Yesterday I watched a video of yet another anti-gun political candidate doing the obligatory “I really like guns” performance. After chuckling at the klutzy gun handling and cringing at some of the safety issues, I got to thinking about how important it is for folks like you and I, lawful American gun owners, to be sure to go vote. Exercising our right to vote is an important part of our personal defense.
I know that it has got to be frustrating for some of you folks who live in those states that have oppressive gun laws. You probably feel like you are wasting your time and your vote. I get that. But your vote will help put people in office in our national government and, hopefully, some changes will begin taking place.
The fact is that casting our vote is one of the most important things that regular folks like you and I can do to affect things in Washington. The simple truth is that positive change for gun owners will start with us (all of us) casting our votes for those who care about our Second Amendment rights.
And it doesn’t stop with national elections. We can, and do, have influence over our mayor, police chief, county sheriff and other local officials. We can far more easily create voter blocs and create issues that force local officials to pay attention. Live in a large city? Well, start with your neighborhood and your local city councilman. But start!
I think that most gun owners are naturally inclined towards a “leave us alone” political mindset. As a group we are inclined to mind our own business and stay out of our neighbor’s business. We also spend a lot of our effort and energy towards just making a living, paying our bills, and trying to behave ourselves. But, I’ll tell ya, it sure wouldn’t hurt for us to get more actively involved in the way things are being run.
I’m pretty proud of our little town. A few years ago, one young lady, a high school senior, pushed things through and actually got an Eddie Eagle program started in our public schools. Our local gun club sponsors shotgun classes for our public schools and also the Christian school. And our state university hosts an annual gun show in its coliseum. But, these things didn’t just happen. They came about because gun owners got busy and made them happen. Wherever you live, you can find worthy projects if you will just look for them or are willing to create them.
So, by all means, go vote for the best candidates that you can find. But, don’t stop there. It is time for lawful gun owners to roll up our sleeves and get busy in our communities, busier than we have been. We need to let the anti-gun crowd know that we are tired of them demonizing us and at the same time we need to do a better job of educating the non-shooting public. It’s another part of personal defense.
