How to promote gun ownership and possession?

Question

Statistics overwhelmingly show that states with high gun ownership, and in particular, the easy ability to obtain concealed carry permits, have lower crime rates. Still, our politicians think they can "save" us by restricting our access to guns. Without being too cliche, that leaves the law-abiders defenseless against the bad guys, who still have guns.

I'm from The People's Republic of California. We have some of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation, and they do nothing. Crime continues to out-pace the rest of the nation. I can cross the border into Nevada and obtain an out-of-state concealed carry permit. Many, many states have similar laws.

Yet "the people" continue to vote for politicians that propose more restrictive gun laws, statistics be damned.

What would be an effective means for educating the people AND our politicians that less restrictive gun laws lead to more law and order?

These are the assumptions with my question:

You follow the law. If not, you go to jail. We don't ban cars because some idiot speeds and kills 10 people.

I have a legal Nevada permit. It is only good in Nevada, and the state which recognize it. No skirting of the law here.

The statistics I am discussing are from the annual FBI crime statistics, not a pro-gun or anti-gun group. The facts are the facts.

Oh, and about Don't have handguns easily accessible, even to yourself. Uhm, that's the idea. To be useful, they MUST be easily accessible. They are safe, in a quick lock safe under my bed, but they are very easily accessible.

Answer 1

the easiest is to join one of the gun rights groups, i would recommend you take time to find one you agree with.
you can help promote the shooting sports through the boy scouts, and other youth organizations that let the kids learn through experience with guns.
you can also join, or start a grass roots organization to promote changes in the law (icarry.org is an example of one), and let like minded people meet and organize.

the most important thing you can do is be helpful to those who are ignorant about guns. there are a lot of false concepts about guns, every thing to what they can do, to to what is legal, to what they are made of. a lot of it will seam vary basic, like there are no plastic guns, but a lot of people have no idea about the truth. we must be patient with them, they are not dumb, just ignorant.

Answer 2

First let me address something stated in the first answer (above): This is one of the most common misconeptions that just about everyone has: Pro gun people want automatic weapons and unrestricted access to them and that if we (as a nation) don't do something about this problem soon, every thug on the street with have a full-auto weapon...... The fact is that the US government highly restricts who can have access to full-auto weapons and they have done so since the 1930's.... That's right folks, a law to cover this issue has already been in place for more than 70 years! So when we all saw commercials in the 90's promoting laws to ban full-auto machine guns, we were all being misled by politicians trying to further their agenda! (and I hate it when they do this!)


Ok... now that I've said my peice and hopefully have cleared that up for the few people that will read this, onto the real question being asked....

One of the great things about our contry is that everyone has the right to believe whatever they want to and to say (just about) whatever they want to... no matter how "stupid" you might think it is! California is one of the most (if not THE most) liberal states in the union. I don't see it ever happening that the citizens of that great state would allow this to happen.

The simple fact is that there are some people in this country that do not like guns. There are politicians that have admitted in front of congress that they know the laws they have just passed and are trying to pass will do nothing to prevent crime. The only reason they try to pass these laws is so that they can be stepping stones for the total outlaw of guns in the USA.


To those of you out there that are anti-gun, here's a novel approach, ban the criminal that will illegally use the gun, not the gun itself!


p.s. I'm a police officer in Illinois (a fairly high-crime state). I wish my state would have more lax gun laws and allow concealed carry. Let's face it... only honest citizens would go out and get the required permit... all of the criminals out there are already carrying guns, so why not let honest people too?

Answer 3

First off, don't believe everything you hear from either side, trust me, the pro gun lobby is just as much full of it as the anti gun lobby.

If you want to promote guns then be a responsible gun owner, don't go to other states to skirt the law, don't complain about gun laws, don't buy guns out of trunk of a car at gun shows. Do go hunting with like minded individuals, Promote gun safety within your group. Be an advocate for hunting rights.

Don't go hunting with a handgun, there is no believable excuse that you need one.

Kill your target as quickly as possible

Don't have your guns easily accessible for anyone including yourself.

Don't be a moron, the anti-gun lobby has thousands of valid reasons why guns should be restricted, get along with these people.

Answer 4

See "Philippines".
See "Iraq"

Look, I love guns. But even so, I can't support a corrolation that suggests allowing unrestricted access to automatic weapons and assault rifles would help in ANY way. If the entire country is raised to live with guns responsibly, sure - but that's not the case, and people's attitude's won't change because gun laws are repealed - they won't automatically gain some magical knowledge fo responsibility and accountability.

Fact is, the current gun laws (take NJ for example) assist greatly in the apprehension of criminals in many cases.

Answer 5

The only way I can see is to get dopey liberals to shut up trying to ban them just because some stupid irresponsible moron misused one..... and unfortunately the only way to do that is to not let people stupid enough to try something like happened here get hold of guns: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4317423.stm
Firing them out the window of a house in a built-up residential area isn't exactly the smartest thing to do...... the only way to go about promoting gun ownership & possession is to educate people how to use them safely (e.g. a dedicated target range, or somewhere out in the countryside) before they even get to touch one..... and filter out the nutters in the process.