United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- One of the biggest problems we have as Second Amendment supporters is that the vast majority of national media outlets often work to distort the issues surrounding our right to keep and bear arms. They also look to put us in the worst possible light or to cheerlead for certain policies. That makes how Second Amendment supporters come across to their fellow Americans a very important matter. All too often, too many of them help the media smear us with comments that are intemperate at best (if not crossing legal lines).
These people don’t help defend the Second Amendment, they help Bloomberg’s efforts to take away our rights by serving as real-life examples of the very stereotypes Everytown and Moms Demand Action exploit to convince people our rights must be taken away.
We saw one instance with the Ask Amy advice column. While many of those who replied to her initial column that urged a father to put his hatred of guns and the Second Amendment above loving and supporting his daughter were polite, there were enough who sent the wrong type of responses to her that she doubled down on that advice and her hatred of our rights. She passed that hatred on to 22 million readers, about four times the total NRA membership.
It goes beyond being polite. We also need to show many Americans concerned or feeling fear for their loved ones in the wake of horrific shootings like El Paso, Parkland, Orlando, or Sandy Hook that we share their desire to stop them from happening. We need reasonable solutions that protect our rights to present to them in the aftermath of these events. According to Hannity.com, Chuck Schumer may be ready to give us an assist. We need to educate our fellow Americans about the facts surrounding our Second Amendment rights, including the history. We even need to reach out in ways we have not before.
If we fail at those tasks, they will exercise their First Amendment rights to take away our Second Amendment rights. Given that, what I am saying is not about “Negotiating Rights Away,” being a “Fudd,” or betraying the Second Amendment – it’s just some common sense. It’s dealing with the real world. If someone tells you that, you’re being misled.
The real work of defending the Second Amendment come on three fronts: Passing down the knowledge needed to defend our rights to future generations, encouraging effective activism by other Second Amendment supporters, and convincing the majority of our fellow Americans, particularly those in the suburbs or who may be indifferent or even slightly hostile to our rights, to change their views and not view a pro-Second Amendment voting record as a deal-breaker at the very least.
Shouting “Molon Labe” in response to anti-Second Amendment extremists and calling for the organization of militias is not the way to do that.
The hard reality is that such conduct feeds into the picture the media and Bloomberg want to paint, especially amongst the soccer moms who are already freaked out. They’ll happily go for Beto O’Rourke and his push for Australia-style laws. They’ll be with Pete Buttigieg and lap up his lie about “weapons of war” as he pushes to pack the Supreme Court.
What is going to do that? Getting facts straight. If you have good information, and can intelligently discuss the issues, that will help you bring friends, family, and neighbors. Build relationships with local media. This could be an opening to get the message out to counter what comes from national media. Relate various failures of gun control laws, not out of anger, but out of deep sadness and regret.
There is an old saying: You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. This is still the case. We can get far more with polite words and patience than we will with angry rants and threats. There is no easy way to secure our rights, but some of the hard work is far preferable to other ways.
About Harold Hutchison
Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.