I agree with those that said everyone of us needs to stand up and fight this. Just because you live in a gun friendly state right now doesn't make you immune to this mess. It will continue to spread unless we all stand up now. We need to quit bickering on the internet and come up with a game plan that we, as a nation of gun owners, can implement to combat this. The idea of starting at the school board level is an excellent idea. Trying to run for office yourself is an excellent idea. Many people have great ideas but fail to act upon them. And, I don't necessarily think its a lack of will but more a lack of know how. I think we need to have like a Civics 101 class or something. The problem is that this site I don't think allows things like this even if it is gun related. I think it would help out a lot because I really believe a lot more people would love to get involved but they do not know how and as I stated this kind of thing is not taught in schools anymore. What do you guys think? Do you think we could start a room on basic civics and go from there to come up with some kind of a game plan?
As far as those that are out of state that would like to help out, "What can we do?" As for having money to get our message out in the media? That's hard to do when most of the media outlets that would be the most effective are essentially blocked from pro gun messages. The outlets that are open cater to groups that are already pro gun and don't really need encouraged because they are already pro gun. Just like one of the magazines I work for wanted to do ad countering the opposition to AR's. It was a great idea but I reminded them that 99% of our readers were already in favor of AR's so putting that message in an already pro gun magazine with a pro gun reader base would have been kind of stupid. So, not only do you need money and an awesome grassroots effort but you have to smart with your playbook, otherwise its just a wasted effort. Again, we need to come up with a game plan that we agree upon and start implementing it nationwide.
We do have an "activism" section here. As far as getting our message out, I have a few ideas off the top of my head.
1. Billboards. Buying billboards is a great way to reach a lot of people. It can be financed by businesses, groups of individuals, or maybe individuals themselves if they have the money. With the right message, it can be powerful.
2. Freelance articles. Beyond sending letters to editors, we can pitch articles to magazines and publications. We don't even have to be overtly political. We can send personal stories of gun ownership, sentimental memories, and even stories of guns being used to save our lives to general interest magazines like Reader's Digest.
The personal nature of it will make it non-political, but still come off subtly as pro-gun. That personal nature also makes it powerful, it humanizes gun owners. Your pitch might be rejected, but it's worth a try.
3. Leaflets and booklets. Printing and handing out literature about gun facts is a great way to influence people. They might read them, take them home, and start conversations within their families about the issues raised.
4. Emphasize that everyone has a stake in gun ownership. No matter what one's political views, ethnicity, or religion, we can articulate the reasons for gun ownership through the lens of that demographic. For example, African-Americans might be receptive to hearing about the Deacons for Defense.
As always, a tool I find invaluable in debates on gun control is
Gun Facts. It's free, and crammed with hundreds of pages of statistics and facts to counter the lies and distortions of anti-gun talking points.