Once again, I shall tell the tale of the no effect on Gun Crimes from the AWB. This is not exactly activism but might help you if you take an activist stance against an AWB.
1. The AWB banned imports on some items, banned some guns and the manufacture of some guns based on their features. Mags were limited. However, guns and mags were grandfathered under Federal regs.
2. Researchers sponsored by the DOJ found that the laws did not affect any major crime indices.
3. Gun folks rejoice and still quote this, saying the ban didn't work. Thus have no bans!! Whoopee!
4. However the researchers said
AFTER saying the ban had no effect, that this was probably because:
a. The existing stocks of weapons met most demands. The existing stocks of mags met most demands, albeit with higher prices.
b. New weapons were manufactured that did not have the cosmetic features of the ban proscriptions but were of equal lethal efficacy for all practical purposes. Thus, you could get an AR but forget your bayonets and grenades, etc. Min-14s were just fine and dandy.
c. Thus, that's why the ban had no effect.
5. Conclusions:
They suggest that future bans have to be all inclusive (basically, take out all mag fed semis). No more imports or manufacture. No grandfathering. All existing guns confiscated.
That's the story.
Now, some antigun folks just say to reinstate the old ban as they don't understand it and the history. They think it did something. You can say that is foolish
but smarter ones know the analysis and will just come back at you and you are sunk, if you don't know this. If you only say that one sentence of it didn't work - you will look foolish.
You have to make a proactive case of why we should have the firearms. The AWB didn't work is a weak argument if you face a knowledgeable opponent
Also if you just say, well, if there is a ban, we will not comply, you are naive. You lose the cultural war and become a shrinking set of annoyed folks sitting on their guns. I wrote this elsewhere:
I've said this before. The bans won't remove all the bad mags and guns. I think it clear from places with them, that they go underground. The effects are more insidious. If there was an AR ban and mag ban:
1. The guns become useless for most everyday uses. Saturday, I shot with about 60 ish folks. Most used guns that would be banned. Some of us used Ruger 9s for various reasons as they are fun guns. So competition with EBRs is eliminated. I'm not shooting a hidden gun in front of federal and local law.
2. You cannot hunt with them except illegally and that can run across game wardens.
3. Use in self-defense and you may win the SD but lose gun possession, mag possession challenges.
4. The accessory industry is trashed if it came to all are banned, no grandfathering.
5. There will be a cultural negative onus on them. Will new shooters buy them, no. Will a new shooter want a gun that sits in the basement or under the ground, no. Owners of such will evidentially be seen like smokers, to be pitied. Yes, pocket of gun culture will exist as there are pockets of folks who chew tobacco. Both will be yuk.
You might be turned in by your ex, your pissed off neighbor, your kid blabs at school. Your past ownership is noted from social media and a set of test and example cases are launched.
6. You leave a problem for your heirs. Do you want to stick your spouse or kids with a legal problem when you kick off? Do you expect them to go to the black market or just call the law to get them. That will erode the supply overtime. I have about 12 years left.
7. It might start a production surge in guns like the Mini-14s or Ruger carbines. That is unless the ban decides to take out all semis that are mag feed (which the smarter antis have proposed). They are well aware that after the AWB in 94, substitute AR patterns existed. I read 730,000 were made that didn't have the deadly thing that goes up. This time, the ban might be worse. Folks have noticed that in Canada and Norway, Mini-14s were used in rampages and they are being controlled.
So, the corrupt market will exist as it did for booze during prohibition and the drug market today. However, the effect is more subtle and the resistance mantra is fine but doesn't take into account the effects of usage. If you can't use the gun except for the 'revolution', so what if it is buried? Whether there would be the 'revolution' is another thread of endless length and varying opinions as to its reality.
The guns will be controlled for the present legal owners. Bad people will have them. Will it cut down somewhat on rampages as they take more effort to get - that's their argument. I like Killer Mike's argument on Bill Maher. He said something like: I just have a Biden shotgun useful out to thirty yards (yeah, I know, slugs, blah, blah) but the bad racist will still have his racist that can kill from 100 yards. I prefer to reach out to 100 yards, also.
So the logistics argument are understood, the effect will be different. There are probably quite a few full auto items out there that are not registered as NFA items. Don't see them at the range.
Thus, as an activist, you need to make an argument for self-defense and for defense against tyranny. That should not be taken away. Gun ownership should be seen as pro-active. The excuse defense - the AWB didn't work, it's a tool, it's a modern sporting rifle, it's for sports - none of those will withstand a continued set of vivid instances. The average person wants to be safe. They don't want to control you, start racist gulags, make you marry someone you don't want to. It's the progressives/liberals - turn off half the country immediately. I'm afraid the activist set is just mired in choir arguments and don't really see the threat or solutions. Yes, let's write to the juggernauts of Walmart. I won't go to Kroger, or HEB, or Wegmans - they banned OC. Well, OC really helped us, didn't it. The average person who will want your gun to be banned wants to be safe, not your tin-foil hat. You miss the major cultural aspect of this battle when you off on libertine sexuality or the like.
That's my two cents on this. I expect folks to get excited as I stepped on their cultural hobby horses and will say : I REFUSE or the like. You will end up sitting on a stack of buried guns. Great.