Please, if you consider yourself a gun rights activist, this is must-reading.
Read the whole thing and digest it. It’s very well written and thought out.
My hat’s off to Sebastian for this. Nice work squared!
John
What can Starbucks teach us as a community?
When You’ve Won, Stop Playing
Quit while you’re ahead. If you stay at the table to keep playing, you risk losing everything you’ve won. …
Activism Without Political Understanding is DangerousThere are about 80 to 100 million gun owners in a country of 300 million. Gun owners are a minority, even if close to 80% of the population supports some vague, ill defined idea about the people having a right to keep and bear arms….
Open Carry is a Tactic, Not a Strategy, Nor a Goal
The problem with failing to understand the difference is that when people become narrowly focused on a particular tactic, they will shoehorn it into a strategy to achieve a goal where other tactics would be smarter….
The Open Carry Movement has to Discipline Itself if it Wants Respect… If you think open carry is the hammer to the nail of every problem the gun rights movement faces, you need to go back and think about the section on political understanding.
Open Carry Organizing is not NormalizingWhat normalizes open carry is doing it with as little fuss as you can get away with. If you have to organize it, it’s not normalizing anything. …
Whether folks want to accept it or not, when you’re advocating for political change, you have to care what other people think of you, and how other people perceive you.
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Best coffee made is a home without the judging, labels, name calling, shock and awl by the sheeple. That way you’ll know the company you really want to keep. Let the elites swim around like fish in open barrel waiting for nothing to happen. Reality is just another text away ……
I’m sorry but I dont see the wisdom of this article.
Pussy footing around is the reason we are in the mess we are in.
When guns owners seek respect from anti-gunners or lessor americans for their rights this is not about respect but weakness.
The best answer to starbucks is a Nation wide boycott. When they are out of business then our mesage will be heard.
A God given right is not a bargining chip to be played with for the benefit of lessors.
Appeasement doesnt work unless you like laws like the FOID card or 68 GCA or the new Universal background checks law. ALL laws of appeasement!
Bill, your approach is almost guaranteed to turn friends and neutrals into enemies…
Think with your brain instead of your nads. There were yahoos going into Starbucks and other places with longarms in hand and drawing handguns from holsters. Sweeping the room with the muzzle of an unholstered weapon or carrying a shotgun in your hands when no one can tell whether it’s loaded, unloaded or safetied will surely send ordinarly folks running, whether you think it should or not, and whether they are employees or customers, a business cannot afford to tolerate such behaviour. Discreet open carry with neither you nor anyone else making a fuss is the objective, not living out what others perceive to be a red-neck fantasy. If you are inconsiderate of others, you will be treated inconsiderately.
Thank You for your reply.
Its my understanding the incidents you are referring too are the actions of provocateurs, much like democrats going to tea party rallies with racist signs.
It is private property, they should be able to do with it as they please. You dont have to buy from them. There is nothing in the constitution that says you can carry a gun on other peoples property. They should not be foreced to accept something they do not want, from either side.
It is a constitutional right, not God given. I dont recall God telling adam and eve to go arm themselves.
Thank You for your reply
The founders understood it as a God given right. The commandment was the bases for the 2A. The last commandment Christ gave to his followers was to arm themselves.
The King james interpreted it as sword by in hebrew it means arms.
When Noah stepped off the arc he was given 7 laws by God, one of those laws is your right of self -defense.
I wish my friend and mentor Aaron Zelman (jpfo.org)was alive he could explain it better than I
Billy,
Thought you were done with the GSL website, at least I was hoping you were. Please go back to cheeseheadland where you can play with your mommy.
My freedom means to much to me to leave a site like this one. When faced with lessor gun owners like yourself with a lack understanding of liberty then I must stay and be a voice of reason.
By the way i am old enough to remember when we bought guns through the mail. When Illinois was a nice place to live and men understood their rights.
P.S. My mother has been dead for years and i dont live in chesseland
Forgot to add…
thank you for your reply.
Your comments are enlightening and inspiring.
This is politics. Being right doesn’t automatically mean that you win.
To achieve a political objective (such as wide spread acceptance of open carry), you need to win support by convincing people you are correct.
If you want to win in politics, perceptions matter.
I think you for your comment.
You are correct that in politics perseptions matter and being right doesnt automatically mean you win.
I would like to suggest the issue isnt only politics but an understanding of liberty.
Phillis Schlafly of the eagleforum dot org wrote a book in the 1960’s explaining how conservatives/gun owners can win without compromising their rights.
Phillis used her own info to defeat a horrible Equal Rights amendment in the 1970’s
Add to Starbucks, the local Hometown Buffet. They now have a sign on the front door indicating “firearms prohibited.” One of my favorite places to eat is now off of my list.
remember your place in this one way conversation about the 2nd amendment – you are the one that has to be “reseasonable” while they label you into group(s) and call you name(s).