I really wish I was talking about Purdue University and Indiana University here; but I’m not. I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this issue because in the wake of the Zumbo thing it’s being literally beaten to death in the blog world. I figured that since everyone else is flogging a dead horse, I might as well get my shots in.
I am an extreme gun rights advocate. I carry a concealed weapon whenever it’s legal, I own a bunch of guns and a lot of ammo. My preference runs towards rimfires, mouseguns, and C&R, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t want other people to own whatever. I recognize that I am at the extreme end of the gun rights spectrum, but there are a lot of people out here that agree with me. There aren’t enough to get the job done.
We need hunters. We need plinkers. We need casual “every now and then” people. We the people that keep a revolver in the nightstand “just in case”. We need shotgunners, air gunners, WWII reenactors, we need every single bloody person in the country that owns a gun to get on board. Different groups have estimated that there are between 40,000,000 and 100,000,000 legal gun owners in the country. How many of those 40 million people think like we do? The answer is: “Not enough”.
We need to win their hearts, their minds, and their votes. That’s how we all get to keep our guns. If you know a casual gun owner, reach out to that person. If they don’t like your CQB Tactical Destroyer, so what? Get them on board, and do it with kindness and politeness. If you make people feel welcomed, they’ll stay with us.