You have said things in the past to the effect of the Californians that move to other states ruin those other states.
I should think someone from CA/AZ would understand that there are different types of Californians...or maybe your experience tells you there are not (I'm still hopeful, however)
If there
are freedom-minded Californians left (who knows, maybe there aren't?) we need them out of that pit, wasting their energies, and both contributing to and enjoying freedom on the outside,
yesterday. The tide of legislation in CA and from there to the federal is not stemmed by their local resistance at this point; in what possible way will five more years of fruitless steamrolled 'resistance' counteract what just got signed into law? We all know you're pinning all your hopes on the federal courts to save your bacon when these AWB/etc laws come up for judicial review at SCOTUS; it's all that's left for you.
Well, SCOTUS isn't going to be too friendly by then, given the electoral map at this point. The only way to improve things on that front, is to increase the representative power of gun friendly areas, while sapping them from anti-gun strongholds. We MIGHT be able to get legislators/presidents/judges on our side into positions of authority that way.
What is your alternative to achieve victory? Is victory even the goal for CA gun owners at this point, or just mere 'existence' under horrible conditions for as long as possible? What is the point of 'winning' in that case? Freedom feeds on itself, as does tyranny; why shouldn't Californians enjoy the bounty of opportunity in the many other states? States that could and will make far better use of their talents than their previous home.
You said "we are not sufficiently united" but out line a strategy of abandoning states in 'The United States' and voluntarily forfeiting those states to the antis which will only make them stronger.
Who is the "we" you think I referred to? The State of California? The people of California? The gun owners of California?
I think you may be confusing "unity" and "victory," a logical failure seen all too often among those eager to go along to get along. "Unity" is the collection of like-minded individuals in pursuit of a common goal. "Victory" is gun owners being able to live peaceably in California without unwarranted abuse or reprisal. "Victory" will not happen from inside California, though I am open to realistic explanations that show how I might be mistaken. "Victory" can not be delivered from outside California at this time, because gun owners have insufficient representative power, nationally. California still has a sufficiently large population of gun owners to shift that balance of power in our favor, so long as they are not still located in California.
I shouldn't even be calling this a 'strategy,' it's roughly how history will play out, regardless. My only hope is that if it can be accelerated through encouragement, the gun owners' strategic hand is accordingly strengthened. If we allow it to string along as a sometimes-neutral/sometimes-hostile game nationally, like we have, then the base population of gun owners we have to work with will gradually evaporate as it has in California over the decades.
1) California passes laws too horrible to continue living as a gun owner under
2) Gun owners leave, along with other simlarly-effected undesirables
3) California, having achieved Pyrrhic victory over gun owners, doubles down on all the other self-destructive legislative endeavors
4) Gun friendly areas see a boom in population, economy, and representative apportionment, along with rising popularity of gun rights causes*
5) California, depopulated of its most law-abiding and cheerfully productive citizens (b/c of gun laws as well as other restrictions) descends into criminal mediocrity. Population centers collapse as residents flee for opportunities elsewhere
6) Gun friendly areas, having wisely* bolstered their laws, constitutions, and courts, are able to stymie efforts by destructive transplants to dismantle hard-won freedoms
7) California, now badly weakened by the inefficiency of corrupt bureaucracy and widespread criminality, and vulnerable to federal congressional action due to its population decline (and likely, court rulings at the hands of judges who are no longer appointed by presidents so beholden to California), is forcibly made to respect the rule of law, as originally set forth.
8) National Guard blocks illegal attempts to impose the will of California's governor, the state likely loses its right to pass any laws concerning weapons or firearms for some time period (see: Voting Rights Act). Lots of resistance, and likely civil unrest for a time.
9) Exposed and targeted, long time political machines are deconstructed and replaced with popularly-representative replacements with independent oversight. Gradually, life with less corruption or restrictions becomes normalized, and expected.
10) Now free of the laws and systems which made life & business impossible, California once again becomes a gold rush for all manner of human endeavor, and a boom is seen once more.
It's a cyclical thing, trending between restriction & growth to some degree in any healthy society. It's only when the trends are denied or defied or forcibly broken, that things are allowed to get so bad as to sink into a permanent state of despotism, which is called a "Dark Age." We're nowhere near that point, nationally, but California herself is rapidly approaching the point where it can do nothing but drag the rest of us along --and it's in part due to residents who absolutely hate their unwinnable situation, but refuse to take meaningful action to remove themselves from it.
Giving up on unfriendly gun states is the anti 2A dream come true. <let them reap their crummy nightmare; it won't last long before the ground falls away beneath them and they wake up (or are woken up)>
It makes it easier for the Feds and courts to take away your Rights since there will be anti-2A momentum and you'll already be used to giving up.<that 'momentum' will associate with corruption & failed economies, meanwhile exploding population centers in vibrant, freer districts will be now calling the shots>
TCB
*Tou see this, Californian expats? It is YOUR responsibility to engage the pro-gun initiative once out from under the bootheel; do not neglect it like your fathers back on the West Coast did in years past, or we're right back at Step 1 with fewer places to run to
*Tou see this, pro-gunners? It is OUR responsibility to engage our freindly legislatures and courts to ensure a strong, permanent frame work exists to deflect future challenges on gun rights by the fleeing rats
