PAFOA Flyers Ideas

[ChamberedRound]

Apologies in advance for the long post. But I have some thoughts on this issue which I wanted to share with everyone, and get their feedback.

Personally, I don't think we should limit ourselves to a single phrase.

We are looking to obtain broad support from citizens all across PA. These people are all going to have different views about firearms, so we should come up with different brochures, phrases, etc. that target the different types of people we are looking to market ourselves to. Make no mistake about it, this is a marketing campaign; let's treat it as such and take a multi-pronged approach to obtain the support we desire.

It seems to me that there's a couple of different categories of people we're looking to market to:

1. The avid hunter/shooter/sportsmen/2A supporter. In this case, we will most likely obtain their support easily, as they already hold the same beliefs as we do. For these people, it's more a matter of making them aware of the PAFOA than anything else, as once they're aware, they're very likely to stick around. The phrase already suggested:

"Interested In Preserving Your RIGHT To Bear Arms?"

will work well for this group of people.

2. The people "on the fence". IMHO these are the people who were like me about two years ago: they don't actively oppose the RKBA or the 2nd Amendment, but they don't own guns or see a need to. These people need a little more persuasion. If presented with a history of the 2nd Amendment, Section 21 of the PA Constitution, anecdotal arguments, personal accounts of people who defended themselves, and what could happen if out rights are taken away, they might "turn the corner" and believe in what the PAFOA stands for. That's what happened to me. These people represent the "middle ground", the untapped well, the segment from which HUGE support can be obtained if the argument is convincing enough.

Some will disagree with me here, but for these people I think we need a "softer" catch-phrase than the one above. One that's less confrontational. Something that makes them think about the issue without putting them on the defensive. We don't want them to feel like they're being recruited by a bunch of "gun nuts"; we want them to think that we're responsible citizens concerned about everyone's rights and the safety and future of the American, and Pennsylvanian, way of life.

3. The antis. Although we're not likely to obtain support from anyone in this segment, we still need to market to them for a number of reasons:

a) They need to know that the PAFOA exists, and that we are a legitimate organization. In general, the more pro-RKBA organizations there are that EVERYONE knows about, the better off we are, as it shows that lots of people think the same way we do.
b) We have an obligation to defend ourselves from their attacks, and that we're not going to go "silently into the good night" while they fight to take away our rights
c) You never know, we might get lucky and actually change someone's mind. And, if you do manage to sway an anti, they will likely become a staunch supporter. These are the type of people that don't do anything "half-way", when they do something they commit.

IMHO, for these people we need a phrase which is confrontational, and directly attacks their anti-gun belief system. It doesn't hurt to go on the offensive with this segment of people, they've already made up their minds about us anyway. It's our job to slap 'em in the face and try to wake them up. Once their hooked with the bait, however, we will need to be extremely thorough and professional in the defense of our arguments, citing lots of evidence and backing it up with statistical data. These are the people that love to pick apart an argument, and anything presented to them must be rock solid.

Let me know what you think about this multi-pronged approach.

[dmg1969]

I would agree with a multi-pronged approach. The easiest group is the pro-gun, hunters crowd. The hardest to appeal to, in my opinion, would be those "on the fence". You need to walk a finer line with them then you do with the pro or anti gun crowd.

Another thing I thought of when it comes to the anti-gun crowd. I think we will need to be extremely vigilant about policing (note I said policing...not censoring) the message board because anything said here can be used in the press by the antis to criticize us. Anything which could appear to shed us in the light of being gun nuts should be moderated. Even though you can counter that with "that was a posting by a single member and does not reflect the opinion of PAFOA". Just something I thought of while reading the last message.

Dave G.

[billamj]

Originally Posted by dmg1969

I would agree with a multi-pronged approach. The easiest group is the pro-gun, hunters crowd. The hardest to appeal to, in my opinion, would be those "on the fence". You need to walk a finer line with them then you do with the pro or anti gun crowd.

I don't know how much I would agree with you on the "pro-gun, hunters" crowd, Dave. I don't know how many times I've heard someone in that camp say something to the order of, "You can't use an AK for hunting deer, I don't see the need for someone to own one." I've heard similar sentiment about various handguns, the big fifty and virtually all semi-autos at one point or another in this state. Too many hunters think that if it isn't for hunting, you shouldn't be able to own it. Those are people that need to learn every bit as much as antis and to be honest those are the folks that I have the most problem with. If it doesn't fit their need, then no one needs it. Too blind to see the truth.

[PA Rifleman]

Originally Posted by ScooterKrunch

Ok this was very quick...

Scooter:

That was a first-rate piece of work. I've collected a piece of silver or two over the years for penning, and that's good stuff.

The only variation I would have pondered is adding bullets on your list to show where it ends...

Are you….

• Interested what’s going on in the firearm community?
• Interested in learning what our government is doing?

Just want to meet 1000’s of people interested in what you are?

Come check us out. Visit us at www.pafao.org

Best of all it’s free.

Maybe additional bulleted list items pointed towards the CCW crowd, hunters & collectors. Possibly NFA. The NFA crowd is a minority, but does carry a high amount of prurient appeal.

[JLStorm]

I read something about pdf's. If someone needs a file converted to pdf, I can usually do it without issues.

[phillyd2]

KISS.

Reminds me of the story about a merchant who put up a sign which read "Fresh Fish For Sale Today". A customer who came to the market objected to the word Today. He reasoned that everybody knows it is today. That word was removed and the sign read "Fresh Fish For Sale". Another customer said it was obvious that the fish were for sale since this was a store. So down came the words For Sale. That left the words "Fresh Fish". Someone else suggested that the word Fresh reflected on the merchant's integrity; did anyone think he would sell stale fish? The merchant removed the word Fresh. The sign was left with only the word "Fish".

If you already have Pennsylvania Firearms Owners Association in the name, what more do you need to know? Seems pretty self explanatory to me. The trouble with bullet point issues are:

1. You will offend (not appeal to) one group or another. Some just want to log on to talk guns, 45 v 9 mm. Some will need advice of getting that damn HK91 bolt back in. Others will want to storm the castle to reclaim our lost rights. Many will be hunters just checking in once a month.

2. We do not yet know what our Association stands for or what activities we will be engaged in. Sure we have general outlines such as Gun Control is bad but we still need to hear from Dan what our Charter will include. Just a sports hangout place or a active lobbying force.

FWIW, the flyer can be a 8x11 piece of paper with

Pennsylvania Firearms Owners Association

Logo

www.pafoa.com

"The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned." - Pennsylvania Constitution, Section 21

**** Freedom is never free but membership in PAFOA is. Join us today ****

just my two cents....

[ScooterKrunch]

Billamj has a very good point right along the lines with why I feel any mention of the 2nd could turn people away. I've heard many people (hunters and others) with those sentiments relate any mention of assault weapons or pro 2A talk with gun "loonies", extremists, whatever you want to call them.
Phillyd2, the bullet points wouldn't offend anybody as long as they are vague enough. We want people to talk 45 vs 9, or to ask for help, or to check on how hunters did in other parts of the state. It really doesn't matter what the association stands for, but we DO know what it stands for. Getting people here is the number one goal whether they are already are gun owners or not. Once they are here they can read for themselves everything we have to offer then hopefully word of mouth will take over. I'm not opposed to anti's coming, but since this is still in it's infancy I feel we should work on becoming a stronger, larger, more organized group before inviting protest and attacks.
Thanks PA Rifleman. Yes it could use some more points, I just couldn't think of more. It was quicker for me to do that than to describe what I thought about because I'm a mechanic not a writer.

[ChamberedRound]

We don't want to say that membership is free. If I recall correctly from the fundraising campaign, Dan had mentioned that once the PAFOA is an official organization, the organization may need to start charging for memberships.

[exceltoexcel]

Ugh, don't want to touch this with a ten foot pole but here I go anyway.

If you charge for a membership it better be for a "members only area" NOT the whole board. You'll lose traffic and eventually the board could die.

My guess is that there will always be a free membership as for a paying members only area I'd love to see that right now.

[ChamberedRound]

Originally Posted by exceltoexcel

Ugh, don't want to touch this with a ten foot pole but here I go anyway.

If you charge for a membership it better be for a "members only area" NOT the whole board. You'll lose traffic and eventually the board could die.

My guess is that there will always be a free membership as for a paying members only area I'd love to see that right now.

I have no idea what Dan is planning, although I doubt that the site would require membership for access. I just remember the idea of membership being discussed, that's all. Relax. Don't read into it, I'm just the moderator Believe it or not, I don't know much more than the rest of you.