You may have seen one of Billy Johnson’s videos posted here before. Nick’s quite the fan and for good reason. Johnson’s the brain behind the AmidsTheNoise YouTube channel. He has a way of raising the signal-to-noise ratio as it were, slicing through the bullshit murkiness to illustrate his points in a simple, refreshingly effective way. Now the NRA has done itself credit by adding Johnson to its cast of commentators. Another step in the right direction.
![By Larry Keane President Joe Biden traveled to New York City for a media event to try and show America he’s doing something about rampant crime. Instead, he blamed the Second Amendment and lawful gun owners, said nothing about holding criminals to account and repeated the same tired lies about the firearm industry he keeps at the ready – lies “fact-checked” as being false each time he’s previously recited them. It makes no difference to the president. He’s not even trying anymore. To President Biden and national gun control groups the problem is always the gun and the law-abiding members of the industry. It’s never the criminal. Blaming the ‘Resistance’ President Biden was joined by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams for a “Gun Violence Strategies Partnership” meeting to talk about how to solve the crime surge, particularly those involving firearms. Instead of real solutions, the focus devolved into blaming law-abiding gun owners and again pushing a gun control agenda. “Enough is enough,” President Biden said. “Because we know we can do things about this, but for the resistance, we’re getting from some sectors of the government and the Congress and the state legislatures, and the organizational structures out there.” That “resistance” the president spoke of is the American people. Over the past two years they’ve become fed up with police defunding policies and soft-on-crime prosecutors, like Manhattan’s Democratic District Attorney Alvin Bragg. They’ve invested in their own safety. The “resistance” is the 21 million lawful gun buyers in 2020, including more than 8.4 million first-time buyers, and the 18.5 million gun buyers in 2021, with more than 5.4 million first-timers. The ”resistance” has backstopped Congress from passing federal gun control that don’t address crime. It also stopped President Biden’s nominations of paid gun control lobbyist David Chipman to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and banking activist Saule Omarova as Comptroller of the Currency because not even all U.S. Senate Democrats could support them. They would have turned those agencies into bludgeons to hammer the firearm industry to achieve a special interest, gun control agenda. Favorite Falsehoods The president turned his aim from lawful gun owners towards the firearm industry and repeated a lie he’s rehearsed several times before. “Imagine had we had a liabil… [sic] they’re the only industry in America that is exempted from being able to be sued by the public. Only one,” the president protested. “Why the gun manufacturers?… It’s got to end. They’ve got to be held responsible for the things they do that are irresponsible.” He repeated the claim for emphasis. “And I find that outrageous.” This is flatly false. The president knows by now, or his speechwriters do and they don’t bother with the facts. CNN, Politicfact and Washington Post have all checked President Biden on his remark, including after he said it in the White House Rose Garden. CNN cleanly rebuked it. “This is false. Gun manufacturers are not entirely exempt from being sued, nor are they only industry with some liability protections.” Politifact rated it “false.” Washington Post wasn’t kinder, saying, “Biden is wrong to claim the gun industry is totally immune.” The firearm industry has liability protections under the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), bipartisan legislation enacted under former President George W. Bush. The firearm industry cannot be held liable when unaffiliated third-parties, in this case criminals, misuse a legal, lawfully sold product. It’s fundamental tort law and is similar to an individual attempting to hold Ford and Budweiser responsible for drunk driving deaths. The law was passed in direct response to lawsuits filed against the industry by control groups and municipalities like the city of New York and the state of New York. These type of lawsuit continue to be filed, now even by foreign governments represented by the same gun control group, the Brady Center. Colonial-Era Error President Biden continued to ignore facts on the Second Amendment and its history. He even erred when speaking about the Revolution-era days and why the right to keep and bear arms was so sacrosanct. “When the amendment was passed, it didn’t say anybody could own a gun and any kind of gun and any kind of weapon,” President Biden remarked. “You couldn’t buy a cannon, and when – the – when this, uh, this amendment was passed.” It did, and does, say the right of the People “shall not be infringed.” Even The Washington Post was brutal in their assignment of “Four Pinocchio’s” to this statement. “Biden has already been fact-checked on this claim — and it’s been deemed false. We have no idea where he conjured up this notion about a ban on cannon ownership in the early days of the Republic, but he needs to stop making this claim.” In fact, the Constitution of early America – before the Bill of Rights, and Second Amendment, was even ratified – granted and encouraged “special waivers” to American merchants and sailors, “allowing private individuals to act as pirates on behalf of the United States against countries engaged in war with it.” Americans given waivers and who owned warships obviously also obtained cannons for use in battle. In fact, it is still perfectly legal to buy a cannon today. It is the presidents’ fundamental misunderstanding and blatant lying about the Second Amendment that informs his gun control agenda and misguided approach to solving the crime problem. Millions of law-abiding Americans took ownership of their Second Amendment rights to protect themselves, understanding the president won’t. Instead of mangling the meaning of the right and pushing for more gun control on law-abiding Americans, the president should keep it simple. Take on the criminals and punish them for breaking the law.](https://cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/download-26-218x150.jpeg "Mainstream Media Lies to Cover for Kamala")
Liberals and the people who keep them in power don’t operate on logic, though. They operate on emotion.
If there *is* any kind of logic involved, it’s usually extremely short-sighted and well-wishing, “feel good” logic.
You need to read (a borrowed copy, if at all possible) Rules For Radicals. This is their playbook, their strategy, and it is filled with logic from page one to the end.
One of the pieces of logic is that their liberal constituency is ruled by emotion and that to reach their goal of radical socialism it is necessary whenever possible to use emotion rather than logic to get support, money, and votes.
Do not ever be fooled into thinking the leaders of this progressive movement are the same illogical and emotional sheep as the useful idiots they are leading.
Many thanks, Cliff. I’ve been trying to explain this here all along.
Don’t expect you’ll get through to everyone, though. Some here are every bit as rules by emotion as the “libtards” they look down upon.
I didn’t mean to imply that liberals don’t have a plan — yes, the architects are the ones that play into emotions, and yes that is their plan. Like you said, they have a logic that is effective with the weak-minded (both constituent and politician).
+1
Always remember when dealing with liberal “logic” that the road to hell is paved with good intentions…..
Strong move, NRA. Bravo.
Now they just need to make him Vice President and spokesman and put LaPierre somewhere where he can’t be quoted or put in front of a camera. The guy has his heart in the right place but he has the charisma and on camera presence of a landed fish.
Great choice!
A little overdue, but non the less a great choice to have Mr. Johnson added as a commentator.
In my perfect world Mr. Colion Noir and Mr. Johnson would be the voices of the NRA as they are bringing out well thought out and …hehehe… COMMON SENSE ideas and commentaries.
Much appreciated by many!
Thank you!!
P.S. to bad the music is too loud and almost drowns out the message
That sounds like an equalization problem on your end. My $40 Altec Lansing VS-2220 desktop computer speakers had no problem whatsoever punching his voice right through the music. That said, they’re about the best sounding $40 computer speakers I’ve ever heard.
Noise-to-signal ratio. 😉 I didn’t think it was that bad, though.
Once again, it seems someone in the NRA’s PR department has a clue. AmidstTheNoise has been one of my favorite voices since he came on the scene earlier this year.
So true; now If only he, and other logic revealing spokes people like him, could get their message broadcast with the same exposure the anti’s can via the complicit help of the leftist mainstream media.
Exposing the grabbers’ deceptive practices and illuminating their subversive intentions is the best way to thwart the gun control fanatics’ propaganda machine.
Unfortunately, the lefty media controls the message heard by the masses. Without widespread exposure, it’s a shot in the woods for people like Billy Johnson; their audience mostly consists of the other woodsmen in the choir.
Just the same, every little bit helps.
It pains me to no end that the media battle is so lopsided against us. But hearing Johnson and Noir’s clear, concise, and poignant voices in the mix boosts my morale just that much.
Nice to see that the NRA is learning. Slowly, but this is still going in the right direction.
But we still need to learn how to win the Battle of the Sound Bite.
This is a really REALLY excellent video
Yes, it’s a good argument on its face, but it’s too abstract to persuade anyone. An anti-gun person’s response would fall predictably into one of two categories:
1. Fine, logic boy, but what are you gonna DO?
2. Huh?
Law abiding people use guns 2.5 million times a year in defense of self and others. Amend the Constitution or sit down.
I agree. Get to the “motive” idea a whole lot faster. Immediately follow up with if the motive is to kill as many people as possible, attacking a Gun Free Zone makes sense from the perspective of the psychopath. In a GFZ, the shooter won’t face armed resistance, and can mount a much higher death toll. By breaking the law, the criminal has a tactical advantage over their victims. No gun locked up in a safe has ever saved a disarmed citizen in a gunfight. Immediately follow up with examples. Cite how police stations, gun ranges, and gun shops don’t have mass casualty events. Cite how the presence of multiple firearms in a close environment such as a public shooting range does not lead to the “Wild West.” Follow with a vicious attack against GFZ’s, with a call to eliminate GFZ’s in all military bases immediately for the safety of our troops.
Man, a lot of these spokespeople are mediocre at best.
People have the wild west mostly wrong. People were not just running around shooting people for the fun of it. It was actually pretty much the opposite. Most all shooting were by “gangs” just like it is now. I actually think we would be way better off if it went back to the “wild west”.
Add to that that we need commercials, not learned lectures.
Present your message in 30 seconds. The low information sheeple out there will nod off or wander away if its any longer than that.
“ABSTRACT”? It’s logic, not abstraction. It’s about as far from “abstraction” as one can get. Perhaps you’ve confused one for the other somewhere along the line.
Logic is by definition abstract. “Abstract” means existing as thought, but lacking a physical construction, and that is what I meant. Abstract does not mean “illogical” or “shrouded in fantasy.”
Gun grabbers “win” because they give people something physical (i.e., bad gun laws). Now that we are demonstrating that real freedoms are on the line, that real people use real guns to defend themselves, and that real gun laws don’t work, the tide may be turning.
I like his reasoning a lot. He breaks stuff down well and cuts through the BS.
kudo’s!!!
Billy Johnson is one of the best communicators I’ve ever heard.
Okay, we have ColionNoir and Billy Johnson associated with the NRA. If the NRA can get the World of Warcraft dudes to make an animated pitch, maybe we can cut into Obama’s core demographic of Generation Y-ers. And then Kate Middleton can do a viddy and really cut into the supermajority of female Obamabots.
The problem is that all of the new NRA presenters are preaching to the choir. The NRA does this so that the choir won’t suddenly go deaf from all the noise on the other side. Which is fine. Great, actually. But it’s never going to persuade the antis or their dimwit fellow travelers.
As I said above, present your message in 30 seconds. The low information sheeple out there will nod off or wander away if its any longer than that.
It’s true. The NRA needs to make the message fast and dumb. When it comes to low-information voters — hell, who are we kidding? They’re low IQ voters — thinking hurts their widdle heads. And the G is happy to do their thinking for them.
That was a great video. I have always complained that the gov doesn’t want to focus on the source of the problem but would rather pursue a “quick” solution that not only steps on our rights but also isn’t even really effective.
Government is completely incapable of doing anything complex in any remotely successful way. Examples: Obamacare; income tax; national defense, etc…
I doubt they don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t want to solve anything. There is an agenda, and they’ll use every dirty trick to achieve that. A solution to violence doesn’t exist. Society is too large and dynamic to work out a system that will remove the causes. We can dissuade most of the root issues, but in the end, I believe you must be prepared to confront violence with violence on an individual level.
Great message, needs to go further
It is great that the nra has these guys but I really have yet to see the point. Other than youtube and the nra website where do you see these guys talking. They dont play them on any commercials that I have seen. The type of people who see these commentators are not the ones we need to be reaching. Unless they use then to reach out to the general public what is the point. The nra will sit and talk at their conferences but you never see anything on tv or in the papers. Buy some advertising space and start posting the real numbers. At least then it might reach someone who needs to know. You can preach to the choir all you want but it wont convert anyone.
What good are commercials when the MSM won’t run them?
OK, what about ads on busses and subways? That’s where the voters are.
I’ll see your buses and trains and raise you supermarkets, chain stores and doctors’ and dentists’ offices.
The ads on buses and subways won’t fly either. The transportation authorities won’t permit them — witness the stink in Phoenix and the resulting court case of Korwin v. Cotton.
Commercials are not as effective as information received on the web from “reputable” sources. Television and printed media are slowly dying. They will eventually go the way of the hand written letter, and Horse and buggy.
I see the NRA finally getting it in terms of how they are getting the message out. Bring in more spokespersons that are well below the OFWG threshold, tailor the message to the audience, light a fire in the mushy minds of the masses, and watch a revolution begin.
I have watched the light click on in the few liberal minded folks I have had the pleasure of educating, and it is an awesome feeling knowing you just changed that person forever.
In the end, I still believe WE are the most effective ambassadors to the clueless. No organization or commercial will have the effect needed to light the fire of liberty in the hearts of the public like a good old 1 on 1 with those that are willing to listen.
“Commercials are not as effective as information received on the web from “reputable” sources. Television and printed media are slowly dying. They will eventually go the way of the hand written letter, and Horse and buggy.”
Maybe so, but they still sell a lot of soap, cereal, and toilet paper.
Another coup for the NRA… love AmidstTheNoise. Glad they’re backing him now… hopefully his videos will reach even more ears now!
Lots of comments about this video not changing the minds of anti 2a’ers but honestly this video is excellent for people on the fense who don’t have an opinion or younger people forming their opinion.
Most of those people will likely never go to a place where they will be likely to see any of these videos.
I hear what you mean but I really just disagree. The thing that the Internet has done is to take a lot of exposure control away from media decision makers and made it about actual popularity.
Just my biased
Many of the guys here who are older than me have probably be RKBA supporters for so long that they don’t remember learning about it from their centers of influence.
Support of 2a rights is learned or its not. Young people like myself very rarely get info from mainstream media these days.
Nice. I’m a huge fan! After AmidstTheNoise’s first video I sent several emails to the NRA telling them they should look into AmidstTheNoise, ColionNoir, and hickok45 as spokespeople.
-D
I see a snag in his theory. He is assuming lefties and all politicians in general know of or even use logic. An assumption that I believe is false.
EXACTLY!
OK, since everyone seems to be entranced, how about a quick effectiveness test. Cover the main points of the video in 50 words or less. That’s what the average person is able to absorb from, say, a church sermon.
Convince me.
Any takers?
I haven’t watched the video, so I’ll take the bet. Get back to you in a minute, or four.
I don’t understand what your point is, but here you go: The tools of violence are irrelevant, and curbing them will do effectively nothing. Figure out the reason for the violent behavior and that will put you on the road to negating the reason and curbing the behavior.
How’d I do?
You get an A from me, Matt.
OK! Thanx.
Matt, here’s my point. I did this to find out if people were watching the whole video and to see what impression it left – somewhat like measuring that made by a good sermon.
Preliminary observations on a decided unscientific poll:
In just about five hours, three people responded. Two had original summaries; one said in essence “What he said.”
Possible causes are:
– Some people didn’t watch the video.
– Some people viewed the video but didn’t get enough from it to summarize.
– Some people watched and digested the video but didn’t want to comment.
I’ll check back tomorrow to see if there’s much change, but right now I don’t see this guy’s video as the salvation of the NRA and savior of the Second Amendment.
It would be helpful if you stated your sample size.
As of right now, THREE.
Which seems to indicate a resounding MEH here.
From youtube, which points to his twitter site:
20 hours ago 2,947 views
Not especially stellar. Most of the hits I got in searching seemed to be from firearm-related and conservative sites, so as OP pointed out, he’s preaching to the choir.
Hopefully he’ll add some logical points to the conversations/debates we have with the Infringement Lobby, but I don’t think he’ll get as much press in their circles. I think at this point he’s beating a dead horse, but I hope I’m wrong.
Jusbill: Violence may be reduced by understanding its root motivation(s). Understand the reason(s) may allow for mitigation of threat(s).
I appreciated the statistics and the sentiment. I (as a 2A advocate) disagree with his broad generalization of the rationale for violence. It is a step in the right direction though…
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