Gun Control Activists Have a New Plan that Could Win

[BobFromBucks]

If you haven’t been paying attention to the latest gun control efforts, you need to start immediately. The anti’s are ramping up their efforts. However, they are taking a grass roots approach using paid social media trolls, public relations, local press releases, local demonstrations, and state and local government infiltration. They are also using liberal, activist judges to further their plans when possible. One of their latest ploys is renaming “Stand Your Ground” to “Shoot First.” It’s all part of their common sense propaganda plan.

I posted their stated strategy earlier today in another post about Biden. Here it is in a nutshell:

Officials from the White House Office of Public Engagement, which reports to senior Obama aide Valerie Jarrett, are now carrying the administration’s gun control efforts. OPE officials hold a regular meeting with the major gun control groups known as the Gun Violence Table.

The weekly sessions often include OPE Director Paulette Aniskoff or official Paul Monteiro along with representatives from Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, Moms Demand Action, the Center for American Progress, Organizing for Action and Americans for Responsible Solutions.

The groups are coordinating a November lobbying effort and planning events to commemorate the first anniversary of the Newtown, Conn., massacre last December.

Officials from the groups said they hope to follow the example set by gay marriage advocates — turning victories in a handful of local battles into something that resembles a national movement.

We need to launch a counter-offensive with our state and local politicians. Start sending emails, letters, and making phone calls to your state and local legislators. For that matter, don’t forget governors of states where you read about strong anti-activity. Almost all governors have greater ambitions and they need to know we are all watching them.

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/1...6.html?hp=t1_3
And another - http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-bl...ocuses-on-alec
And, a lying media blogger - http://blogs.roanoke.com/dancasey/20...-carry-havens/

I could post dozens of stories a day on here of what is going on at the state and local level all coordinated by the White House and Bloomberg minions.

Don't go to sleep!

[jim-analog]

Greetings,

Thanks for the heads up on the anti strategy Bob. Our side needs to get together in a similar fashion.

Regards, Jim

[Pilot321]

All I had to read was Valerie Jarrett's name to realize the pure evil in the intent, and actions.

[streaker69]

All I had to read was Valerie Jarrett's name to realize the pure evil in the intent, and actions.

I guess I need to edit my Pure Evil picture..

[BobFromBucks]

I guess I need to edit my Pure Evil picture..

I look at that image and, for some reason, feel like Holder would like it.

[BobFromBucks]

Greetings,

Thanks for the heads up on the anti strategy Bob. Our side needs to get together in a similar fashion.

Regards, Jim

We do need to get together. If there is one thing I've learned about passionate gun owners is that they are typically not attracted to being part of a large group. Heck, we even fight all the time about the benefits of joining the NRA and GOA. We are so independent minded that I wonder if that one fact might be the single-greatest contributor to end of the gun culture.

If we don't learn to work as a united front, the anti's will pick us off one-at-a-time by eventually making gun ownership so onerous that successive generations will find the investment of blood, sweat, tears, time and money not worth the value of keeping their guns.

A year or more ago, I asked why the NRA and GOA weren't implementing grassroots campaigns and, instead, always focusing on lobbying. I'm still asking the question. Our enemies have figured out that the fact that telling stories that resonates inside peoples' hearts and minds is what moves them to take action. And, that's done face-to-face on the streets, in your homes, at work, everywhere you can tell our story. It's like water dripping onto a rock one drop at a time until a hole is formed that allows the water to enter.

The moms and dads who don't own guns and don't feel like they have a dog in this fight are the rocks. We need to be the water.

People who are not part of the gun culture have many, many questions about guns these days. Guns are a topic that comes up all the time in all kinds of work and social settings. We need to listen to them and then be ready to answer their questions not with slogans but with stories about real people just like themselves.

<Stepping off soapbox now.>

[emckee57]

I'm not convinced this strategy is working for the antis. Everything there is supposed to be some huge rally for more gun control, usually twelve people show up for there side (pro gun individuals tend to outnumber them). It's also nice seeing how big some of the pro gun rallies have been.

That's not to say to ignore this and not work together to preserve our rights. Contributions to pro second amendment groups, calling and writing to Congressmen and grassroots all help. I've also found one of the best ways to build support for our side is to talk one on one with people who are anti or on the fence, and show them the guns take them to the range and see that it's not evil. I completely reverse somebodies position on the AWB by showing them my AR sans pistol grip and saying this would be legal under the proposed law, but adding the pistol grip would make it an evil assault weapon.

[johnydavid]

The gun control activist will shit and fall in it. Trust me it's not going to happen.

[mikelets456]

The gun control activist will shit and fall in it. Trust me it's not going to happen.

Really? With unlimited funding,unlimited media exposure, unlimited exposure and unlimited support by teaching institutions. Taking the enemy lightly is suicide.

I've seen everything that's good that support being demonized and thought of as bad. Our country has been turned upside down and I take nothing for granite.

I've done petitioning, marches, boycotts, rallies, etc. this stuff is good and effective however we need more involved people. We need to have numbers of us at local school meetings every week. Local township meetings, local everything meetings every week. If we have groups show up and continue to speak the truth, etc that's one way.

Let me know how I can help. We need to start being proactive .

[BobFromBucks]

Here is an example of their new strategy. They are telling and spreading stories. Why do you think millions of people love reality shows? Even cooking shows have gone to a reality contest format. People love stories about other people. The antis have figured it out. They are testing to see which method of story-telling works best and then they will focus even more. If you think their strategy can't work, you are not listening. Not to me but to all the fence sitters who are listening to the stories and are talking about them the same way they discuss the latest episode of Dancing With whoever.

Domestic violence survivors are traveling to Capitol Hill this week to make sure that firearms don’t end up in the hands of abusers. Working in conjunction with Mayors Against Illegal Guns, they’re encouraging lawmakers to support comprehensive background checks, a lobbying effort that’s timed to coincide with the end of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Gender-based violence and gun policies have become particularly entwined lately. Over the past several months, proponents for looser gun laws have argued that women need easy access to guns to protect themselves against abusers and rapists. According to some of the conservatives who oppose gun control, additional regulations on concealed weapons and assault rifles aren’t compatible with feminism. On Tuesday, that line of reasoning made yet another appearance at a Senate hearing about Stand Your Ground laws, as a conservative policy analyst from the Cato Institute suggested that feminists support the policy that allowed George Zimmerman to kill an unarmed teenager.

Christy Salters Martin, a domestic violence survivor who was stabbed and shot by her husband after she attempted to leave him, has a very different perspective on the issue.

“Having a gun isn’t enough,” Christy explained in an interview with ThinkProgress. “Women who fear for their life don’t need a gun — they need to go to their local police department, they need to go a family member, they need to go to the domestic violence shelter in their area where they have some type of protection.”

Christy and her estranged husband both owned guns and both had concealed carry permits. Christy also had a very successful career in professional boxing. That didn’t stop her husband from shooting her.

“I was shot with my own gun. Just putting a weapon in the woman’s hand is not going to reduce the number of fatalities or gunshot victims that we have,” Christy pointed out. “Too many times, their male counterpart or spouse will be able to overpower them and take that gun away.”

The evidence backs up Christy’s point. Abusers who have access to a gun are more than seven times more likely to kill their partners. By some estimations, the presence of a gun in domestic violence situations — no matter who technically owns it — increases the risk of homicide by 500 percent. In 2011, 44 percent of the women in this country who were killed with guns were murdered by a current or former intimate partner.

“These things are going to continue to happen until Congress steps up and changes these laws,” Christy told ThinkProgress. “And in order for them to act, it’s going to take people like me, survivors, to stand up and say: Be more aware of the gun laws.”

Thanks to current loopholes in federal law, some domestic abusers are still able to get their hands on guns. That’s what Christy and her fellow survivors want to change. They’re holding a press conference on Wednesday to urge Congress to pass stronger background check measures, saying that will help save women’s lives. Indeed, in states already require background checks for all gun sales, 38 percent fewer women are killed by intimate partners.

Immediately after the Sandy Hook massacre, support for universal background checks soared. An estimated 90 percent of American voters supported the policy in the lead-up to a Senate vote on the issue in April; nonetheless, the Senate ended up killing the bill. But Christy is still hopeful.

“It’s just going to take more people getting up there and talking about their personal experiences,” she said, pointing out that more stories from victims of intimate partner violence need to be elevated. “If it’s not happening in your house or within your family, you’re not thinking about it.”

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013...ground-checks/