Category: Anti-Gun Folks

We’ve seen reasoned discourse rearing it’s ugly head again, both in the comment section (comments go most recent first, rather than last, start at the end to see the anti-gun commenters) of the LA Times story I linked to earlier, and also at this place, which Dave Hardy linked to over the weekend.  You’ll notice that, for the most part, our side is appearing with facts, and reasonable arguments, and their side is slinging personal insults, stereotypes, and various other manners of prejudices.

I think the reason for the vitriol is that we have unwittingly hit on a nerve.  The LA Times article presented gun owners in a human light.  For those who have their identities wrapped up in who they are not, which is ignorant, paranoid, rednecks compensating for some kind of inadequacy and reacting to an irrational fear of crime stoked by the right wing establishment, it’s horribly destabilizing to a smug sense of self to read that those types of people might actually have things in common with you.  They may even have a serious point of view!

No, no.  Can’t have that.  That’s a threat to our every sense of superiority.   Those aren’t people.  Those are paranoid knuckle draggers.   Real people are enlightened.  Real people don’t feel a need to carry a gun to the grocery store.  The reason they hate articles like this is because it makes them face an unpleasant reality; we’re ordinary people, and we’re getting better at getting that message out.

We dominate, and are courageous in new media.  They can’t come here without dealing with us.  Folks like we’ve seen on the LA Times comment page avoid the gun blogosphere like the plague, because if they spent enough time with us, they’d realize we’re not easily crammed into the nice box they’ve made for us in their narrow minds.  One thing I’ve often pondered about the Brady Bunch, is that I know they read gun blogs, so they surely have to know us to some degree.   I’ve joked often that they believe we’re shills of the NRA, but in reality I don’t think it’s a joke.  They really believe that.  They have to believe that.  They’ve spent their whole careers battling NRA as an evil monolith representing the powers of darkness.  If we don’t fit neatly into that, well then hell, what have they been doing with their whole career?  That’s why I often get upset with people like for doing the same thing to the other side, because it lets them off easy.  If we fit the stereotype of everything they want to believe, it’s easy for them to justify to themselves why we have to be steamrollered.

We do not have to demonize the other side in order to have persuasive arguments.  We don’t need to do it to feel right, because we’re not advocating that people’s freedoms be taken away.  We’re the people who want to be able to keep shooting competitively with an AR-15s.  We’re the people who don’t want to have to wait 10 minutes for the police to show up when seconds count.  We’re the people who think our constitution means something.  I think we ought to have the courage to be able to stand up to the other side, as fellow citizens, and say “Sorry, you’re wrong, and here’s why.”  That is our power.  The other side can’t do that, and it shows in how they approach the issue.

What we ideally want is for the Brady Campaign to have a hard time retaining qualified staff, because their hearts just aren’t in it anymore.  Let them move on to other progressive causes, or the for-profit sector.  Politics isn’t war.  Sometimes you can win by humanizing yourself to the other side.  Ultimately we will win by breaking down stereotypes and fighting ignorance, just like every other civil rights movement in recorded history.  The Black Panthers didn’t end Jim Crow, that was ended by African Americans humanizing themselves to America, and demanding fair treatment.  The lesson is already there in history if we’re willing to follow it.

Down the memory hole.

According to Thirdpower, the old comments over at the Brady Campaign Blog have gone poof, before Reasoned Discourse set in, have all gone poof.  I’m not much of a betting man, but if I were, I kind of wonder of these slides from my presentation, which you couldn’t see on the video, but could hear me referring to, had something to do with it.

I’m willing to bet the Brady Campaign is pretty fanatical about controlling their message.  What advocacy groups need to understand is, there’s no doing that in new media.  You speak with the message you have, and hope others follow it, but you don’t get much control.  Others will argue, and disagree.  A few days of studying the gun blogosphere will find as much disagreement as agreement.   But what happens if you’re trying to penetrate new media with a message that’s based on obfuscating issues and deception?  It’s not easy, that’s for sure.

David has interesting details surrounding the suspension of Father Pfleger.

The Brady Campaign, that staffers insist isn’t an organization out to, you know, ban guns, is fundraising because the Bush administration might get to “enforce an extremist reading of the Second Amendment” such as it being unconstitutional to ban guns.  Who exactly are the extremists again?

Looks like the Archbishop of the Chicago Archdioces has suspended Father Snuffy.

CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports the move comes after several days of deliberation and consultation by the Cardinal, who first learned about Pfleger’s racially charged comments about senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton from the pulpit of Trinity Unity Church of Christ last Thursday night.

The Cardinal immediately contacted Pfleger who agreed not to refer to the presidential candidates by name, but as CBS 2 reported at the time, there remained the possibility of some further disciplinary action against Pfleger.

I guess Cardinal George has limits beyond which he won’t be pushed.  Hopefully he’ll make it clear that if Michael Pfleger wants to remain a priest, he needs to start acting like one.

Apparently the very Brady blogger who runs Gods and Guns have put at least one of the posts that disappeared down the memory hole back on line.

When you see pro-gun peices in the Canadian media, and editorials talking about the mayor being wrongheaded, it’s probably a good indication he’s stepped out of the mainstream, and into the fringe.  Note the indignation on the part of the olympic shooters?  Big city mayors are a gun rights activist best friend.  They pretty much prove for us that it ain’t going to stop with assault weapons, saturday night specials, or whatever the hell the anti-gun movement is talking about banning these days.  We have more shooters in America than they do in Canada, but that hasn’t stopped the same thing from happening in our cities.

I have to admit, so far the Brady Campaign’s Newswatch is top quality stuff. Worthy of Jadegold, except without the ad-hominems.  I mean, arguing that Montanans are crazy for taking the constitution seriously, and that NRA members are afraid of cows.  Wow.  I look forward to the day when I can be part of this parody.

Just to let you all in on what the Brady’s are likely hoping for here, is that we all link to these outrages, and that it boosts their Google mojo.  That way when people search on certain things, their message gets out there, and maybe they get some followers.  I wonder where they got that idea from?

But seriously folks, the Brady’s are a lot of things, but they aren’t stupid.  They are clearly starting to understand new media, and we have to be ready.  Be so baited as you might be, the best thing is to ignore them.