The time has come, and if we do not strike we will lose.

Gun owners have been on the defensive since 1934 when reaction gin-running criminals caused the first national gun control law to pass.  With each following year the onus on gun owners mounted at all levels of government.

But in the past two years we have seen a near halt in continued degradation of our rights. We stand at the most interesting intersection of opportunities seen since the Gun Control Act of 1968, and we stand a real chance to reverse the process.

Yes -- reverse the tide.  It can happen.  It is happening.  And we must capitalize now.

I would like to see American gun owners adopt three goals and three new tactics in the next three years - or what I call the Three-Cubed plan.  The three goals I will outline below are both strategic and tactical in nature.  They are designed to reverse not only adverse gun control laws, but public perception of gun owners and the gun control debate.

I am also recommending three new tactics aimed at public relations, press relations, and arming our 2nd Amendment troops.  Don't be frightened - they can all be done as part of your normal day-to-day activities.

GOALS:    
Concealed carry in all 50 states

Reverse assault weapons bans

Export the 2nd Amendment
TACTICS:    
Talk freely about gun ownership

Take a reporter shooting

Donate monthly to pro-gun organizations


Three Goals to accomplish by 2004:  
Before we are called to the polls to elect (or re-elect) a president, we gun owners must dedicate ourselves to the following objectives.  We may not achieve these goals, but we should push the scrimmage line as far downfield as possible.

GOAL #1 - CC in 50
One of the most compelling arguments in our pro-gun battery is that 33 states now have shall-issue laws for concealed carry of handguns. Ponder that for a moment.  66% of the states trust their citizens not only to own guns, but to carry them in public as well.

Goal #1 will be to make all 50 states respect their citizens to the same degree.  Some states like California, New York, and Illinois will be tough nuts to crack.  But the logic, statistics, and amazing drop in crime rates in right-to-carry states give us powerful weapons with which to conduct our campaigns.

For an example of how one person can make a difference, see http://www.concealcarry.org.  John Birch, the president of Concealed Carry Inc. has been successfully challenging the government and public perception in Illinois.  His is a model to follow.

GOAL #2 - Reverse Assault Weapons Bans
Assault weapon bans have been a disaster for the pro-gun movement.  It gave the gun grabbers solid victories, pitted one group of gun owners against the others, and presented gun owners as weak and ineffective to the media.

With the federal assault weapons ban expiring in 2004, and with President Bush signaling that he would support renewing it, we have both an opportunity and a challenge ahead.

First and foremost is that we need to assure the law is not renewed.  It forces us to force our President to take a risky political position.  So we must spend the next three years educating the public on why the federal assault weapons ban lunacy to begin with, and how allowing it to expire will not harm the public.

It will take work, but it can be done.

Next, we have to rollback assault weapon bans in at least one state. A victory on the federal level will be impressive, but could be written-off by the press and public as an isolated win to pacify a political contingent.  We must show determination and produce victories on both the national and local stages.

GOAL #3 - Export the 2nd Amendment
We gun owners speak mightily about our freedoms, but tend to slow our speech and shuffle our feet when it comes to improving the civil rights of people abroad.  In times of war we have always answered the bugle and fought to save others.

This war is no different.  We must channel our love for freedom and see to it that the people of all civilized nations learn of the purposes and benefits of a free and armed citizenry.  We must export the 2nd Amendment as thoroughly as we export wheat.

But we must do this for our own salvation as well.  In the U.N. disarmament conference held this year on our own shores, we witnessed nearly every other government move steadily toward an international ban of private firearm ownership.  They, with the assistance of the reorganizing American gun-grabbers, will move to create international treaties to rob you and all peoples of the world the right to self-defense and the ultimate control of their governments.

Being the biggest objective on our list, we must narrow our focus to make it manageable and doable.  Our best targets are Australia and the U.K.  Though their politicians are rapidly anti-freedom, their populations are noble and are suffering the ravages of an unchained criminals.  The message of the 2nd Amendment will be welcome as their impotent leaders allow thugs to roam free.

Specifically our goal should be to establish in the U.K. and Australia organizations that mirror the NRA and it's political tactics.  From America we should identify, review, then endow and aid with manpower those organizations that will carry the gun-rights banners to those nations.

Three tactics to adopts for the next three years
I'll be blunt.  You will win of lose the guns wars.  We cannot wait for the NRA to work miracles.  We cannot pray that politicians remain frightened of recent changes in public sentiment.  We must push forward to bring the public and the press to our side of the debate.

To do this, adopt these three tactics in your daily lives.

Tactic #1 - Talk to a neighbor or co-worker
The gun-grabbers have painted us as oddballs, gun nuts, rabid militia fanatics, and dangerous to society.  We need to reverse this trend and present ourselves to our friends, our family, our co-workers, and our church fellowships as normal and intelligent people with useful hobbies based on normal concerns.

Do not be ashamed to talk about firearms and the 2nd Amendment.  Don't go out of your way to do so.  Do not present yourself as an activist.  Just quit hiding the fact that you own guns, that you think they have a useful purpose, and that preserving the right to own them as impotent as their right to think, speak, and pray.

By coming out of our closets we will remove both the stigma from the image of gun owners, but also vividly prove to people that at least 50% of all households that own guns - and never do anything wrong with them.

Take a reporter shooting
I have talked with a number of people and organizations that have performed reporter education drives.  Some have been big events organized by local groups, such as the Rights Education Fund in Tennessee (see http://www.rightseducationfund.com/) to educate groups of reporters at one shot.

But others have performed reporter education on a one-to-one basis.  It is pretty simple:  if you meet a reporter at an event, invite them to go shooting with you.  Let them know it is not a hard sell or a politicking event.  You simply want to show hospitality and give them a chance to meet other gun owners.

Once they are on the range and see what normal, peaceful, even boring people we gun owners are, they will forever have their opinions set.  The effect is that they will not automatically bias their reporting.  Thus, they will not automatically pollute the minds of their readers and viewers.

The other benefit is that they now know whom to call when they need the pro-freedom point of view for an article or news story.

Monthly contributions to pro-gun orgs
Finally, all wars cost money.  All the pro-gun organizations that have waged war on our behalf need a constant and steady flow of money.  And they need it without the onerous expense of fund raising drives.

Make a commitment to budget a monthly donation to pro-gun groups at any level. Make it part of your monthly bill-paying ritual.  You don't have to give a lot, you just have to give a little - but give it every month without fail.  If this sounds too complicated the drop by www.FundTheCause.com/rkba.

Ours to lose
The tide is at ebb.  We have the opportunity to win the gun wars and to export our victories around the world.  Only inaction will make this our war to lose.

As much as I don't like political opportunism, something you and I have both condemned, I agree  with you hielo 10,000%


They took our rights away with that game, we will have to fight them in that game.  They chose the weapon, we will win.

Zaz

I don't see any political opportunism here, just plain common sense.

I'm on board!

If 9/11/01 taught us anything, demonizing guns saved no lives and in fact may have made the hijackers job easier.

Someone took a Westword(alternative weekly) reporter to a .50 cal shoot last month.

He loved it. One for our side.

i'm in

Steps 1&2 could be accomplished with a new Unorganized Militia Act. Simply put, every adult citizen,male&female, would be required under law to have a rifle and pistol in suitable military calibers. They would be required to qualify once a year at state facilities to demonstrate competency. They would then be authorized to carry a concealed weapon in all the several states and territories of the US. The AW ban could be repealed as part of this act,and all state laws in conflict with this act would be nullified. All such citizens acting in good faith with this act would be immunized from  civil and criminal liability in terminating hostile acts from enemy nationals acting against the US.

heilo, ditto on your points.
I like the "take a reporter shooting" idea.
Thanx.

I've had this mentality lately myself. It's not enough to stop the errosion, it must be reversed and then once things are right it must be made iron-clad. Won't be easy, but this may be our only chance.

I think that I am going to have to ask a local news anchor that I know to come shooting with me.  
Although you have to realize that what is reported on the news is not always the view of the anchors, but that of the producers and the station.

Alex

I'm in agreement, One MIIILLLLON percent.

The best defense is a good offense.

We need to take the original idea of "A well ordered militia" mainstream.  A National/Federal CC is a start.

It's impossible to agree more than 100%.  Okay, hielo.  I'm definitely listening.  I'm certainly not excited about the alternatives to a political solution, as outlined in John Ross' book.  

CNN mentioned tonight that buying any gun you want in Afghanistan is as easy as buying a cup of tea.  Oh where have our rights gone?  A repressive hell-hole like that has people with more gun rights than just about anywhere else in the world.  

What about Emerson?  What the hell happened with that case?

I'm with ya'll on this one too. But remember we got an election coming up in a little more than a year.

If the country is still in an uproar over the recebt terror attack, the House and Senate will likely remain the way it now stands, with no effective way of restoring what's been lost in past years.

We need to make certain that we hang together on this and not so subdivide our efforts that we wind up not only failing to get the bulls-eye, but failing to even hit the paper!

You know what that means, right?

Eric The(VoteRepublican)Hun[>]:)]