What else can we do?

[IescapedCali]

Good afternoon. If this isn’t the correct place for this, Mods feel free to correct my aim.

I suppose any one of us on social media has witnessed their feed fill with vitriol and blame for the actions of one flawed, evil being. Mine sure has. But one (my next-door neighbor, who I know votes blue) posted a sincere post, desiring input from our side of the discussion. Knowing that engaging his question on social media would most certainly devolve into a pseudo-religion mud-slinging(by others on his feed, and not him), I simply replied, “let’s discuss Saturday, at the range”. He quickly accepted.

I like to exercise my freedom early, so we began in my kitchen at 630,over coffee. We spoke of gun safety, discussed the parts and functions of each, then loaded a paper target and some steel plates in the car and headed out. At the range, I introduced him to range etiquette and safety rules. We set the target up at 100, and put the steel down range at 300. Got him comfortable at the bench, with sandbags and put 1round at a time in the mag. Talked him through basic sight picture and trigger squeeze. The Grendel did what the Grendel does, and After a few shots, he had a smile on his face. He put 20rounds through paper, before I switched with him. 10rounds later, I put him back in the chair, and directed him to the steel “waaaaay down there”

His first comment was, “no way”. But a couple shots later, we were hearing that satisfying “whack” of Wolf vs Steel plate. Repeatedly. He was smiling, and asking how much “one of these things” costs to buy. 4boxes of Wolf went downrange this morning. Other shooters arrived and set up. We watched a family do a Tannerite and chalk powder baby gender reveal (pink), and we talked. We talked about individual rights, public safety, mental health, public perception vs the reality he had now personally experienced.

Is he going to vote Red now? Doubtful. Is he going to buy a black rifle? Possibly. Is he going to buy some ammo and join me at the range again soon? Definitely! My point in posting this is that within every vitriolic newsfeed lies an opportunity to interact with those few genuinely reasonable people, who is capable of listening, and whose mind might be changed. We are the only ones who have a hope of giving willing, inexperienced people an opportunity to see what guns are, and what they are not. If they’re interested in listening, we need to provide something positive to listen to, or else the television and internet will fill them with carefully-crafted misinformation, masquerading as facts.

Your mileage may vary.

[37L1]

Good on you, Brother!

[Crusty]

IMHO, the solution to ending these massacres by eliminating gun ownership is dubious in effect and does not address the root issue, that of "medical professionals" prescribing dangerous drugs with psychotic side effects to "treat" normal teenage angst, which are making our young people irrational to the point of psychosis. Add to that the influence of force fed ultra violence in movies and games from corporations whose only concern is to make more money, along side the apparently soulless and ubiquitous social influences of today and you've just created the perfect storm for inciting mega violence.

It's an easy cop out to blame guns for the violence and so demonize them, but guns are inanimate objects and they only do what the person operating them directs. The mental health of the person with a gun is the root issue.

Some of us believe to our core that, since the police can't be everywhere all of the time, there's a valuable function performed for our society by responsible, rational people who are armed.

You did good by changing the mind of one person but there's a tide to hold back and even many brooms can't keep it back.

[BCHunter]

Thank you,..well done.

[Drift]

Other things we can do (1) Insist that the degenerate who did this get the death penalty. (2) Remind privileged young people (More needs to be said here...I teach rich students in their early twenties-and they insist "we've evolved past violence" ) that the world is a violent place ..and any thing bad that can happen, can happen to them. (3) Remind ourselves that people have, are and will continue to die over every part of the Bill Of Rights, not just the 2nd Amendment

[biodsl]

You did a good thing. The next time someone says "who needs an AR15?" your neighbor might think "Well, I do."

Laws to keep guns out of the wrong hands only seem to work for those willing to abide by those laws. Perhaps a law to put guns in the right hands would work. https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-cong...4/text?r=1

Until school districts, administrators and teachers get over their irrational fear of firearms we will continue to lose children to school shooters.

[Bigs28]

We can be thankful Hillary isn't president.

[SHORT-N-SASSY]

IMHO, the solution to ending these massacres by eliminating gun ownership is dubious in effect and does not address the root issue, that of "medical professionals" prescribing dangerous drugs with psychotic side effects to "treat" normal teenage angst, which are making our young people irrational to the point of psychosis. Add to that the influence of force fed ultra violence in movies and games from corporations whose only concern is to make more money, along side the apparently soulless and ubiquitous social influences of today and you've just created the perfect storm for inciting mega violence.

It's an easy cop out to blame guns for the violence and so demonize them, but guns are inanimate objects and they only do what the person operating them directs. The mental health of the person with a gun is the root issue.

Some of us believe to our core that, since the police can't be everywhere all of the time, there's a valuable function performed for our society by responsible, rational people who are armed.

You did good by changing the mind of one person but there's a tide to hold back and even many brooms can't keep it back.

(http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/02/16/flo...oting.html)


(http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/02/1...ldren.html)

[37L1]

Well at least people who never thought about this are talking. But the level of ignorance is dumbfounding. Today I heard "Why do we need AR-15's anyway." And "I'm against having armed teachers in school."

We must, when given a chance, explain to these well meaning but uneducated people that their perceptions are based upon emotion and not logic. Ask the person about why they are against AR-15's and see what they know versus what they feel. Ask them questions that make them think about what weapon will be banned next and what the difference is in weapons, and how easy it is to reload a handgun with mags, shotgun with drums, etc. Ask them if they want handguns and shotguns banned too.

Talk to the person who is against arming teachers and find out what the specific concerns are. We can explain that they will be trained and qualified and on a regular basis instead of just some dummy that is given a firearm.

Make them think and use their brain instead of knee jerk emotions and feelings. Engage and reason, don't be confrontational or ignore because the liberal media is waging a war against the 2nd Amendment and we must step up and counter this respectfully when those opportunities present themselves to us if we care where we are going to end up in regards to our liberty. Make no mistake, this is where it all begins.

[IescapedCali]

I’m sad that we need to have this discussion, but I am heartened that we are capable. My neighbor went home and posted, positively, about his experience. As I’ve watched, it has caused him, and some of his Left-of-center friends to engage in a conversation, which he has moderated well. He has informed his friends that he just might buy a rifle because he had a very enjoyable experience today.

Today has served to remind me that each of us has the ability, and I would dare to say, the response-ability to find opportunities to promote the second amendment. There are certainly extremists, who will never see our side, as well as a media who buys ink by the barrel, and captures public attention by sensationalizing tragedy(I’ve watched that play out all day on his feed).

The best hope we have, as individuals, to shape public perception, is to engage where we have a hope of educating, and to inspire the next generation. Take your neighbor shooting

[Drift]

Iescaped did well. By trying to change a mans mind....by changing how that man "feels" about guns. Sadly, most anti 2nd Amendment people spend a very small part of their lives thinking. About anything. They do however emote spontaneously.

[SHORT-N-SASSY]

And, a word from the surviving students: (http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/02/1...-know.html)

[chic]

One of the big problems is the focus on GUN violence when the correct focus is on VIOLENCE. We sure won't stop it using the movies and video games kids grow up on.

[Tex Nomex]

I, like the OP, have also had success sharing my gun hobby with others. One neighbor is a refugee from NJ who in the last 5 years has gone from a "We-need-higher-taxes-and-more-government-provided-services-and-nobody-should-have-an-AR15" weenie to owning a few AR15s and handguns, himself. He recently also took up the bow and he and his son spend all their spare time together at the gun club. Together, we've taken other newbies out and have seen them come around as well.

Introducing shooting to anti-gunners here in the NE is a lot easier than I ever expected it to be. These folks have been programmed to fear guns and to hate those who own them. Get them on the range and the scales fall from their eyes. Soon they wonder what else they've been lied to about.

[Keef]

I do my best to listen to their fear/pain and express to them that yes it is scary and headline grabbing, but almost 3 times as many people die in automobile accidents each year.....

[Sticks]

Don't forget Influenza. 30k Plus every year in the US.

Wake me when something meaningful happens.

[SHORT-N-SASSY]

. . .

(http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/02/1...ldren.html)

(http://foxnews.com/us/2018/02/22/deputy-...-says.html)

[LRRPF52]

I'm still not tracking why we're even talking about firearms when....

...a 2 x orphan who was bullied, moved 6 times in 3 years between different schools after being diagnosed with mental, behavioral, and learning disabilities, who cut himself, bragged about killing animals, threatened multiple times over the years that he was going to shoot up the school, was investigated by Florida DCS, was deemed....not a risk.

Where did the people who made that assessment receive their training?

Are they even literate in the English language?

Why weren't the FBI agents who were alerted to the threats he made able to ID him when he did it under his own real name?

Where did they go to school?

We don't watch movies like this, but I told my wife it was important we watch Idiocracy together last week. When we finished the movie and scrolled through the news, we realized the movie never really stopped. What we were seeing was indistinguishable from entertainment to reality.

[SHORT-N-SASSY]

. . .

(http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/02/1...ldren.html)

(https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/hun...ng-in-ohio)

[SHORT-N-SASSY]

Hundreds of teachers sign up for free gun training in Ohio (https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/hun...ng-in-ohio)

My hat off to the Sheriff. I today sent the following e-mail to Butler County Sheriff, Richard Jones: