At 2pm EST, I’ll be talking live on NPR, defending gun rights. Why go to the media equivalent of Mos Eisley? Doing my job sometimes means that I have to interact with people who don’t agree with me. By putting myself in a position to try to influence those people who don’t agree with the majority of responsible gun owners in this country, I am better able to do my job. What job is that, you ask? . . .
Increasing people’s ability to protect themselves. As someone educated in the field of personal defense specializing in defensive firearms use, I have a vested interest in making sure that more people understand their right and responsibility to defend themselves, their family and (possibly) their country.
While it may be a lot more fun to hang out at the shooting range, gun shop or in my favorite online forum (www.thefiringline.com, if you must know) and talk with like-minded folks, I’m not one for simply preaching to the choir when it comes to our right to keep and bear arms. So sometimes I go into the dragon’s lair. Today I’m going to be on NPR. Yes, the dreaded National Public Radio, that bastion of liberal elite media. Why? Because that’s where the middle ground tunes in.
NPR listeners don’t read TTAG and they don’t tune in to see me on the Outdoor Channel. They listen to NPR, watch World News Tonight and The Daily Show (which I’ve also been on). They don’t all hang out in Alabama and Texas. They’re in Chicago and Manhattan and other big city areas where the anti-gun ethos holds sway.
I challenge you to do your job as a responsible firearms owner interested in expanding our RKBA by following my example. Go somewhere less comfortable this week and have a positive interaction about the rights and responsibilities we have for personal defense and firearms ownership in America.
Skip Dunkin Donuts and hit the fancy coffee shop with your friends for some (moderately loud) pro-gun talk. Make sure that you (noticeably) ask someone in the stands at your kid’s basketball game if they’ve been out shooting or if they’ve taken the time to clean their guns recently.
Don’t be rude, don’t be aggressive. Don’t even be confrontational. Just be present and see who you can influence. It’s kinda part of your job as a gun owner in today’s political climate.
Be glad you don’t have to smuggle droids out of an occupied city to go rescue a princess from a space station (that’s no moon). Our lives are a lot easier than that, but sometimes we have to go places that we dont like and have conversations that make us uncomfortable. I’ll be doing that in about an hour or so.
Of course, I wish I could have a Jedi Knight with me . . . .