Changing Hearts and Minds

July 23, 2008 by
Filed under: Activism 

Sebastian has a great post discussing the need for balance in advocating for gun rights.  And Ahab has another post about how not to do it.

Both of these posts have gotten me thinking about how to win hearts and minds. I’ve believed for a long time that the secret to winning the war for gun rights is to change public opinion. I think that people can fall into the categories I’ve outlined in this picture.  (Click to embiggen.  Sorry for the pic…I have the all the art skills of a scat flinging monkey)

Taxonomy

People fall somewhere along these two poles.  They are somewhere between hostile to guns and gun rights and friendly.  This is largely an emotional axis.  They are also somewhere between knowledgeable and ignorant.  This is largely an intellectual axis.  BTW, I choose the word ignorant intentionally.  I know that this work usually has a negative connotation, but I believe it is appropriate here.  People who are ignorant about something don’t know what they don’t know.

When we consider how we talk to people, we need to think about what quadrant they are in, and where we want to move them.  For example, someone who is in the lower left box are ignorant and hostile.  They don’t know too much about firearms, and they don’t like them.  We have the opportunity to move them along both axises.  We can bring facts and figures and try to move them from ignorant to knowledgeable, or appeal to them emotionally and move them from hostile to friendly.

Folks in the top right are very tough to crack.  They are knowledgeable but hostile.  Josh Sugarman is probably the best example of this type of person.  He knows about firearms, holds an FFL, knows the true statistics, but doesn’t care.  We can’t reach them by telling the truth about firearms.  We can’t do a lot with these people….they need to be refuted and isolated.

Folks in the bottom right are the folks we need to reach out to.  They are neutral or even friendly to us.  They don’t know much about the gun culture, or shooting.  They are the next generation of gunnies.  Our goal is make them educated activists.  These are the folks we run this risk of turning off with silly letters like this.

Folks in the upper right are solid gunnies.  We need to encourage them to become active, and to reach out to others to keep the cycle going.

I believe that most Americans are to the left and slightly down.  Most people don’t know much about guns.  And they are slightly hostile do to the long standing messaging by the MSM.  Guns are bad.  Guns are evil.  You are 40 times more likely to shoot a family member then an intruder.  That’s how Clear Channel can donate billboards to an anti-gun group and honestly not think they were doing anything wrong.  Who is in favor of gun violence?  It’s only when you think about the problem and understand the true numbers that it becomes obvious.

Consider the common refrain: “I just don’t like guns!”  That is a classic lower left statement.  Bringing an argument invoving facts and figures, or even worse, a “from my cold dead hands” screed runs the risk of pushing someone up into upper right.  You address the intellectual arguments, but not the emotional component.  You run the risk of turning them off permanently.  I believe the best way to bring a new shooter is to slowly move them upper right.  If you can’t do that, moving them right is better then moving them up.

I believe that this is why taking a new shooter out to the range, if done properly, is so effective.  It addresses the up/down axis…the new shooter has learned some very important things:

  • Shooters are normal people
  • Shooters take safety seriously
  • Guns don’t go off unless you pull the trigger

More importantly…they learn that shooting is fun!  That moves them along the left/right axis.  Even if they don’t take up shooting as a hobby, they have been inoculated against anti-gun propaganda.

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Comments

2 Comments on Changing Hearts and Minds

  1. jdege on Wed, 23rd Jul 2008 3:47 pm

    2. In my experience, the opening crack is usually the recognition that for one particular person, keeping a gun is a reasonable choice.

    Get that, “Oh, her. Of course, it makes sense for her to have a gun”, just once, and you’re half-way there.

  2. George on Wed, 23rd Jul 2008 3:56 pm

    3. Absolutely, jdege. That was how I became a shooter. Once you realize “Wow….X is pretty normal, and he/she doesn’t think guns are icky…your are most of the way there. It’s a quick step from there to “X, can I go the range with you some time?”

    I always intended my “How I became a shooter” post to be my first one over here. It has sat in my “Unpublished” folder for several weeks now. Gotta get on that.

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