Outreach

[Rich Keagy]

Outreach. Good churches do this to connect with the local community and bring more people to God.
Has anyone ever tried politely, gently introduce some of the anti-gun politicians to a real-life shooting experience? Perhaps I'm too optimistic but a visit to a rifle or Skeet range is far more persuasive than simply explaining things.
How many in your circle of friends \ family have never shot a gun in their lives?
My wife, born in a country where gun ownership is not generally legal, was afraid of guns in general and handguns in particular. That feeling evaporated once she found that she controls the gun, the gun doesn't control her. She saw the safety devices work.
Such a mission cannot be accomplished by regular every-day folk like you and me. Someone recognized nationally and in a friendly industry. Otherwise the invitation would be dismissed and forgotten. The invitation I envision would have to be very hard to refuse in a polite way.
A famous actor would be a good choice. Someone friendly like Tom Selek. I know there are others. Were he still alive, who would decline an invitation to shoot with Charlton Heston?
I'll bet a box of .45 cal ammo (or the $$ because ammo is hard to find) that one trip to the range would outweigh the effect of 10,000 angry emails or phone calls.
A trip to the ol' range is a real eye-opener. Think of the first-time shooters you've taken along. Even if they are still not interested, they have a good understanding of what it's all about.

[Patriotic]

I understand what you are saying here but I feel it is not the ordinary person who does not own a firearm that is a problem. I think we have anti-gun zealots out there that have organized because of some incident and believe gun ownership by common citizens is not in their best interest. There are about 80 million of us gun owners who, with the exception of the NRA, SAF and GOA membership, will go about our business day to day and never voice an opinion. Many don’t hunt or even go to shooting ranges and have their gun for self protection.

When someone lives in a gated community or a safe neighborhood, the last thing they think about is self protection. They feel the police will always be there when they are needed. A family with a young child worries about the child getting hold of a gun which by the way falls into the same category as lighters and matches, household poisons and open swimming pools. Unless a person has been attacked or their life threatened, they will be unlikely to think about owning a gun.

The media does a very good job projecting the evils of gun ownership. A ten year old boy shot by his father while cleaning his gun, a 5 year old boy shoots and kills his 8 year old sister while playing with a loaded gun, a young man is shot and killed while leaving his home with an automatic handgun. As obscure as these incidents are they hit the news as if they are happening all the time. We never hear about the thousands of times a violent attack was terminated by a victim who was armed or a person’s life saved because they have a handgun.

A good source to inform the public about firearms is gunfacts.info.

http://www.gunfacts.info/pdfs/gun-facts/5.0/GunFacts5-0-screen.pdf

People need to be aware of both sides of the issue.