Any anti-gun forums out there?

Netspirit · Sep 29, 2013

Are there any anti-gun forums?

I feel they need some intelligent trolling with strong argumentation. Posting in pro-gun communities feels good, but does not persuade anyone.

(Please do not post direct <broken link removed>)

ZigZagZeke · Sep 30, 2013

I found one titled "I hate guns" and left them a post:

A hundred million gun owners didn't commit mass murder this year. Of those few who did, all of them had in common the fact that they had people around them who were afraid for their safety and that of the public because of them. Almost always someone had tried to get mental treatment for them and failed. They failed because America has no viable mental health system. People are referred to the emergency room where an overworked doctor will make an outpatient appointment for them at a mental health clinic weeks in the future. If the prospective patient does show up for that appointment, he will be handed a prescription for psychotropic drugs and sent home to his family. Yes, other countries have crazy people, but every other civilized country has effective, government provided mental health care.

Until opportunist politicians stop monopolizing the discussion, and screaming for gun control legislation before the bodies have stopped bleeding we will not address our non-existent mental health system.

As for the 2nd Amendment, it was precisely the intent of our founders that citizens be armed on a par with any standing army the government may put in place. The 2nd Amendment defines a personal right to keep and bear arms, not a collective military right. The USSC has ruled on this more than once.

And Huckabee, in his own benighted way, has a point. Christianity calls for feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and healing the sick. Somehow that has been perverted to mean only if we can do it without using tax money, and only if we can make a profit doing it. Our world-wide public image is that of Scrooge. It's not guns that are our problem. It's selfishness and fear. We all want to protect what we have because there's "not enough to go around". We're so afraid some "undeserving" person will receive some help that we have become less than human. The price we pay is living in a society where deranged people roam the streets, eating out of dumpsters. And we turn our heads so we don't see, and we hide in our gated communities so we don't have to deal with those people who aren't like us, as if their misfortune might rub off on us. We don't want to see that image in the mirror, so we blame guns and those who own them. We're blameless.

Ranb · Sep 30, 2013

The forum here; http://forums.randi.org is moderated in an anti-gun manner. I've been posting there for about ten years now but am currently suspended for a few days because I insulted one of the anti-gun loons too often. They take the "address the argument, not the arguer" view rather seriously over there. If you make a claim, be prepared to support it with evidence from a reliable source. The problem is that this is usually ignored when it comes to gun topics.

I have learned a lot from the JREF forum so I consider it a valuable resource. The James Randi Educational Foundation is another interesting website. http://www.randi.org/site/
Ranb

Fast Eddie · Sep 30, 2013

Netspirit said:
Are there any anti-gun forums?

I feel like trolling. Posting in pro-gun communities feels too comfortable to be effective.

(Please do not post direct hyperlinks)

This should be about as effective as open carry at Starbucks. Thanks for the help.

Netspirit · Sep 30, 2013

Fast Eddie said:
This should be about as effective as open carry at Starbucks. Thanks for the help.

Nope, because people come to Starbucks to socialize with friends in a familiar environment, but come to Internet forums to communicate with strangers, and are therefore much more open to have a debate and consider different points of view.

tiggers97 · Sep 30, 2013

Facebook: Mayors against Legal gun owners, er I mean Mayors Against Illegal Guns. Mom's Demand Action, and Brady Campaign. The game to play is how long you can post before you get banned. On MAIG facebook, it took me all of two posts, with the second one linking to a feature store about one of the mayor members using a gun to committee a sex crime. All I asked was "I cannot believe this. Is it true?"

Motherjones, Huffington post, or DailyKos will probably give you a bit more of a challenge though. Most of the facebook posters on those pages are more into sound bites and repetition.

Fast Eddie · Sep 30, 2013

Netspirit said:
Nope, because people come to Starbucks to socialize with friends in a familiar environment, but come to Internet forums to communicate with strangers, and are therefore much more open to have a debate and consider different points of view.

You said troll, it implies something much different than what you are saying now. If I you are engaging folks in discussion to win them over to a pro 2A viewpoint, You are doing the lords work and I applaud you for it. The way you framed it made it sound like you were out to do us more harm than good. I feel it is incumbent on us to be on our best behavior, if we don't hold ourselves to a higher standard, we will certainly lose this ideological divide. As demonstrated by the recent *bux debacle we are our own worst enemy.

Netspirit · Sep 30, 2013

Fast Eddie said:
You said troll, it implies something much different than what you are saying now. If I you are engaging folks in discussion to win them over to a pro 2A viewpoint, You are doing the lords work and I applaud you for it. The way you framed it made it sound like you were out to do us more harm than good. I feel it is incumbent on us to be on our best behavior, if we don't hold ourselves to a higher standard, we will certainly lose this ideological divide. As demonstrated by the recent *bux debacle we are our own worst enemy.

I fully agree. There are different kinds of "trolling". The rude and obnoxious way harms our cause. The witty and intelligent way may score a few points with uneducated (yet open-minded) people. I called it "trolling" because, let's face it, on an anti-gun forum we are not welcome by definition.

When you are sharing your opinion on a pro-gun forum you are usually preaching to the choir. You cannot persuade anyone, because everyone around you thinks alike. It feels good to collect "likes" in a friendly "echo chamber", but stepping out of that comfort zone can be more helpful.

Also, I have found that facing strong opponents can be intellectually stimulating. It opens you to a broad range of opinions, gives you puzzles you have never solved before, and eventually makes you stronger.

U201491 · Sep 30, 2013

There are enough of them here, why not :-/

How To Identify Trolls And Forum Spies - :

Why would people do that when they can do constructive things more positive toward
keeping our second Amendment rights?

I would think it would be better spent time watching for state and federal attacks and
helping counter them.

Just one mans opinion.

Anyone that thinks they want to do this better know the tactics they use against people here.

How To Identify Trolls And Forum Spies - :
Analyze the lead trail you follow well.

DieselScout · Sep 30, 2013

Wow get a hobby. Much better thing in life then wasting time trying to push back the ocean. If you want to write a pro-gun argument there are plenty of representatives and other politicians that could use a reminder.

simon99 · Oct 5, 2013

So, just for fun, I went on one of these sites this evening as I was curious.
The best post I saw ( or the worst?) was from an individual that created a thread as to why police officers have " recently been issued assault weapons" ...mind you, this thread was less than 6 months old. The reason you ask for the big, bad, evil "assault weapons"?
Its because more and more criminals wear body armor and cops are not trained to shoot anywhere other than center of mass.

Yep, that solves that conundrum.

I'm still cleaning my monitor due to spraying my drink all over it from laughter....Are these people for real?

U201491 · Oct 5, 2013

simon99 said:
So, just for fun, I went on one of these sites this evening as I was curious.
The best post I saw ( or the worst?) was from an individual that created a thread as to why police officers have " recently been issued assault weapons" ...mind you, this thread was less than 6 months old. The reason you ask for the big, bad, evil "assault weapons"?
Its because more and more criminals wear body armor and cops are not trained to shoot anywhere other than center of mass.

Yep, that solves that conundrum.

I'm still cleaning my monitor due to spraying my drink all over it from laughter....Are these people for real?

I have to stay away from those sites. They don't make strong enough Blood Pressure meds.