I have been reading (and listening) to a lot of material over the last 24 hours. No one has said they think the bigots are going to win on the individual versus collective right issue.
Reading the websites and listening to the statements from the bigots I get the impression that they are trying to hold things together and not collapse into disarray:
The Brady Bunch:
"Today, the Justices of the Supreme Court thoroughly discussed the Second Amendment of the Constitution for the first time in nearly 70 years, in the District of Columbia v. Heller case. Their probing questions, and the lawyers' responses, highlighted the complex history and competing approaches to gun regulation in our country. I am hopeful that their ruling will uphold the right of people in communities like the District to enact common sense gun measures they feel are needed to protect themselves and their families.
"One of the reasons we have weak or nearly non-existent gun laws today is because a lot of politicians, and many citizens, think the Second Amendment limits our ability to enact common sense gun restrictions. Today's arguments, however, demonstrated broad support from all sides for responsible regulations concerning guns.
"Think how much safer we all would be if we made it harder for dangerous people to get dangerous weapons nationwide, not just in a few areas."
The Gun Guys:
The VPC:
<crickets>
While cautioning that, as Barb and I say in cases like this, "I'll believe it when the check clears the bank", I think we should start preparing to use a new weapon that we might well have in our arsenal by July. As with all new weapons we need to train with it and plan how to use it before we can use it to maximum effectiveness.
The biggest issue I see is that we are, in a lot of ways, like slaves that have never known freedom. We are about to be freed from a terrible yoke and we have to learn how to use our new freedom on several different levels. If we don't we will mess up and we will still be "gun n***ers", freed, but still "gun n***ers" and subject to all the Jim Crow laws the bigots can muster.
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Most importantly we must be responsible with our new tool. Challenging restrictions on RPGs, tanks, artillery, and even machine guns needs to be off the table. Just tell people, "That's not at issue here." When they insist, tell them there is no point in talking about it because it's not at issue.
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We need to just hammer the bigots who for decades have claimed it was a "collective right". Anytime one of them says anything about gun control remind the world this is the same guy that lied to everyone about what the Second Amendment really means. Capture their quotes now before they try to rewrite history. Make them eat those words every time they open their mouth.
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The bigots lied before and they are probably lying again. Make them completely justify every word and nuance. Put them and their organizations under the strictest scrutiny we can possibly deliver.
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Remind the world the CCRKBA/GOA/JPFO/NRA/SAF/etc. was right. These are the people that have been defending inalienable civil rights and have been vilified by lying bigots all these years.
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Attack, attack, attack. You don't win a war by playing nothing but defense. We must choose the battles, the skirmishes, and the conflicts.
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18 USC
241 and
242. It
is a right. Those that oppose it are criminals. Tell your prosecutors, tell your representatives, tell the media, tell it to the bigots faces.
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We must politically destroy the opposition. If nothing else I expect can financially destroy the organizations. We can probably turn a Heller victory in at least a moderate financial win for the pro gun side and even though the bigots might be able to get a short term financial boost I expect this ruling will impair their ability to raise funds long term. Their supporters will realize they have been lied to and it won't sit well that they have been supporting a lie.
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Gun owners have been and are victims. Yeah, I know, it doesn't feel right to portray ourselves that way, but it's a powerful tool and it's true.
That's just what I can come up with off the top of my head. Think about it and try to realize that we have a completely new game with brand new rules here. Yes, technically the rules haven't changed they are just being enforced for the first time in, well, forever. But the things we can do now that we have rule book the other side is forced to accept changes the picture. Instead of arguing about the rule book we can now play the game.