- Messages
- 341
- Reactions
- 177
What I am trying to say: the opponents are often incredibly ignorant/misinformed about firearms and firearm-related laws, and that makes good political trades possible.
You want background checks? Fine, let's create a system for voluntary (not mandatory) checks, and, while we're at that, enforce national CHL reciprocity by all states. Good deal? Great deal, if you ask me.
You want magazine size limits? Fine, let's limit the sizes of magazines to 86 rounds max nationally and trade that for a law that prohibits all states from decreasing that limit. The funny thing is: the Left may happily take those 'deals', since their ignorant voters will perceive it as a win.
You want to prevent mentally-ill from having guns? OK, how about abolishing the ATF and the ban on fully-automatic weapons as a trade?
The inflexible "we are not listening, go away, not an inch further, ..." stance does not buy us anything. It creates an image of stubborn, out-of-touch "cold-blooded NRA-brainwashed psychopaths ready to sacrifice our children for their so-called right to succumb to their demonic illness and enjoy their evil toys, ... blah-blah".
We do not want that image if we are serious about getting support from the middle. We cannot afford to be portrayed as maniacs who cannot be reasoned with. Both war and politics are not about dying a heroic death, it is about making your opponent be a dead hero. We must engage in meaningful, and sometimes meaningless, dialogs, we must seek common ground, or at least appear to be seeking it, we must be willing to sacrifice a little bit here to gain a bit more there. Smart politics and good tactics will get us further than you can imagine.
You want background checks? Fine, let's create a system for voluntary (not mandatory) checks, and, while we're at that, enforce national CHL reciprocity by all states. Good deal? Great deal, if you ask me.
You want magazine size limits? Fine, let's limit the sizes of magazines to 86 rounds max nationally and trade that for a law that prohibits all states from decreasing that limit. The funny thing is: the Left may happily take those 'deals', since their ignorant voters will perceive it as a win.
You want to prevent mentally-ill from having guns? OK, how about abolishing the ATF and the ban on fully-automatic weapons as a trade?
The inflexible "we are not listening, go away, not an inch further, ..." stance does not buy us anything. It creates an image of stubborn, out-of-touch "cold-blooded NRA-brainwashed psychopaths ready to sacrifice our children for their so-called right to succumb to their demonic illness and enjoy their evil toys, ... blah-blah".
We do not want that image if we are serious about getting support from the middle. We cannot afford to be portrayed as maniacs who cannot be reasoned with. Both war and politics are not about dying a heroic death, it is about making your opponent be a dead hero. We must engage in meaningful, and sometimes meaningless, dialogs, we must seek common ground, or at least appear to be seeking it, we must be willing to sacrifice a little bit here to gain a bit more there. Smart politics and good tactics will get us further than you can imagine.