Like most gun rights activists, I make it a point to keep an eye on what the other side is up to. To think of the efforts of the advocates of forcible citizen disarmament as anything less than a culture war against freedom would be the gravest of mistakes, and, when one acknowledges that this is indeed a war, the second gravest mistake would be to go into any kind of war without as much information about the other side's actions as can be discovered.
Prominent among those enemies, particularly here in the Midwest, is the cynically, insultingly named "Freedom States Alliance" (discussed in a bit more detail here, as a favored beneficiary of Joyce Foundation millions).
So, I was doing a bit of reconnaissance, and discovered a somewhat handy-dandy little tool, which they intend be used to "Help Stop the Proliferation of Guns in America." A discussion about that goal--and what it says about their idea of "reasonable regulations," and their contention that the Heller decision nullifies the slippery slope argument--is a discussion for another day, but it's a discussion that needs to be held soon, as I have been one of the people who has probably been guilty of whistling past the graveyard in regard to the dangers we face stemming from the rather weak endorsement Heller bestowed on the Constitutional guarantee of the fundamental, absolute human right of the individual to keep and bear arms.
Anyway, the tool I refer to is this neato little mechanism for finding contact information for submitting letters to the editors of area newspapers. I tend to crank out a lot of words about gun rights, but I realize that even if I were a great deal more persuasive than I am, I'm writing almost overwhelmingly to people who already agree with me (about objectives, if not strategies). I need to work harder at getting the message out to the public at large, and I imagine I'm not alone in that.
The "Freedom States Alliance" is offering a way to make that a little easier, and we'd be fools to pass up that offer.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Using the enemy's tools against him
Stumble it!
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4 comments:
I wish I'd known about that before SAFR. That's a neat little gizmo.
Hrm. I'd be a little careful, there. They would have the ability to review content and substitute "approved" text when they don't like what's there...
Hrm. I'd be a little careful, there. They would have the ability to review content and substitute "approved" text when they don't like what's there...
Well, the contact information goes directly to the newspapers themselves--not the "Freedom States Alliance," so they won't be changing it. If you're concerned about the newspaper itself editing the text to fit the editorial board's prejudices, I suppose that's possible, but I've submitted some pro-rights letters that were reprinted with only very minor editing for length. I've never had a letter edited in such a way as to substantially alter its meaning.
If it was smarter the tool would have a word counter that counts down from 200 to zero (shorter letters get published and read).
But hey, we're dealing with idiots to begin with. Ha.
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