The only way we’ll ever fix this is by loudly threatening to take away all of their guns. If we can scare them into believing that just might happen, they’ll compromise by agreeing to gun control laws that let them keep some of their guns.
Right wingers do this to us on every issue. They take the most extreme position they can think of, it scares us into believing we’re going to lose everything, and so we meet them in the middle on that issue.
It’s time we use their own playbook against them.
It’s time we use their own playbook against them.
“But if we scare the gun addicts, they’ll start shooting us!”
They’re already shooting us.
“But we have to sound reasonable to make any progress on this matter!”
We’ve made zero progress on this in a generation. It’s time for us to stop cowering to the gun addicts.
They’re already shooting us.
“But we have to sound reasonable to make any progress on this matter!”
We’ve made zero progress on this in a generation. It’s time for us to stop cowering to the gun addicts.
The minute you say “we’re not trying to take your guns away,” you have already lost the battle. You have already caved. The streets are lined with dead bodies that prove how badly you have failed with this cowardly, overly earnest, stupid narrative.
“But we wouldn’t actually be able to take all their guns away!”
That’s not the point. We’re not trying to take all the guns away. It’s a NEGOTIATING position. If you can’t understand how this stuff works, you’ll never ever get anywhere as a social activist. You will always lose.
That’s not the point. We’re not trying to take all the guns away. It’s a NEGOTIATING position. If you can’t understand how this stuff works, you’ll never ever get anywhere as a social activist. You will always lose.
The republicans always start negotiating with the extreme position of all guns, all the time. We start negotiating from the middle, by emphasizing what we’re NOT trying to do on guns. So we’ve already lost from the get-go, because we gave them half the field.
You think the republicans really think there should be zero gun regulations? Of course not. But they know that as long as they start from that extreme position, and we start from the “we’re not trying to take your guns” middle ground, they’ll never have to cave to us at all.
“But if we start negotiations by saying we’re going to take everyone’s guns, we’ll lose the next election!”
No we won’t. Most voters support gun control, but the republicans don’t lose elections by standing against gun control. It doesn’t work that way.
No we won’t. Most voters support gun control, but the republicans don’t lose elections by standing against gun control. It doesn’t work that way.
Besides, it’s not the job of the Democrats to say “we’re going to take all your guns away.” It’s our job. We, the activists, must convince right wingers that this is on the table. Then the Democrats get to look reasonable by floating a compromise that includes strict gun control.
We’ve been losing the gun issue for a generation. We have popular sentiment, yet we still can’t get it done, because we’re still being non-strategic about it.
We can start doing it my way, where we threaten to take all the guns and negotiate from there, or we can keep losing.
We can start doing it my way, where we threaten to take all the guns and negotiate from there, or we can keep losing.
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