What got you into the RKBA fight?

[Monkeyleg]

Maybe 25 years ago, I'd bought my own handgun with my own money (as opposed to borrowing guns from my older brothers).

I distinctly remember hearing an NPR anchor speak of the NRA's "stranglehold" on Washington.

And I knew I had to join.

But it wasn't for another decade--when the AW ban was looming--that I got really involved. I wrote letters to my legiscritters, letters to the editor, and bored my entire extended family at holidays with my rants.

When I got my Florida non-resident permit six years ago, and carried in just about every state except my own (WI), I got a bit irritated. And I decided to see if there were other irritated people like me who would want to form a group--WCCA--and really work to get shall-issue passed here.

As the intensity of that involvement has increased over the past five or six years, I've noticed that the time I've devoted to shooting has dramatically decreased. In fact, I don't think I've been shooting since some time last spring.

Other people who are very actively involved with our group say the same thing. It seems that the most intensely-involved people get burned out on guns, because they're so focused on guns. The fight seems to take over what was the gun "hobby" or the interest in guns.

I'm interested in knowing what sparked others to stand up and fight for gun rights. I'm also curious to know if others who do a lot for RKBA find themselves shooting less than they did when they were more on the sidelines.

 

[sm]

How raised - what you do.

Meaning, I was raised when Civil Defense drills were practiced more than fire drills in school. Threat of Communism, Missles from Cuba pointed at the US, JFK shot in Dallas...and before I was born Mentors were fighting conflicts, came back and continued to Preserve Freedom as they before they had left.

Preserving Freedom is what we called it, this included Firearms, Second Amendent, and not ever allowing , Enemies Foreign or Domestic to Mess with WE the People, as had been done to others.


"Fella be wise to hoard .22 single shot rifles, single shot shotguns, no telling what gun control come next. Might be any firearm that repeats....

...now them .38spls , good pistols, money being what it is find good used stuff, get them 1911 and all the mags and ammo , get some lever actions, them Rifleman's Rifles [model 70]...

Reloading components, best figure we got 50k primers for shotgun, rifle and pistol...reloading equipment..."

I remember helping fill drums with this stuff. Small drums I could fill with rolls of Silver coins. "Coins might not be worth spit, the silver will be though".

I remember writing letters by hand. Just a kid, and copying what the Mentors had written. I was making A's in handwriting and spelling back then, teacher said I was getting some good practice somehow.

Later...

I was 13 in '68, I remember Mentors and Folks raising cain and fighting all my life, then in '68, ill wind blew and efforts that were already "busy" , got "busier".

Some fella come down, had a boy about my size. Said guns were bad and spit on me.

Rule was I was never to start a fight - if I got in one, I had better finish it.

He spit on me again and said the Gov't needed guns and not people, then he shoved and I finished it but good.

His daddy sized this up, keeping an eye on the Mentors. He decided to get his boy and leave in a hurry. Word got back I had broken that arm, knocked his jaw out of place, busted his nose.

"Boy ain't pissed yet, might want to quit before 'fore his eyes get that green they get when he gets pissed".




How raised - what you do.

 

[Gray Peterson]

I got involved early

My father had guns, however he sold them when we moved, he practically needed every dollar he could to survive. However he got lazy on the issue.

What turned me "pro-gun" and "pro-RKBA" was a strange set of circumstances. Have any of you folks been to schools lately as students? Think of them as miniature Washington DC's spread out across the country. The children who are forced to go to school merely for truancy laws do every destructive thing imaginable that they can to make it bad for others to go to school, and so on.

Observing their behavior, plying their trade, and so on, gave me a link into seeing their mindset: We have a lot of unwilling victims out there on the school grounds to prey on, and they would continue that behavior out there when they grow up.

A lot of hay is made over adults preying on schoolchildren. However they completely ignore the fact that these kinds of predatory behavior also occur among the students. However, it's never talked about.

I was 16 years old when I walked into Senator Connie Mack's office in Tampa Florida, asking him to co-sponsor a CCW reciprocity bill. He never did it last I knew, and he retired in 1998.

I also went to legislators and asked them to remove restrictions on carry permit holders down there. That didn't get much traction, but I can't help but wonder if that set up things in 2004-2006 legislative periods when so many pro-gun gains were made.

Now, here in Washington State, I persue open carry rights and education (our CCW laws are pretty good here, though we need to improve to become like our sister state to the south, Oregon, and we have a really screwy and strange open carry law), persuing preemption violations with transit agencies (managed to get a few transit agencies to change their rules to reflect the legality of carry on buses with a CPL, which is required here to carry a handgun openly or concealed in a vehicle), and so on.

Though strangely enough, my general political spectrum went from conservative to liberal in the intervening years, however if anything I've become more pro-gun, because of the fact that I'm a gay man and have seen the results of anti-gay violence up close. Refuse to be a Victim applies. Became a member of the Pink Pistols of Portland when I lived there, and Seattle's pretty ripe for a Pink Pistols chapter (Cease Fear ceased to exist).

 

[LkWinnipesaukee]

The High Road, and the fact that I'm a hardcore republican in a sea of Democrats. I must convert them all.

 

[Rich K]

I've always had an interest in guns aand the constitution. When I went into a state senator's office in MT. Clemens, Mi and asked if he would vote against a gun control bill, I was spoken to as though I wasn't smart enough to take care of myself, and in fact was told that" Sen. Bonior know what is best for us." I don't NEED anyone to decide what is best for me and mine, thank you very much. I will take care of myself and my loved ones, and the nannies in government and else where can go to hell.

 

[geekWithA.45]

I've always at least passively supported RKBA, ever since a small child. Where I grew up, RKBA wasn't controversial in the least, every other home had a small (and some had large!) armory.

A few years back, I took stock of the state of liberty in America, literally printing out the bill of rights and putting tick marks next to each of the 32 or so guarantees, each tick representing a definable erosion.

The number of tickmarks convinced me that we were in trouble, and therefore I needed to A) start excercising more of my rights, and B) pick one to focus on, because as one man, I could only do so much.

I was living in NJ at the time, and figured it was time to be a man, get over my fear of fingerprinting (aaaagh! "they" will have me on file!) and begin to excercise my RKBA on my own authority, rather than sponging guns off my friends whenever I could cadge a trip to the range with them.

Then NJ jerked my chain over the FID for 10 months.

It was a slap in the face and a cold wakeup call that things had gone much farther south than I'd realized, and pretty much settled the question of which of the American liberties I would focus my efforts on.

It was a good, resonant match for me personally, and it also seemed to be the element of the B of R that had been under attack the longest, and had suffered the most.

 

[benEzra]

The "assault weapons ban" and the runup thereto, in the early '90s.

I remember that my father (government employee, civil service, military veteran) told me that the ban would never pass, because "this is America." I remember the morning I woke up to my clock radio, and the chill I felt when I heard that the Feinstein ban had passed the Senate. THAT kicked me into political action.

 

[Derby FALs]

I believe we are cutting our own throats by concentrating on a single right. The BOR is under attack and we are to believe we are safe as long as we can own a firearm? But if you insist on a single minded purpose at least take a moment to look this over.

"The Five-Minute Handbook"



FIVE MINUTES TO FREEDOM!
A FIVE-MINUTE HANDBOOK
FOR GUN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS

Copyright © 2000 by [email protected]
All rights reserved. Reproduction or distribution
is permitted so long as this copyright notice is
attached; the complete Handbook (including the
introduction) is reproduced; no word or words
are altered in any way whatsoever, and the web site
address <<http://www.jaspar.net>> is attached.
Thank you!

INTRODUCTION


I've been a gun rights activist for nearly 10 years.

I wasted a lot of time for the first 5 years because
no one gave me the rule book you are now reading.

Maybe that's because no one had written it. This is the stuff
I wish I had known starting on day one.

If you've just arrived at this party, the next 5 minutes you
spend reading this might save you 5 years of otherwise
wasted time and energy.

If you've been in the gun rights game for a while, this handbook
will be the fastest refresher course you've ever taken.

This past year I've received a lot of mail from jittery gun owners
who are finally waking up to what's happening to our right to keep
and bear arms (RKBA).

This handbook is mostly for them.

If the rules I list below scare off a few folks, so be it. I want
to tell it like it really is -- to give a quick snapshot of the tips,
tricks and tactics that actually work in RKBA activism.

The bad news is that this is not a complete list of the rules.

The good news is that there will never be a complete list of rules.

The rules listed below are based on my own experience from working
thousands of hours with down and dirty RKBA activist pros. I am deeply
grateful to all of them. They know who they are.

Some of these rules have been followed for so long by old-time
activists that they have forgotten what the original rules were.

It's time to list them again.

And sneak in a couple of new ones.

So read them and weep, or read them and rejoice.





THE HANDBOOK RULES
NO ONE IS AS INTERESTED AS YOU ARE. Nowadays everyone's
attention span and time are limited. Be grateful if you get
anyone's attention on our issue, even for a few seconds. Some
wannabe activists come in like a lion, then disappear faster
than sh*t through a short dog. Take whatever you get from any
volunteer. Praise and thank them. Don't be disappointed when
they drift away. They will. But some come back. Keep the
light on for them.

THE NRA STINKS. So does GOA, SAF, JPFO, and any or all of the
rest of the gun rights organizations. At the same time, all of these
organizations are the best thing since sliced bread. We won't keep
our rights without them. It's normal to love them and hate them at
the same time. Be sure your complaints about them go to the person
who can do something about your problem. Never give up your
membership -- it's much easier to fix things from the inside.
Avoid griping in public -- our opponents love it when we do.
Always handle our dirty laundry behind closed doors. Always.

THERE IS NO MAGIC BULLET. There is no single answer, rule, or solution.
Never has been, and never will be. None of us will write the single
brilliant letter to the editor or internet message that will miraculously
turn everything around. Keep steadily busy. Do as much as you can,
whenever you can. Anything you do counts, but some things count
more than others. Find out what counts. Then do it.

THERE IS NO FINAL VICTORY. Preserving RKBA is an ongoing PROCESS.
We are winning and losing battles during this process, but the war
will never be over. Becoming active to keep your gun rights is a
lot like cleaning your house: it's thankless and boring work, but
necessary. Like dirt, the antigun crowd will just keep coming back.
Forever. Your activism will keep us winning more than losing.
Our opponents count on wearing us down. They love it when one of us
(not you, of course) gets discouraged and drops out. When you fully
understand and accept the reality that RKBA is a never-ending struggle,
you're automatically in the top 5 percent of all RKBA defenders.
Congratulations.

RKBA ACTIVISM IS BORING. It's especially boring when you are doing
things that really make a difference. Most of us want drama. We want
to be entertained. Phone bank calling, precinct walking, going
to RKBA grassroots seminars -- suddenly, even a trip to the dentist
for a root canal will start to look better. Sorry, but there is no
workaround on this aspect. Freedom is not free. It's a pain in the
ass. Get used to it, get over it, and get to work.

USE THE POWER OF FEAR AND GUILT. Gun owners are susceptible
to these emotions. Awaken sleeping RKBA activists by tapping
these powerful emotions. Fear and guilt will move mountains --
and fill the collection plate, and recruit new members. If gun
owners won't become active for themselves, ask them to do it
for their families. For their children. For their country. And --
this tactic works! -- ask them to do it for YOU.

WATCH OUT FOR MISDIRECTED, TIME-WASTING EFFORTS.
E-mail to elected people is pretty much worthless -- unless
the official already personally knows you. Internet polls are
useless. Online polls make some folks think they are actually
doing something. They are not. It's a false sense of accomplishment.
It's like bringing a doctor to a dead man. Focus on the stuff that
works. If you're going to hunt ducks, go where the ducks are.

POLITICIANS ONLY CARE ABOUT VOTES AND MONEY. In-person visits,
phone calls, and snail-mailed, handwritten letters to elected folks
help -- because politicians know that if you take this much trouble,
you and your family and friends will also vote.

HOT TIP: Make yourself known to politicians for
issues other than gun rights. Don't present yourself
as a single-issue person. Praise and help politicians
on THEIR pet projects. Then, when a new gun control
law comes up, your opinion will seem especially credible.
Otherwise, you will soon be stereotyped and discounted
as a single-issue voter.

ANOTHER HOT TIP: Politicians have to explain why they
vote Yes or No on proposed laws. Sometimes they really
need your help in composing explanations to their
constituents. If you want your elected official to vote
No on a seemingly popular new gun control law, she might
be more willing to vote your way if you give her a
"back door" -- a good, common sense explanation that
she can give to all of her constituents.

GET THE RIGHT PEOPLE IN OFFICE IN THE FIRST PLACE. If we have
the right people in power, antigun laws will not be passed. Period.
The laws are what matter. This concept is so simple that many
folks can't see it, just like they can't "see" the air they breathe.
The anti-rights crowd can hold all the gun control seminars and
news conferences they want, but nothing will happen unless they
can pass more laws. This fact tells you about the how, what, where,
when, why, and with whom you should be spending your time, energy,
and money. Politicians pass laws. Therefore, you must get involved in
politics to protect your gun rights. There is just no way to get around
this. Sorry. I don't like politics either. Bummer!

STOP THE SABER RATTLING -- NOW! Avoid those shrill folks who sound
threatening or talk about doomsday. It's a waste of your time. These
noisy folks remind me of a couple in a failing marriage who only talk
about a getting a divorce instead of talking about their real problems.
If they don't solve their problems, separation or divorce becomes the
inevitable outcome. Some people get pumped up on silly fantasy
scenarios. I do not.

ARM YOURSELF WITH ACCURATE INFORMATION. Paradoxically,
bad information or disinformation is a plague in the so-called
Information Age. When you write or talk about firearms issues,
use only the facts, the truth, and the provable. Verify any quotes
that you use. Back up your generalizations with powerful and
specific examples. Get on the internet, and get your like-minded
friends online. Join several of the hundreds of net communities
that will keep you informed instantly and completely about our
special issues. Information is power!

IGNORE MEDIA SPIN AND THE NEWS WAVES. It's far too easy
to go bonkers reacting to the latest media-driven crisis. Don't
let the media push your buttons. The RKBA grassroots pros I know
do not overreact to crises. In fact, most of the ultra-pros that I
know do not react at all to media hysteria. Bashing the media about
their bias is not productive. Some gun owners use media bias as an
excuse to do nothing -- because the situation seems so overwhelming
and hopeless. Truth is, if you are a busy activist -- already steadily
doing stuff that matters -- you will find the media reacting to YOU.
Be friendly and polite with them -- not hostile. Become a reliable
source of information for them. And just keep on being ACTIVE.

JUST SHOW UP. It's been said that 80 percent of success is
showing up. Being there. Showing up to vote. Showing up at an
RKBA seminar. At your assemblyman's office. At a city council
meeting. My father's favorite motto: "Your actions speak so loud
that I can't hear a word you're saying." Your "silent" activism can
be a model for others. What will your 3 hunting buddies think when
they find out you spent an afternoon handing out brochures
door-to-door for a pro-gun politician?

DON'T MESS WITH TRUE BELIEVERS. In the time you spend trying
to convert one hard core antigun person to our side, you could
have gone out and motivated and organized 20 people who already
think like you do. Go with the flow. It's easier on your nerves,
and much more effective. Personally, I have converted several
anti-rights true believers, but never again! Lots of NRA members
are not registered voters. A lot of gun owners aren't NRA members.
Even more folks have no idea of their elected officials' positions
on gun issues. Where is your time most effectively spent? Think
about this before you spend an hour writing a clever response
to a silly message you found somewhere on the internet.

SIMPLICITY STILL MATTERS. The old rule, Keep It Super Simple
(KISS), is as important as it ever was. It applies to internet
postings, planning, speeches -- everything. And keep it short.
And keep it sweet: don't ever ridicule or insult anyone. Did you
notice that I did NOT say, "Keep It Simple, STUPID?"

YOU ARE ALL ALONE. Well, not quite alone. You do have some help.
The NRA has a staff of several hundred. There is no way humanly
possible that "the NRA" can put out all the brush fires started
by the anti-rights crowd. Pro-gun national organizations
give direction and information -- but they cannot save your
rights. Only YOU can save YOUR rights. You are 100 percent
responsible. When you fully accept this reality, you are
automatically in the top one percent of all RKBA activists.

THE HIDDEN BONUS OF GUN RIGHTS ACTIVISM. The more involved
you get with firearms freedom, the more you will realize that
your single issue actually complements and protects other human
rights issues. Personally, I am deeply offended by many aspects of
today's culture. When I focus my activism on RKBA, I can often
sense I am making a measurable difference. All rights -- like all
humans -- are connected.

WHEN IN DOUBT, JUST DO SOMETHING. Sometimes we don't know
what will work. Sometimes the rule is that there are no rules.
I once wrote an essay I thought was mediocre at best. Five years
later, I'm still receiving mail about it. Don't hesitate to try
something new and innovative -- get it out on the table! Often
your finest essay or brilliant letter will not be acknowledged,
or you will just get a form letter response. But that letter to
the editor that you dashed off in a few minutes appears in
tomorrow's newspaper! Go figure. Better yet, try not to figure.
Trust yourself, trust your instincts -- and just do something.

I'll see you in the trenches.





Friendly Reminder:
Copyright © 2000 by [email protected]
All rights reserved. Reproduction or distribution
is permitted so long as this copyright notice is
attached; the complete Handbook (including the
introduction) is reproduced; no word or words
are altered in any way whatsoever, and the web site
address <<http://www.jaspar.net>> is attached.
Thank you!

 

[Derby FALs]

More for your reading pleasure.

Walter Mitty's Second Amendment

By Jeff Snyder

Once upon a time, there was a people who inhabited a majestic land under an all-powerful government. Now this government had the resources to control practically every aspect of human existence; hundreds of thousands of "public servants" could access the most personal details of every citizen's life because everyone was issued a number at birth with which the government would track him throughout his life. No one could even work in gainful employment without this number.

True, the government left certain domains of individual action largely free, particularly matters concerning speech and sex. These activities posed no real threat to the state. When not used to entertain and divert, the power of speech was used principally to clamor for more or better goods from the state, or for "reforms" to make the state work "better," thereby entrenching the people's dependency. And insofar as sex was concerned, well, the people's behavior in this area also really had no effect on the scope of state power. In fact, the rulers noted that people's preoccupation with matters of sexual morality -- whether premarital, teenage pregnancy, adultery, divorce, homosexuality or general "who's zooming who" -- diverted the people's attention from the fact that they were, for economic and all other intents and purposes, slaves.

Slaves, though, who labored under the illusion that they were free. The people were a simple lot, politically speaking, and readily mistook the ability to give free reign to their appetites as the essence of "personal freedom."

In that fruitful land, the state took about 50 percent of everything the people earned through numerous forms of taxation, up from about 25 percent only a generation earlier. However, this boastful people, who believed themselves to be the freest on earth, retained the right to keep and bear arms. Tens of millions of them possessed firearms just in case their government became tyrannical and enslaved them.

In that land, an astronomical number of regulations, filling more than 96,000 pages in the government's "code of regulations," were promulgated by persons who were not elected by the people. The regulators often developed close relationships with the businesses they regulated, and work in "agencies" that had the power both to make law -- and to enforce it.

The agencies were not established by the government's constitution, and their existence violated that instrument's principle of separation of powers. Yet the people retained the right to keep and bear arms. Just in case their government, some day, ceased to be a "government of the people."

In that land, the constitution contemplated that the people would be governed by two separate levels of government -- "national" and "local." Matters that concerned the people most intimately -- health, education, welfare, crime, and the environment -- were to be left almost exclusively to the local level, so that those who made and enforced the laws lived close to the people who were subject to the laws, and felt their effects.

So that different people who had different ideas about such things would not be subject to a "one size fits all" standard that would apply if the national government dealt with such matters. Competition among different localities for people, who could move freely from one place to another, would act as a reality check on the passage of unnecessary or unwise laws.

But in a time of great crisis called the Great Economic Downturn, the people and their leaders clamored for "national solutions to national problems," and the constitution was "interpreted" by the Majestic Court to permit the national government to pass laws regulating practically everything that has been reserved for the localities.

Now the people had the pleasure of being governed by not one, but two beneficient governments with two sets of laws regulating the same things. Now the people could be prosecuted by not one, but two governments for the same activities and conduct. Still this fiercely independent people retained the right to keep and bear arms. Just in case their government, some day, no longer secured the blessings of liberty to themselves or their posterity.

In that fair land, property owners could be held liable under the nation's environmental legislation for the cleanup costs associated with toxic chemicals, even if the owners had not caused the problem.

Another set of laws provided for asset forfeiture and permitted government agencies to confiscate property without first establishing guilt.

Yet the people retained the right to keep and bear arms. Just in case their government denied them due process by holding them liable for things that were not their fault. (The Majestic Court had long ago determined that "due process" did not prevent government from imposing liability on people who were not at fault. "Due process", it turned out, meant little more than that a law had been passed in accordance with established procedures. You know, it was actually voted on, passed by a majority and signed by the president. If it met those standards, it didn't much matter what the law actually did.)

Oh well, the people had little real cause to worry. After all, those laws hardly ever affected anyone that they knew. Certainly not the people who mattered most of all: the country's favorite celebrities and sports teams, who so occupied the people's attention. And how bad could it be if it had not yet been the subject of a Movie of the Week, telling them what to think and how to feel about it?

In that wide open land, the police often established roadblocks to check that the people's papers were in order. The police -- armed agents of the rulers -- used these occasions to ask the occupants whether they were carrying weapons or drugs. Sometimes the police would ask to search the vehicles, and the occupants -- not knowing whether they could say no and wanting to prove that they were good guys by cooperating -- would permit it.

The Majestic Court had pronounced these roadblocks and searches lawful on the novel theory, unkown to the country's Founding Forebears, that so long as the police were doing this to everyone equally, it didn't violate anyone's rights in particular.

The roadblocks sometimes caused annoying delays, but these lovers of the open road took it in stride. After all, they retained their right to keep and bear arms. Just in case their government, some day, engaged in unreasonable searches and seizures. In that bustling land, the choice of how to develop property was heavily regulated by local governments that often demanded fees or concessions for the privilege. That is, when the development was not prohibited outright by national "moistland" regulations that had no foundation in statutory or constitutional law.

Even home owners often required permission to simply build an addition to their homes, or to erect a tool shed on their so-called private property. And so it seemed that "private property" became, not a system protecting individual liberty, but a system which, while providing the illusion of ownership, actually just allocated and assigned government-mandated burdens and responsibilities.

Still, this mightily productive people believed themselves to live in the most capitalistic society on earth, a society dedicated to the protection of private property. And so they retained the right to keep and bear arms. Just in case their government ever sought to deprive them of their property without just compensation.

Besides, the people had little cause for alarm. Far from worrying about government control of their property, the more immediate problem was: what to buy next?

The people were a simple lot, politically speaking, and readily mistook the ability to acquire and endless assortment of consumer goods as the essence of personal freedom.

The enlightened rulers of this great land did not seek to deprive the people of their right to bear arms. Unlike tyrants of the past, they had learned that it was not necessary to disarm the masses. The people proved time and time again thaty they were willing accomplices to the ever expanding authority of the government, enslaved by their own desire for safety, security and welfare.

The people could have their guns. What did the rulers care? They already possessed the complete obedience that they required.

In fact, in their more Machiavellian moments, the rulers could be heard to admit that permitting the people the right to keep and bear arms was a marvelous tool of social control, for it provided the people with the illusion of freedom.

The people, among the most highly regulated on earth, told themselves that they were free because they retained the means of revolt. Just in case things ever got really bad. No one, however, seemed to have too clear an idea what "really bad" really meant. The people accepted the fact that their government no longer even remotely resembled the plan set forth in their original constitution. And the people's values no longer remotely resembled those of their Founding Forebears. The people, in their naiveté, really believed that the means of revolt were to be found in a piece of inanimate metal! Really it was laughable. And pathetic.

No, the rulers knew that the people could safely be trusted with arms. The government educated their children, provided for their retirement in old age, bequeathed assistance if they lost their jobs, mandated that they receive health care, and even doled out food and shelter if they were poor.

The government was the very air the people breathed from childhood to the grave. Few could imagine, let alone desire, any other kind of world.

To the extent that the people paid any attention to their system of government, the great mass spent their days simply clamoring for more or better "programs", more "rational" regulations, in short, more of the same. The only thing that really upset them was waste, fraud, or abuse of the existing programs. Such shenanigans brought forth vehement protests demanding that the government provide their services more efficiently, dammit! The nation's stirring national anthem, adopted long ago by men who fought for their liberty, ended by posng a question, in hopes of keeping the spirit of liberty alive. Did the flag still fly, it asked, over the land of the free?

Unfortunately, few considered that the answer to that question might really be no, for they had long since lost an understanding of what freedom really is.

No, in this land "freedom" had become something dark, frightening, and dangerous. The people lived in mortal terror that somewhere, sometime, some individual might make a decision or embark upon a course of action that was not first approved by some government official.

Security was far more preferable. How could anyone be truly free if he were not first safe and protected?

Now we must say goodbye to this fair country whose government toiled tirelessly to create the safety, fairness and luxury that all demanded, and that everyone knew could be created by passing just the right laws. Through it all, the people vigorously safeguarded their tradition of firearms ownership.

But they never knew -- and never learned -- that preserving a tradition and a way of life is not the same as preserving liberty. And they never knew -- and never learned -- that it's not about guns.

American Handgunner, Sep/Oct 1997, reprinted without permission

 

[Fosbery]

I was watching the news one day and they were talking about a rise in 'gun crime'. I thought to myself 'what is gun crime? Is it worse for someone to be killed with a gun than it is for them to be killed with a knife?' Then I realised it was a load of rubbish, and the rest followed.

 

[AJ Dual]

I was always interested in firearms as a child. My family was conservative Republican, and by no means "anti gun". However, we did not own any firearms save for a BB gun I got for my tenth birthday. (Which I promptly got in trouble with, because I was turned loose with it…)

I turned 18 in 1991, and 21 in 1994, the "perfect storm" for gun control, with the '89 Bush import bans, and passage of the AWB, At this time I was also getting on the proto-text-only Internet through college and found Usenet's rec.guns newsgroup.

Learning I was not going to be able to buy the guns I wanted just as I was getting old enough to buy them, or had to settle for neutered copies made me angry.

I joined the NRA and got involved from there...

 

[porterdog]

"What got you into the RKBA fight?"

Katrina/Ray Nagin.

 

[Handgun Midas]

Starting reading forums like THR to help me make my first gun purchase.
Bought first gun, kept reading THR.
Realized firearms are inherently political.
Started to really pay attention, made THR my homepage.

 

[Legionnaire]

Lived in NY State. Wanted to hunt deer with something other than a slug gun in a shotgun only area of the state (was already hunting with a bow during archery season). Saw that handguns were legal, so began to explore that. What a hassle! I lived in one of the more restrictive counties, and it took waaaay too long to get a pistol permit that was restricted to hunting and target shooting only. I embarked on the eventually successful effort to get an unrestricted carry permit. Along the way, a friend introduced me to Mas Ayoob's Lethal Force Institute. I've since taken courses from LFI, Insights Training, and Storm Mountain. Until I left NY State, I was a certified Hunter Safety instructor. I'm a Lifetime member of the NRA, and an occasional annual member of GOA. The more I got into hunting/shooting, the more I became frustrated with all the regs that don't do anything to prevent crime and that make life a hassle for law abiding citizens. That's what go me going.

 

[xd9fan]

May 4th 2003, at the age of 32, I bought my first 22 rifle (browning takedown)
Lot has changed since then. I have become more focused on Individual Liberty ever since. I consider this date my true date of citizenship. Joining NRA and GOA and CCRKBA soon followed.....

 

[Fosbery]

Hehe, got myself another British convert today. He started off slightly anti but be the time he'd finished reading the 'gun control' section of my new website he was a table thumping RKBA supporter tell you, my revolution grows closer every day

 

[StopTheGrays]

The AWB was the main reason, that and local pols telling me I had right to self defense but not the means.

 

[Derby FALs]

I think the AWB was the kicker for me.

 

[Barbara]

Bill Clinton.

 

[marriedguy1]

Grew up in the country where guns are a big part of life, maybe not everyday but weekly at least. I moved to a larger city San Antonio and realized that not everyone likes country music or guns either. I've always had a 22 pistol, 30.06 rifle, and a 12 gauge shotgun. I saw how Katrina affected my family in Houston area by the huge increase in crime and arson. I decided that I will not be a victim nor will I stand by quietly as my rights are slowly taken away due to the acts of a few irresponsible people.
I started shooting again after about a 12 year period of time where I had not even handled a gun. I can still shoot straight, but now I want better equipment=$$$.

I'm an avid off road enthusiast. I own a 1971 Bronco that I'm currently modifying/restoring. The state of Texas recently enacted legislation that prohibits vehicles in from traveling in navigable waterways...aka dry river beds etc...which were the last available public four wheeling grounds in the state. What that means to me is I must trailer my Bronco and drive it at least 3 hours each way just for a day of 4 wheeling. I saw how the in-action of the four wheeling community hurt our cause. No one stepped up and presented an organized, intellectual argument. This was not just the fault of 4 wheel vehicle like mine, but quads, and motorcycles as well. We just let our land be declared off limits. I will not allow that to happen again.

 

[El Tejon]

Gun cleaning patch diaper baby. I was born into this fight.

 

[rbernie]

Having spawn.

It's easy to lose sight of my own situation, but having kids sure makes you take stock of the world that they're going to inherit.

 

[Barbara]

Actually, it was more Hillary and the whole MMM thing. I grew up around guns, most of the guys and some of the women I knew hunted and shot for fun. I was just never really interested beyond going to squirrel hunting as a kid. Then in '99, I started hearing all the crap anti-gun groups were spewing and it ticked me off, especially since they claimed to speak for women. Annoyed me enough that I drove out to DC to rally with the others opposed to the Million Mom March and what I saw out there scared me enough that I felt obligated to come back and be a lot more involved.

And so I am.

 

[Border]

It made me FURIOUS when I was taking a gun course and the guy teaching said it was "up to the police chief in your town" to decide whether or not you could have a CCW. (I live in The People's Republic of Massachusetts). At the time I was a Democrat. No more. This began my critical thinking on this and many subjects.

 

[Derby FALs]

The AWB is the only reason I got into evil black rifles. Thanks to the AWB my club has built dozens of FALs, AKs and ARs. Unintended consequences, eh?