Did you gun owners do anything to win over your republican gun owning

[UpsideDownFlag]

friends? If so, what? If not, why?

[PsN2Wind]

1. I do like to make the point

that the way the current administration has gone after civil rights in the name of national security, how long before that "armed citizenry" becomes problematic to them.

[LostInAnomie]

2. I try but I but I just get in arguments...

... I hate how disingenuous these self righteous RW gun owners are. They can hide behind the second amendment all they like, and how they have the guns to protect their family but they know it is all BS. I usually ask them "You keep 5 high powered rifles in a safe in your basement to protect your family?"

Why can't they just admit that they like shooting stuff and there is no higher motive for it?

[mitchtv]

3. I avoid Pukes like the plague

no puke friends

[Jackie97]

18. I'm guessing you live in a blue state.....

because there are some parts of the country where you can't avoid Republicans.

As much as I hate that people voted for Bush, I'd lose my mind if I decided to distance myself from every Republican friend I had or better yet choose to hate them. I just don't have the luxury of disliking somebody that much. It helps these people listen to me more often in the future because they know I don't hate them for their policics. Who knows? I might persuade them one day. I think I did do that with one person.
As for the gun issue, I hope there are not too many people willing to vote based on the issue of how many gun rights they have. There are so many more important issues.

[MrSandman]

4. I make sure to provide them the record on...

Dems that are pro-RKBA every chance I get.


If someone is against a candidate because of that candidate's perceived position on RKBA, it would be like trying to change beliefs about the 1911.

[slackmaster]

6. Just what are you implying about John Moses Browning's masterpiece?

:argh:

[MrSandman]

15. That there are strong opinions ...

Deeply held.

You love it or you want a plastic gun.:P

It is a masterpiece. So is the Hi Power.

[slackmaster]

5. Most of my friends are Democrats, Libertarians, and independents

Most of them own guns and supported Kerry/Edwards generally out of dislike for Bush.

The only Republicans I see regularly are a couple of gay men who hang out at my local bar, and the owner of my favorite Tex-Mex restaurant. He's not gay but he is Latino. The three of them all own guns, and are so far to the right there's no way I could have convinced them not to vote for Bush.

My mom is a former Republican. She voted for Bush. I avoid most political discussions within our family. Most of my cousins and just about everyone on my stepfather's side is strongly Democratic.

Since California was so strongly for Kerry (and winner takes all EC votes) there just wasn't any point in trying to win anyone over.

BTW this is a great question, UpsideDownFlag. Thanks for asking! :toast:

[robre]

7. I provide them with evidence...

I provide them with evidence that the NRA is our nations primere gun control organization and that republicans really don't care about them.

[saler]

8. "I provide them with evidence..."

Wisdom

[Jason Locke]

9. I've tried over and over

But I get Charles Schumer, Dianne Feinstein, Ted Kennedy, and Barbara Boxer thrown back in my face. How do I counter that? As much as I hate to say it, the Repugs are right about them on the issue of gun control.

A friend of mine cheered the demise of Sen. Dashle even though he's a Democrat. All on the gun issue. We as a party have lost a lot of potential support because of gun control. I've done a lot of research on the issue and I've come to some very telling conclusions. Instead of examining what he said or she said, I went to the best source for support on the issue. I looked on www.opensecrets.org and examined the amount of money taken in by both anti and pro gun organizations.

If Americans really do support gun control then why do the pro gun groups raise millions more than the anti gun groups?

I've tried my best to sway the repugs that I know to the Democrat side but they fear our party's official stance on guns. I'm beginning to think that we aren't going to recover from the losses of 2000 and 2004 until we clean house and get rid of the anti gun people we keep electing. I shudder to think of 10 or 20 years of shrub like repugs in control.

Jason

[Redneck Socialist]

10. I try and engage them on other issues

If they are hunters I talk up the environment.

Unless the Democratic candidate actually has a strong record of support for the RKBA trying to convince people to vote for the Dem based on gun issues is a tough sell.

[arkie dem]

20. It's the RW hunters that give me fits,

They have somehow linked the animals rights groups to the Democratic party.

[Redneck Socialist]

23. Yeah, I get some of that

What bothers me more is that there appears to be a concerted effort by some groups, most notably the NRA, to paint the environmental community as anti-hunting. This is a deliberate attempt to drive a wedge between communities that should, by all lights be united.

[arkie dem]

24. I noticed that also.

The NRA is behind this. I was given some recent American Hunter magazines by a friend (who voted for Kerry).I did notice references to the environmental community as being anti-hunting. Couldn't finish reading them, for all the propaganda.

[mosin]

11. I worked on several...

fellow shooters and I convinced one to vote Libertarian rather than Bush--that's like half a vote for Kerry. :) None of them would ever consider voting for Kerry, if for no other reason than his track record on the right to keep and bear arms for defense and security. A few others might have been convinced to vote Libertarian--or Constitution Party for the religious right-wingers--if Ohio weren't an obvious swing state, but people were reluctant to vote third-party this year.

[aikoaiko]

12. I had a hard enough time keeping my fellow dems in line.

Living in the South, a lot of the left of center folks are gunowners and it was hard enough selling Kerry to them because of his anti-gun history and rhetoric. The battle over renewing the 1994 AWB reminded a lot of left leaning folks how quickly and easily access to new guns could be banned.

Although I voted for Kerry, I caved in and voted republican on the US House seat to help insure gun rights.

[Paladin]

13. Damned Good Question

It would be so refreshing for those of you gun militants who purport to be Democrats, to actually show some evidence of it. As opposed to trashing the party as often as possible because it doesn't get sufficiently behind the single issue you seem to really care about.

Here's my fearless prediction for 2008: more of the same from you guys. Whoever the Democratic presidential nominee is, you're not going to be happy with him or her. Their voting record won't meet your 110% favorability standard, the NRA will be calling the same old paranoid dance tune, and you will waltz merrily along to it with all your Republican associates, as usual. For the life of me, I can't see why we have to pander to people who clearly hold our party in such disdain for the most narrow of reasons. Didn't like Kerry's votes on guns? Swell; your lack of enthusiasm sure did us a favor, didn't it? Like I said elsewhere, when Bush's draft notices arrive for your kids, I hope the Second Amendment gives you a nice, rosy glow.....

[aikoaiko]

19. Nothing wrong with a little within-party dialogue...

...on gun control.

I don't see pro-gun right democrats as holding the party in disdain. Actually, just the opposite. I'm here to dialogue with my fellow democrats. Until recently, whether or not democrats should reverse their position on gun control has been largely unexamined.

As far as paranoia goes, you should examine the hyberbole, name calling, and fear mongering in your own post.

[MrSandman]

30. As a purported Democrat...

It is interestinfg to see that there were not many Democratic Representatives willing to sign a petition calling for the AWB to be brought to a vote, but both national candidates took time off from campaigning to vote against gun rights.

If draft notices do come, I will thank everyone who voted for the IWR. Byrd was left hanging against that one.

[Maurkov]

14. I am shamed

No, I didn't. Here's why:

1) Safe blue state; not much to gain in trying.

2) Hopelessly red county; not much to gain in trying. My (R) congressman was elected with something like 78%, with the alternative being a prolife Dem.

3) The only associates I know who are armed and are likely Republican are an ex-Texan coworker and my boss. I've never talked politics with the former to be sure of his leanings, and I'm leery of offending the latter.

4) "The Republicans are almost as bad on gun rights" is not a persuasive argument. My candidate co-sponsored a hideous bill. How am I supposed to sell that to someone who is not ideologically predisposed to his other aspects?

I have a plan for next time, and you've shamed me into implementing it. I'm going to do everything in my power to get gun control off the Democratic and progressive platforms. That is the most effective thing we can do to persuade our pro-liberty Republican friends to cross the aisle.

[dogman]

16. I ask them what guns they were deprived of under Clinton and

if they could name one (not usually), how they would afford it when they're unemployed or their pay is cut under B$$$.

[MrSandman]

17. I took some Democrats shooting...

So the RW factor among gun owners might be diluted.

[slackmaster]

21. I did a bit of that too

It is fun seeing a newbie's eyes open. This year I've seen several young liberal people go from wishy-washy about people owning "assault weapons" to begging for more 5.56 mm ammo for an AR-15 rifle in under an hour.

[arkie dem]

26. I've been trying to get my fundie, snake dancin, bush ass sucking,

anti-gun repuke son-in-law to go with me to the shooting range. He's terrified of firearmsLOL!!!

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[demogun]

22. The problem is not the individual candidates.

The problem is that the anti-rights democrats have hi-jacked our party. There are plenty of pro-rights individuals in our party, but somehow their voice is being drowned out by the elitists. We are traditionally the party of the average Joe, the party of the common man, not the elitists. Under the current platform, it is becoming more difficult for the common man to obtain a gun. Shooting and gun ownership is being squeezed in two directions, to the street thug who can purchase on the black market illegally, and to the elitist who can afford to jump through the hoops and who can afford the guns that will not be considered "Saturday night specials". If they outlaw affordable pistols by labeling them "Saturday night specials", the common man, the low-income working man is hurt. This is not the way we should be going as a party. We should quit bowing to the California and Hollywood elitists that think they should be the only ones to own a gun. Thank you for allowing me to vent.

[arkie dem]

25. Vent???

You're telling it like it is!!!

[aikoaiko]

27. Did Feinstein carry a gun (CCW)

Someone once told me that Diane Feistein has her CCW (authorized to carry concealed). Does any one know if its true, does she carry, does she have body guards who CCW?

[Billy Ruffian]

28. She did at one point

but turned it in sometime after the SF mayor was murdered.

[TyObe]

32. Yep.

I beleive she carried it herself, but I can't find the website that quoted her on it.

http://www.fact-index.com/d/di/dianne_feinstein.html

[RoeBear]

29. In my opinion an imposssible task...

...first there is the problem of having few republican friends, then there is the problem of Kerry actually being anti-gun. So trying to convince someone who is on the other side of the fence on all of the other issues that are important to me by telling them that Kerry wouldn't have been so bad on gun issues was an impossible task.

On edit I thought I would add: it didn't really matter anyways because Kerry won Michigan