08-09-2019, 10:32 PM
This is so cool that you went to hear Booker! I think he's a great candidate. He did very well in the last debate. I also support Jamie Harrison for Senate against Lindsey Graham, I've sent him some money.
On the NRA. Forget them. People are confusing general NRA membership and the NRA political victory fund (these are legally two separate organizations). The latter is a PAC founded in the 1970s and is the lobbying arm of gun manufacturers. They do not give a fig what general NRA members think about anything. Also - contrary to what Booker implied in his comment not all NRA members are Republicans. Plenty of Democrats own guns and want to keep them.
Here's what I have personally witnessed work very well to get gun responsibility legislation passed:
Call it gun responsibility, not gun control.
Say you support responsible, law-abiding gun owners.
Talk about it as a public health problem and bring real numbers.
Talk about how law enforcement, doctors, and teachers want gun responsibility.
Talk about laws that have been proven to work. There is a group of laws that when applied together can save a lot of lives. Focusing on one thing, such as background checks or assault weapon bans, won't really do it.
Show that states with gun responsibility laws have significantly lower rates of gun violence than those that don't. (Giffords Law Center has a good chart on this)
Know that mental health and video games and racism are not responsible for our outrageous rates of gun violence in the United States. Our people are not uniquely violent, it's just that Americans with violent impulses can act on them too easily. let's make it a little harder.
https://lawcenter.giffords.org/
On the NRA. Forget them. People are confusing general NRA membership and the NRA political victory fund (these are legally two separate organizations). The latter is a PAC founded in the 1970s and is the lobbying arm of gun manufacturers. They do not give a fig what general NRA members think about anything. Also - contrary to what Booker implied in his comment not all NRA members are Republicans. Plenty of Democrats own guns and want to keep them.
Here's what I have personally witnessed work very well to get gun responsibility legislation passed:
Call it gun responsibility, not gun control.
Say you support responsible, law-abiding gun owners.
Talk about it as a public health problem and bring real numbers.
Talk about how law enforcement, doctors, and teachers want gun responsibility.
Talk about laws that have been proven to work. There is a group of laws that when applied together can save a lot of lives. Focusing on one thing, such as background checks or assault weapon bans, won't really do it.
Show that states with gun responsibility laws have significantly lower rates of gun violence than those that don't. (Giffords Law Center has a good chart on this)
Know that mental health and video games and racism are not responsible for our outrageous rates of gun violence in the United States. Our people are not uniquely violent, it's just that Americans with violent impulses can act on them too easily. let's make it a little harder.
https://lawcenter.giffords.org/