A Pro-Rights Redditor Attends a Meeting of Anti-Gun Activists

Brothers (and sisters), I have seen our opponents' camp, and read their battle plans.
I got an email for a "Community Committee Against Gun Violence Meeting" in my area, so I thought I'd go and see if this was really about stopping violence, or stopping guns. (TL;DR - they want your AR's, really.) So I thought at the very least I could troll the group of 40 RSVP'd folks. Show up and there are 200 people packed into this church cafeteria. They talked for an hour about how to most effectively reach/influence your legislators, and everyone there hand-wrote a letter to a Colorado legislator. Many sad stories were told, and one of the Columbine victims' fathers was in attendance. Then there was a Q&A, and a Registered Nurse (who treated one of the Aurora victims!) took the microphone to warn people about invading Patient Privacy. Then the only other person there under 50 spoke about Johns Hopkins research on mental health.
I warned them as a medical student about the unintended consequence of driving people underground, away from patient care if they need it. I talked about Vets coming home from wars, worried that a diagnosis of PTSD will rob them of their rights and abilities. I mentioned that Columbine happened during the previous AWB. I told people to turn off the news and stop glamorizing these psychopaths as anti-heros with their faces and names plastered all over the news. (All of this to much nodding from the crowd) Wanted to tell them all to visit AssaultWeapon.info, but I forgot! Facepalm!
Their official goals, in order:
Reinstate stricter AWB & mag caps
Background Checks for Private Sales
"Something" about Mental Health (yes, they know about the Judge adjudication thing)
Assault Weapons Literature
Insider insight:
They've wised up about the toxicity of the term "Gun Control" and have substituted the phrase "Stopping Gun Violence."
The lady running the show knows the tricks: private sales, grandfathering. Eventually she revealed that she wants to ideally implement a system like Australia, with a massive buyback. She was very impressed with the Australians' violent crime data.
Claims that the NRA is promulgating myths like "More Deaths from Fists and Hammers" (yes, I know that's the FBI crime data and not a myth). So this argument doesn't work on them.
I asked the room how many had ever operated a firearm - probably 70% had used a gun! That surprised me. We always rail against the anti's as "ignorant people who've probably never fired a gun" but that's incorrect.
I asked the room how many have ever fired an AR-pattern rifle. About 9 raised their hands (to audible gasps).
They are submitting bills to counter all the pro-gun progresses made, like the Colorado Supreme Court ruling that CCW must be allowed on CU campuses. They don't like CCW. They want to revise the Carry law to prohibit guns from K-12 all the way up to college level. Please don't bother circlejerking about how silly "gun-free zones" are, I know.
The good/bad news:
We are fighting little old ladies and moms. Who have plenty of free time to hound legislators with letters and phone calls and meetings.
People honestly are afraid of "black guns" and scary components.
Our opposition knows they're splintered and terribly organized. The grabbers know they face a mighty foe with the NRA.
Final thoughts: don't bother using facts. You must appeal to emotion. And do be nice, if you can. Some people have been victims of violence, and you mustn't dismiss or belittle their suffering.
But of course I ate their cookies and left them a note that I conceal carried at their meeting

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