Let's All Rewrite
The Gun Debate Narrative

Opinion by Anthony Garcia. April 4th, 2021

I am sure by now most of you have read Rob Pincu's article. And if you haven't read his co-authored article with Dan Gross and only the commentary about it then I would highly suggest you go read it and listen to his videos about it. Nearly all the attention that has been focused on the article has revolved around his discussion of background checks.

That is not what I am going to talk about, however.

What this article has done is laid bare the state of the Second Amendment community. And this has shown us that there is a demonstrable lack of unity, far too much knee-jerk reactionism, and little to no focus placed on messaging and narrative. A portion of Rob's article was related to those last two topics, narrative and messaging, yet no attention has been paid to them. Ironically, controlling the narrative is one of the few ways that we will win and something that everyone can play a part in. Let's discuss these topics one at a time, beginning with unity.

Unity

Gun control extremists and proponents of citizen disarmament have shown us for decades why it is important to maintain a united front. They have maintained an appearance of unity through thick and thin, regardless of nearly any scandal that comes out against one of their own, and they have plenty of legislative and cultural victories to show for it.

We must stay on point with our messaging and not allow ourselves to be distracted by internal politics. They do not allow internal politics to play a role in their outward appearance, and neither should we. In the gun-control camp, there are people that range the spectrum – from those who only support additional universal background checks to those who want to confiscate every gun in the United States. Regardless of their personal individual beliefs on the topic, they all remain united on one goal: 'gun control'. .....

"Knee-jerk reactions plague the Second Amendment community, both inside and out. These reactions range from the ridiculous and demonstrably false, to the same tired rhetoric repeated endlessly." "How do we change the narrative? That starts with every action that we undertake in with regards to the pro-gun community. It starts with unity so that we can present a stronger base from which to attack the enemy."

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