A Tale of Two Movements

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."
- the opening lines of  'A Tale of Two Cities' by Charles Dickens


Our time also seems simultaneously to combine the worst and the best of times. We have horrible things happening, like the awful terrorist shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. At the same time, in response, many LGBT folks and gun owners have discovered common ground in the right to self defense.

Others disagree. George Takei of Star Trek fame is trying to organize LGBT folks to attack civil liberties saying:

"For if there is one group in this country with more will, more experience, and more tenacity than the NRA, it is the LGBT community.

You don’t want to mess with us."

Here is why I think that their efforts will fail.
  
1. Switching from "extending rights unfairly denied LGBT folks" to "denying commonly appreciated rights"
The LGBT community HAS had remarkable success over the past 20 years and I applaud this. However, that success came about because that community was working to gain equality in rights that were unfairly denied them. LGBT groups who now make it their mission to attack everyone's rights are unlikely to enjoy much success.

2. Many LGBT member support gun rights and intend to defend themselves

Another part of the reason for their failure, as they are likely to fail, will be because they do not speak for the whole LGBT community. Since I became a shooter, I have known lesbian, gay and transgender people who shoot and are determined to retain the ability to keep shooting. I have also been privileged to support their efforts, both as a friend and as a shooting safety instructor.

Indeed, the Seattle area had a Pink Pistols affiliated group around 2000 called Cease Fear (link to an article about us). We offered gun safety and self defense classes at Home Alive and made occasional target shooting excursions. We were also welcomed at Seattle Pride and Tacoma Pride events.

You can get an inkling of the pro and anti self defense breakdown by comparing some social media numbers. On Facebook:

The largest Gays Against Guns Facebook community has 3,742 members. The Pink Pistols Facebook community has over twice that many at 7,931.

Over on Twitter, @GAGNoGuns has 392 followers, while @PnkPistol has 1,391 followers.

 3. Approach, character and attitude

The final reason why I think Pink Pistols will win and GAG fade into obscurity comes down to approach and attitude. Even in this day and age where we have become calloused to the dishonesty and authoritarian creepiness of political "leaders" in both political parties, character counts. People tend to prefer being treated with respect and to be offered the opportunity to judge the facts and make up their own minds, rather than being 'splained.


I have been an active participant on the Pink Pistols Facebook group for a couple weeks now and the approach I have overwhelmingly seen there is one of kindness, community and the open/honest sharing of information. People are presented with information and then given the room to make up their own minds.

In contrast, the Gays Against Guns community as a whole is taking an authoritarian "do what we say" tone. People are banned from the groups (as is typical with gun control "discussion" groups) for presenting different opinions.

This is not too surprising since the gun control community tends to want to seize full control and impose a simplistic narrative onto this complex topic. People, perhaps finding an odd comfort in being told that they are too incompetent and ineffectual to protect themselves from harm, attempt to foist that belief off on others as proven fact. Technical details are brushed aside in an apparent effort to convince people that you can waltz into a gun shop and waltz out with a machine gun in under 10 minutes.

Personally, I'd argue that if you can't win by telling the truth, winning with arguments that you know are dishonest would be a hollow victory. But that's all irrelevant because the gun control lobby is not going to win this one.