lands mostly owned and worked by conservative multi-generation families. We've for the most part kept it civilized by maintaining an open-minded dialogue and by reining in the more extreme elements of any and all factions. There is peer pressure for the new city folks to chill, to not try to change everything right away, and the ones that stay more than a year or two generally are brought around to our way of thinking. Yes, there are a few stupid city boys who hate on others and get arrogant and want to change everything right now. Few of them last long. There are a few stupid ranch boys too, harder to make them go away but they can generally be convinced to stop saying intolerant things after a while.

    I'm continually amazed by who is interested in learning to shoot. Maybe the biggest surprise was the 30-something Seattle expat ballet teacher from the local very liberal university, but I'll take allies wherever I can find them. And part of my job as a RSO at two local ranges is to reach out to and encourage folks like that.

    As for NRA, they've contributed, a lot, to getting us where we are now. There was a day when we could usually count on elected democrats from rural districts to vote 2A and a time when NRA worked those relationships. It's now, in the WLP era, become a partisan special interest battle. The problem with that is that the political balance always swings back and forth over time. What might have been an advantage for a few years can, and will, swing the other way for a while. A lot of those rural democrats have now been alienated and pushed away. Looking at demographic trends, we're going to need to figure out a way to get some of them back. That's just common sense.

    From the linked post: "The NRA began pushing the notion of a ‘Culture war,’ and by all accounts they lost members. Probably an awful lot of those were Liberal gun owners."

    I'm one of them (although I don't identify as either liberal or conservative and am no longer affiliated with either major political party, but that's another post), I've moved my dues to another organization.

    I'm tired of culture wars, and wish everyone would take a few moments to interact with others not exactly like themselves. We won't ever all agree, and life would be boring if we did. If we try to understand each others points of view and treat each other with basic civilized respect it's amazing what can happen.
    Last edited by Salamander; 10-13-2019 at 02:23 AM.

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