We need more of them on our side. We need more of those who we can't completely win over to at least be more neutral. and to do so, we need to start trying to understand them and tailor our messages to be accessible to them given their interests, values and concerns.
Okay.
How?
Assume that 'we' don't have access to the vast resources of these major corporations and that we cannot spend I-don't-know-how-much money hiring psychologists, giving surveys, holding focus groups, etc.
We on THR are willing to do the legwork ourselves, though.
What do we need to do?
1. educate them. take them shooting with you any chance you get in order to demonstrate that everything they learned from hollywood is a big fat lie
- guns aren't scary, they're just inanimate objects that don't fire themselves
- the people that shoot them are regular guys just like them, with teeth and jobs, wives 1.3 kids and a dog
2. educate them about the laws and make it personal
- most gun laws were racially motivated
- YOU can't have that because the gov doesn't trust YOU. of course YOU are responsible but it doesn't matter.
3. educate them about safety
- impress them with your commitment to safety
- impress them with professionalism
recall the hundreds of slow-news-day reporter-visits-shooting-range stories. they are all common formulas:
- "I don't like guns, never fired a gun, am not a redneck, am from the city, vote liberal"
- "guns are scary"
- "visited a shooting range, like visiting mars, people a little quirky but mostly normal, surprised most shooters are not hunters, don't wear camo, lot more women interested in self defense than expected"
- "i shot a gun for first time, felt empowered!!!, it was fun, i can understand why people like it"
that's pretty much the reaction you're looking for. the key is when media/hollywood try to paint us with stereotypes, they will think, "hey wait, that doesn't match my experience. they are lying to me"