Advice for Citizen Activists: What you can do to prevent the reinstatement of the Assault Weapons Ban

Guns & Ammo Magazine
 
Attorney General Eric Holder made headlines recently when he told reporters that the Obama Administration intended to deliver on its promise to reinstate the expired Semiautomatic Assault Weapons Ban.  The seeming threat has created ripples of anticipatory anxiety among Second  Amendment advocates throughout the country.
 
Many individuals have voiced a sense of helplessness over what the ordinary citizen can do to effect change, and specifically, to prevent a reinstatement of the unconstitutional federal ban on the possession, transfer, or domestic manufacture of Semiautomatic Assault Weapons.
 
Despite the traditional trend of a left-leaning Democratic government to inhibit Second Amendment freedoms, the Democratic leaders in the House and Senate are not unified with the Obama Administration in their position on the Assault Weapons Ban. Both Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have stated in recent weeks that they would oppose a reinstatement of the ban.
 
But the reality of political tension within party leadership confers no assurance that there will not be attempts, as General Holder suggested, to reinstate the unconstitutional federal ban. 
 
A time-tested theory, espoused succinctly by Margaret Thatcher, says, "First you win the argument; then you win the vote." Any political victory is preceded by engaging in and winning the public debate.  This requires that citizens calmly, credibly, and persuasively work to educate others and thereby undo the plague of ignorance that is most often at the root of difference in opinion over this and many other Second Amendment issues. 
 
For instance, most people do not know that machine guns were effectively banned in the 1934 National Firearms Act, and that the Assault Weapons Ban prohibited semiautomatic firearms based on statutorily defined characteristics that were largely cosmetic (not mechanical) in nature. They know little, if anything, about current gun regulations, firearm safety, or the status or effect of pending federal legislation. 
 
That being the case, the task of communicating the facts to your family, your community, and your elected leaders falls upon the shoulders of you, the citizen activist.
 
Here are a few practical steps:
 
•     Commit to educating yourself thoroughly on the issue first.  You cannot be an effective advocate unless you yourself are equipped with knowledge about the issue and opposing arguments.
 
•     Write an op-ed or letter to the editor in your local and national papers.  This is one of the best methods to raise public awareness about an issue.
 
•     Start a blog on the topic and network with other bloggers. Set up a media tracker such as "Google alerts" to monitor what the press and other bloggers are saying about that issue, and post that information on your blog to make it a resource for others who want to learn about the SAW ban or follow the issue.
 
•     Form a local working group with other citizens who want to advocate for your issue and are willing to commit to writing op-ed's and letters to the editor in a collaborated manner.
 
•     Start a petition.  This is best done in coordination with your working group.  Post the petition on your group's website or blog and look for ways to drive traffic to the petition.  This is a time-honored way of effecting political change, and it gives an "action item" to people who want to make their voice heard on the issue.
 
•     Coordinate with your working group to take out an educational, informative ad in the local paper.
 
•     Call your local (as well as national) talk radio show. This has the potential of reaching thousands of listeners at a time.
 
•     Make sure you are taking the time to call and write your Congressional representatives in the United States House and Senate. Don't underestimate the effect that a collaborated outreach from constituents can have on your elected Representatives. 
 
•     Lastly, don't yield to discouragement.  Patient persistence is perhaps the most potent tool in your arsenal as an aspiring citizen activist.
 
While it can be tempting to believe that effecting tangible political change is impossible for the average citizen, nothing could be farther from the truth.  As Samuel Adams stated, "It does not take a majority to prevail ... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men."