
Want to see how the two sides in the gun debate get out their messaging? Start with the NRA-TV website and watch this: https://www.nratv.com/episodes/stinchfield-season-3-episode-105. I know, you can’t even get past the third minute, it’s just so boring and dumb. And nobody’s watching it anyway, the monthly traffic is down by almost 50 percent since February and the average visit is 3 minutes, which is about one-quarter the time that each video plays.
Want to see what our side is doing when it comes to messaging? Try this: https://surveys.signforgood.com/bawn-video.
This video was developed by the group in Florida which is trying to get an initiative on the 2020 ballot to amend the state Constitution and ban assault rifles in the Gunshine State. The group came together after Parkland and its leadership includes relatives of Parkland victims along with Parklan survivors like David Hogg.
I have been involved with the gun-control movement since before there was a movement and I don’t recall ever seeing a message from either side which is as powerful as what you will see and hear by clicking the link above.
What you won’t see in the video is the fact that the organizers of this effort have just collected enough signatures to go before the State Supreme Court to have the amendment’s language approved. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that after the Court hearing, another 650,000+ signatures must be collected by February 1, and the state has just passed a law which makes the signature-gathering process more complicated, which means there are also greater costs.
For all the talk about re-awakening the federal assault weapons ban this year, there’s no chance that such a bill could become law until and unless the blue team takes control of the Senate in 2021. But imagine the impact on that process if the state of Florida, which has led the nation in pro-gun laws, approved a state-level assault weapons ban the previous year. Imagine that!
So here’s the bottom line folks, and I’m telling telling it like it really is:
First – watch the video.
Second – send it to all your friends.
Third – Post it on your Twitter page (I just put it on mine.)
Fourth – Get everyone to retweet it.
Fifth – Send in some cash. We’re not talking about a little GoFundMe campaign to help someone through a difficult time. We’re talking about a national issue which needs your help in order to get the deal done.
I’m told by my friends in Florida that the additional signatures can be raised by the deadline if another million bucks rolls in. I don’t see how we can’t find 100,000 gun-control advocates throughout the United States to pony up ten bucks apiece. I pay that much for coffee and a dry piece of cake at Starbucks every day.
This campaign isn’t about changing hearts and minds. This campaign is about doing something tangible, real and effective to reduce the violence cause by guns.
Watch it. Spread it. Support it.
Enough said.
Jun 11, 2019 @ 11:32:00
Aaaaaaand, just like that. I don’t think you’re pragmatic anymore. Wasting time on a ceremonial “Assault” weapons ban is foolish waste of time and treasure on a symbolic fight.
Jun 12, 2019 @ 08:56:21
I’m on it Mike – tonight, when I return from the Alamo. (That’s right, I’m down in Ole San Antoine to check out their Kentucky Rifles!)
Jun 12, 2019 @ 09:53:59
I watched the end of the video and heard about stopping just one shooting and wondered how many shootings can be stopped by banning the news media from creating folk heroes of the shooters. Those ARs only do harm when someone wants to use them and some or many of the shooters are copycats or looking for fame. .
Jun 12, 2019 @ 10:12:35
Or ending the gun free zones that spree killers have directly told us attracted them to the venue.
Also I’m happy to see that is has over double the dislikes to likes, and the comment section is all pro-gun people, and one anti-gun person who likes to sling insults.
Jun 12, 2019 @ 14:39:53
Millions out there, most owned without incident. That doesn’t mean any idiot should be able to own one. I’d vote for imposing some measure of maturity and level-headedness on ownership.
What I would like to see is a graduated licensing program based on something like Mike’s “Lethality index”. We rarely hear of legal full auto guns being used in crimes because they are rare, i.e., its a PIA to own one so only hard core gun nuts bother. We could do something similar with ARs by creating an intermediate standard of ownership somewhere between garden variety guns and machine guns. In other words, amend or modify the NFA. Give owners a grace period in which to qualify or sell them.
We let just about anyone drive with predictable results–the front page of the Santa Fe New Mexican today was all about people getting killed by bad driving. Imagine if anyone could pass a road test in a Civic and then park their butt behind the wheel of a Freightliner.
As far as “Weapons of War”, that is politics rather than a good descriptor. My century old design M1911 was designed as a weapon of war. Or the M-1 Garand. So was the Colt Army Mod. 1860. What separates them is technological development, not their original intended use.