I see that I said it wrong, again.
I don't necessarily think that OCT is doing it right.
I tend to think that rule one is: Don't freak the mundanes.
Carrying an EBR into Target is freaking the mundanes.
What I am trying to say is I understand why they are doing what they are doing the way they are doing it.
I think people on the pro-gun side are discounting the desperation that lots of pro-gunners on the outlying issues of gun-rights feel. The reason they feel that way is because they feel ignored by the mainstream gun rights folks.
The condemnation of their desperate tactics serves to convince them they were correct, that they were being deliberately discounted and ignored.
And it feels so familiar. Like when nobody cared about assault weapons until they banned them. (Which is almost certainly a misremembering of the situation, but you know, feewings.)
I empathize with them because I feel like NFA is another red-headed step child of the pro-gun movement.
Of course, I don't carry my SBR into Target...
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I'll probably be in the same boat as you regarding this but let's talk about the reports of the 'mundanes' being freaked out.
ReplyDeleteWhere do they come from?
The anti rights cultists (aka gun control groups), the media LONG after the fact and NOT one of the people there on camera and some of the gun blogs.
Very seldom, at least in Texas, do we have actual people freaking out. Even the most egregious case -- ala Jack In The Box -- the 911 caller wasn't freaked out, NOT one of the employees at the store called 911 (much less hid in the freezer) and not one employee/customer/someone near by reported being freaked out.
After the fact they got quotes from anti rights cultists about how scared people get but is it.
I hear a lot of gun bloggers making comments about how Open Carry should be done but they do not understand the basic logistical/geographical issues involved in the Dallas Fort Worth area much less places like Austin. They talk about 'fishing events' like Open Carry Florida does -- well, there aren't that many lakes around here -- they definitely aren't on the tourist path, they definitely aren't where most people will even notice. Look at the map of the area and tell me how well that would work.
I hear a lot of people talking about having political demonstrations. Well, that does happen -- and then those very people complain about going armed to political events. Can't win for loosing it seems.
They talk about Empty Holster events -- those have been done but it doesn't really make a visual statement regarding your rights - Most people don't even notice the holsters.
O.C.T. blundered in they let their images be used against them, They lost control of the message but the gun bloggers sure didn't help out by throwing everyone under the bus instead of pushing back on the issue in my opinion. Had we even half the people who condemned OCT talking about WHY they did what they did -- there could have been a different take away even with MDA pushing.
Just my two cents.
Bob S.
Well said. I do tend to agree.
DeleteI keep mentioning the swimming problem. You can't learn to swim until you're in the water.
People won't get used to seeing guns until they're seeing guns.
If we win and get open carry, the mundanes will be a-freakin'... For a while. When there's no blood in the streets, they'll settle down.
Too much of the acrimony around this issue is, as you indicate, own-goals.