Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Publicola on a compromise too far: Alan Gottlieb's "Neville Chamberlain impressions ain’t anything to be proud of."

Background Check Appeasement
It has come to my attention that there are certain segments of the gun owning community that feel conceding on the issue of background checks is a politically and pragmatically wise course of action. The idea is that since gunowners were outspent in Washington state in the fight over passage of I-594 that such losses are inevitable in other states, therefore if we support some form of universal background check we can reduce the damage done by an I-594-like law. The most prominent proponent of such an idea is Alan Gottlieb of SAF and CCRKBA fame, but he is not alone. To this notion I must not only say “No”, but “Go to hell no”.
Publicola's analysis of how we got here is dead on.
In fact I’ll assert that the appeasement strategy the NRA and others championed in the 1980’s and 1990’s has led us to this precipice we’re currently facing. If the NRA had not supported background checks in the form of the NICS then we’d have much more solid footing to stand on now as we oppose an expansion of those background checks. That concession makes it confusing for fence sitters as well as some gunowners to understand the NRA’s opposition to “universal” background checks. If back then they had fought it’s possible they could have lost, but they (and we) would be in a better position now to fight this most dire threat to our culture and our Rights. More likely though, is they could have fought and won, but they succumbed to the appeal of compromise, the lure of appeasement.
I bring this up because Gottlieb and others – undoubtedly some within the upper tiers of the NRA – are asking us to repeat the same errors of the 1980’s and 1990’s; claiming that defeat is inevitable so we have to compromise to make a bad law less bad. It was a mistake then that we’re still paying for now, and it’d be a mistake now that in 20 years would be seen as the harbinger of our doom.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Many firearms owners are honest and straightforward people who simply cannot understand the depth of depravity and evil we all face.

There is simply mot enough 'mongrel' in their make up and it is utterly beyond their paradigm that reasonable compromise is simply not an option and seen a weakness and captiulation by anti-gun foes.

Doomed to repeat history because they do not believe we are in a knockdown, gut punch, bite and knee in the bollocks fight for very existance.

They will go to their doom with surprised looks on their faces.

III

Neil Wampler said...

The comparison with Chamberlain is apt,But the "Fudd" mentality prevalent among many historically illiterate gun owners is hard to crack.For what it's worth, Iv'e written to LaPierre and Cox,Telling them that we are no longer in a gent's game,but they continue on the slippery slope.The hell of it is, they are still the 800 pound gorilla that feinstein complined about.

rexxhead said...

I came here to write what Anon@3:30 beat me to.

"NRA" truly now stands for "Not Relevant Anymore"

Anonymous said...

Mike V, is there any chance of flipping the board of the NRA to a board whose first principle is liberty at all cost? And any ideas on how we do it?

Having fought the good fight and lost against 594 I saw first hand what happened in Washington state, how Gottlieb completely undermined the No on 594 as if he really wanted 594 to pass and how the NRA put their main resources (they gave us in my district all the signs , bumper stickers, handouts, internet ads we wanted but no radio or TV) into other out of state congressional fights instead of here.

We are coming to a time very soon where what anyone has done in the past is of little meaning but what they do now is all that matters!

Comrade X

Cameraman said...

I have watched all of Laws be passed by compromise. and it has never Been A full Battle with the NRA..We can no longer Play by the Rules..We have been duped and now it gets Serious as these anti gun liberals, want to defeat us State By State,Its time to take the Gloves off!!!I think a Grass Roots level of Fighting is Now Needed as Suggested by a Armed Civil Disobedience!!!!


Semper Fi

friendlyfred said...

IMHO, the SAF and the NRA realized that they could not outspent the billionaires and saved their resources for a legal fight.

Anonymous said...

Where was the NRA ??? When [D]im Witt Dannel Malloy ,Sodomite Mike Red KGB Lawlor. And their Collectivist cronies [Republicans & Democrats] in Ct. Passed the Illegal Intolerable Acts against Law-Abiding Citizen/Soldiers of Ct. They and their laws are Null and Void.... Marking the days on the short-timers calendar. Behind Enemy Lines. In Unconstitutional/Collectivist Ct. We Will Not Stand Down. AAA/O.11B20.

skybill said...

Hi Mike,
An important "passage" and a couple of "key" words stand out here. "If back then they had fought it's possible they could have lost, but they (and we) would be in a better position now to fight this most dire threat to our culture and our Rights. More likely though, is they could have 'fought and won,' but they succumbed to the appeal of 'compromise,' the lure of 'appeasement.'" I don't see the "Anti's" anywhere doing any "Compromising" or "Appeasing" only relentlessly "Attacking!!!!!!" From Waco to Ruby Ridge, from "Fast and Furious" to "Brian Terry," from "the Sandy Hook Hoax," to "Ferguson," and "more," which "Attack" will History look back and say was "Ft. Sumter II?
....Just a thought.....War??..What war? ...I don't see any War?? Reminds me of Tom Wolfe's book,"The Electric Koolade Acid Test" about the author Ken Kesey. Kesey's friend Vic Lovel, a Psych tech at the VA hosp., who introduced Kesey to "LSD," later Kesey dedicated his book "One flew over the CooCoo's nest" to Lovel saying, "To my friend Vic, who said Dragons did not exist then led me to their lairs!!" We have to quit fooling ourselves, the Dragons are Real, Alive and the flames of their breath have already scoarched us!!!! We keep saying that we have to hold the "Moral High Ground" and not "Fire the 'First'Shot." I'll leave you to answer the question,"Has the 'First Shot' already been fired????" Time to drop the optics and 360 degree threat scan!!
Got Gunz??,
III%,
skybill-out

Anonymous said...

Just an afterthought .I do not believe Wayne LaPierre V.Pres . of the NRA. Is worth the 1.1 million $ a year, salary he receives. Maybe he should send all his members a rebate... For services not rendered... Behind Enemy Lines. In Unconstitutional/Collectivist/Ct. We will Not Stand Down. AAA/O.11B20.

Paul X said...

Folks, the bad news is that the trends of NRA and SAF are inevitable:
http://www.jerrypournelle.com/reports/jerryp/iron.html

The good news is that it doesn't matter. Keep reminding yourself that ultimately we *don't care* what the politicians and compromisers do. Worry only about what YOU (the only person you have control of) will do.

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." That's Jefferson, and he was right. You keep backing up until you can't back up any more; then you fight and reset the whole system.

That's humanity for you. No point in complaining about it. It's our lot.

http://strike-the-root.com/how-fortunate-we-are