I find that the members of the shooting sports community bend over backwards to be politically correct and non-offensive. Just watch any discussion on any talk show. This really annoys me and I would like you all to consider some thoughts.
To start off with the Media has already placed a negative stigma on the phrase “Pro Gun”, in reality we are “Pro Second Amendment” or even “Pro Bill of Rights.”
Look at the facts when considering the “Pro Second Amendment” movement, there is not another voluntary, organized group this large in the United States that has a stronger belief in what the Founding Fathers have done. We need to refer to ourselves in this manner, it will shed some real light on our way of thinking that can be accepted and understood by our non-firearms brethren. Additionally, we need to refer to our opposition as “Anti Second Amendment” or preferably “Anti Bill of Rights.” Their agenda is the reduction and/or elimination of personal freedoms. They know that this must start with the disarming of Patriots.
Currently my biggest gripe is over how we have handled the 1994 ban of firearm feeding devices (H.R.3355) that sunset in 2004. over seven years ago.
The Anti Second Amendment community wants the public to believe that nobody needs more than 10 rounds of ammunition, thus they adopted the phrase High Capacity Magazine. In truth the 11, 13, 15, 17 or other capacity device that the manufacturer designed to fit into his firearm is a Standard Capacity Magazine, the 10 round magazines that we were forced to buy in the disguise of crime control is really a Limited Capacity or Reduced Capacity Magazine. A 20 round, 30 round, or larger magazine that extends beyond the design of the original manufacturer is the only item that could rightfully be called High Capacity.
The more that the non-firearms community hears us (the Pro Second Amendment folks) use the phrase, HiCap, to describe anything over ten rounds the more they believe it to be a true and accurate description of something that is in excess. We have been helping the Anti Second Amendment folks bring us down.
Take a look at “Assault Rifle”, a more than twenty year old phrase made up by the Anti Second Amendment folks to villainize legal semi automatic firearms, based on their cosmetic appearance. The non-firearms public now uses this term to describe many legal, semi-automatic firearms as if the phrase had been around forever and they believe it to be a good phrase to describe these firearms.
The Pro Second Amendment community contributes to it’s own downfall every time we help validate one of these fictional terms by using it. We can help ourselves by correcting any non-firearms person every time we hear them utilize one of these phrases in the course of a conversation. We need to use the term Pro Bill of Rights and Anti Bill of Rights as often as we can. These remind the non-firearms community that we are not just talking about a sport, pastime or inanimate object. We are talking about a right granted to all men and women by GOD, or their creator if you prefer, and so important that the Founding Fathers felt it necessary to reaffirm it in the Constitution of the United States of America.
Why are we trying to fit in? The Anti Second Amendment community brands us evil just on the one issue of firearms freedoms and there is no way we are going to ever change their minds.
So feel free to be Politically Incorrect, the Anti Second Amendment crowd won’t think worse of us and we might get the rest of the non firearms community using some of the proper phrases.
Mark Calzaretta
