Owen Sparks
member
- Joined
- May 27, 2007
- Messages
- 4,523
I have noticed over the years that we gun people as a group tend to be a little different than the average person.
Unfortunately, the future of our gun rights lies in the hands of "the average American voter" who is not very passionate about guns one way or the other.
If I had to venture a guess, most people probably feel the same way about guns that you feel about knitting. You know what a knitting is, You have a general concept of how its done, but beyond that, you really don't care. You are totally indifferent because you are just not interested.
Sure there are a few died in the wool pro and anti gun people on both ends of the spectrum who will never change their opinion no matter what, but the vast majority is sitting on a fence somewhere in the middle and can be swayed.
I think the concept that many of us don't get is that the average person tends to default to their emotions when it comes to things that they don't understand because feeling is easier than thinking. The news media in this country (who as a group tend to be left of center) knows this and are masters at manipulating people by their emotions. They do this by skillfully use of language. By using a term like "sniper rifle" or "assault weapon"
rather than scoped deer rifle or modern utility rifle makes these firearms sound sinister. After all who in their right mind would support killing cops or sniping at innocent victims? Uninterested people are just not going to go to the effort to find out the true facts. They just go with their feelings.
Now please, this is ONLY a generalization, but as a group we tend to be a little more logical minded than the average person. We tend to be more interested in THINGS than people.
Most people seem to be interested in personalities. They follow tabloid
gossip and love drama. They are very keen on pop culture and they practically worship celebrities.
Take for example the hottest show in country right now, American Idol.
For many people, their greatest fantasy and dream come true would be to be a celebrity. They seem very concerned with what other people think of them and are very group orientated.
Gun people, not so much. We like things and concepts related to things. We tend to have jobs and hobbies that reflect this. We are more likely to be head of maintenance than head of human recourses. We are more likely to be
engineers or work with computers than be councilors or social workers. We would be surgeons rather than pediatricians or psychiatrists, mow grass rather than wait tables. When we do watch TV it is likely the History channel or Discovery channel. We like to hunt, fish, ride motorcycles and participate rather than watch other people play sports.
I noticed Saturday at the IDPA pistol match that no one said a word about Paris Hilton going back to jail. Even though it was all over the media, no one really seemed to care.
If we are to win this battle for our second amendment rights, we have got to realize that the average person holds the power and we must be aware how critical something as simple as what we call our rifle is.
Please see my thread on MODERN WEAPONS.
OS
Unfortunately, the future of our gun rights lies in the hands of "the average American voter" who is not very passionate about guns one way or the other.
If I had to venture a guess, most people probably feel the same way about guns that you feel about knitting. You know what a knitting is, You have a general concept of how its done, but beyond that, you really don't care. You are totally indifferent because you are just not interested.
Sure there are a few died in the wool pro and anti gun people on both ends of the spectrum who will never change their opinion no matter what, but the vast majority is sitting on a fence somewhere in the middle and can be swayed.
I think the concept that many of us don't get is that the average person tends to default to their emotions when it comes to things that they don't understand because feeling is easier than thinking. The news media in this country (who as a group tend to be left of center) knows this and are masters at manipulating people by their emotions. They do this by skillfully use of language. By using a term like "sniper rifle" or "assault weapon"
rather than scoped deer rifle or modern utility rifle makes these firearms sound sinister. After all who in their right mind would support killing cops or sniping at innocent victims? Uninterested people are just not going to go to the effort to find out the true facts. They just go with their feelings.
Now please, this is ONLY a generalization, but as a group we tend to be a little more logical minded than the average person. We tend to be more interested in THINGS than people.
Most people seem to be interested in personalities. They follow tabloid
gossip and love drama. They are very keen on pop culture and they practically worship celebrities.
Take for example the hottest show in country right now, American Idol.
For many people, their greatest fantasy and dream come true would be to be a celebrity. They seem very concerned with what other people think of them and are very group orientated.
Gun people, not so much. We like things and concepts related to things. We tend to have jobs and hobbies that reflect this. We are more likely to be head of maintenance than head of human recourses. We are more likely to be
engineers or work with computers than be councilors or social workers. We would be surgeons rather than pediatricians or psychiatrists, mow grass rather than wait tables. When we do watch TV it is likely the History channel or Discovery channel. We like to hunt, fish, ride motorcycles and participate rather than watch other people play sports.
I noticed Saturday at the IDPA pistol match that no one said a word about Paris Hilton going back to jail. Even though it was all over the media, no one really seemed to care.
If we are to win this battle for our second amendment rights, we have got to realize that the average person holds the power and we must be aware how critical something as simple as what we call our rifle is.
Please see my thread on MODERN WEAPONS.
OS
