Gun Rights - by Joe Forbes

Humans associate sounds with meanings.  The tocsin, or warning bell, alerts to approaching danger.  The clarion is a trumpet call to action.  And the solemn funeral bell mourns the passing out of this life.  

If you have watched television within the past month, you could not help but be overwhelmed by the noise.  I mean the noise of being bombarded with 24/7 coverage of the high school shooting in Florida, the lead up to the March For Our Lives, the beatification by the media of the speakers at the March, and the orchestrated refusal of the media to move on to other issues.  This article is both a tocsin and a clarion call.

Only the truly naive would believe that the spectacle we have seen on tv for the past month is driven solely by the concerns and fears of the students:  Within 48 hours of the shooting, there was a "tax-exempt" organization set up, not for the victims of the shooting or their families, but for the survivors to lobby for gun control.  Within 2 weeks, chartered busses took the students to the state capital to lobby for gun restrictions.  Teachers, presumably while on the state payroll, went with the students.  Plans were made for the March on Washington, including chartering busses, reserving space for the protest, erection of a stage, renting lighting and public address equipment worthy of a rock concert, coordinating the schedules of various celebrities and musicians to perform, catering services for the speakers and performers, parking, coordinating with assorted anti-Second Amendment politicians, and scheduling media coverage.  Then there was the actual event itself, including ARMED security, and coordinated similar events in almost every town from coast to coast.  Who do you think paid for all this?  The students themselves, perhaps by a bake sale or a car wash?

The truth is that it was coordinated, funded, and facilitated by the same anti-Second Amendment groups that have been demanding more firearms regulations for decades.  They supplied the money.  They supplied the organization logistics.  They supplied the canned speeches that were written before these students were born.  Almost lost amid the din, those very same groups are using the event and the emotions from the tragic shooting to register students to vote by the millions.  That's right, MILLIONS.

This is the subject of my warning:  An entire generation of young adults, already far-removed from their historical rural roots, who had been, at best, ambivalent to the 2nd Amendment, is now being registered to vote en mass and encouraged to be enthusiastic foot soldiers in the war on gun rights.  Their lost innocence is being exploited on camera while their youthful energy is being directed toward the stated purpose of removing from office those who dare support the 2nd Amendment.  And it will probably be successful..., for as older generations of voters fade away, they will be replaced with this generation who sees nothing but evil in a firearm.  The media, musicians, and Hollywood are joining in, making it "hip" to be an anti-gun fanatic.  The anti-gunners are emboldened by their success at using these kids.  Former Supreme Court Justice Stevens has now openly called for the repeal of the 2nd Amendment.  In the hysteria following the shooting, otherwise rational people were on social media calling for a minimum age of 21 to buy ANY firearm, including a single-shot .22.  And hysteria is exactly what's dominating "the debate" right now.  Dark days lie ahead if something isn't done.

The call to action is a simple message:  You can't rely on others to protect your rights and those of your children.  YOU must take action, and take it NOW.  It's up to you to show the positive side of owning and using a firearm.  Always take the opportunity to take a young person hunting, or to target practice, or to show them safe handling, cleaning and storage of guns.  Teach the responsibility that goes with it.  It doesn't have to be your child or grandchild, but anyone who expresses an interest in guns, including females.  (Especially females.  They are over half the population). Take them to gun shows so they can see for themselves that they are not wide-open flea markets where anyone with a felony record can just buy a gun with no questions asked (as the media would have them believe).  

Volunteer to support hunter safety teams in the schools.  Donate your time and your money.  Do they need funds to attend a state-wide event?  Volunteer to cook for fundraisers.  If you can't cook, you can deliver meals or sell tickets.  Volunteer to drive a car or van load of kids.  Hold raffles and donate prizes to raise funds to support them.  Insist that the school board adequately fund them, and that they be accorded the same recognition as athletic teams.  Educate people that the shooting sports require (and teach) discipline and the importance of meeting objective, defined standards, which are traits that will serve them well out in the real world.

Join whatever national organization you believe best protects your firearm rights.  It's a sad truth that you HAVE to have lobbyists to support your interests and rights, and the only way to get them is for the group to hire them.  You can bet that the anti-gun crowd will have an entire battalion of their lobbyists trying to take away your rights and those of your descendants.  Can't you spare $35 a year to at least try to stop them?

It's also up to you to teach young people how our government is supposed to work.  Impress upon them that it is their duty to be politically active.  REGISTER THEM TO VOTE, and encourage them to do so after educating themselves on the issues and the positions of the candidates.  We have to counter the March For Our Lives newly-registered voters with newly-registered voters of our own, and they can't vote if they're not registered.

Don't be bashful.  These are RIGHTS were talking about.  When someone uses falsehoods to promote an anti-gun agenda, call them out on it.  Whether it's an editorial or a social media comment, politely refute what they are saying with facts and logic.  Don't get into name-calling or threats.  Understand that you are probably never going to win over the anti-gun writer.  Remember that the goal is to sway the undecided reader over to your point of view.  Talk to your friends, neighbors and shooting buddies about new attempts to restrict your rights.  Educate them.  Enlist them in the struggle.

We all have different talents and abilities.  We can't all do everything, but you can do something to help.  Just DO it.  And KEEP doing it.  This isn't a single battle. It is an ongoing war.  Because the funeral bell for the 2nd Amendment is a sound we cannot allow.