In the famous viral opening of HBO’s “The Newsroom,” protagonist Will McAvoy gives a speech in which he explains how America is no longer the greatest country on Earth.
In the wake of last Wednesday’s shooting in San Bernardino, California, that ended 14 lives, I once again feel like our country is so very far from being first among nations. Yet, as the debate on gun violence takes center stage, I am reminded of another, less-remembered portion of Mr. McAvoy’s introductory scene:
“You know why people don’t like liberals? Because they lose. If liberals are so smart, how come they lose so goddamned always?”
We mean well by our actions. We want to save lives and make America a safer place. Why, then, do we always lose when it comes to gun violence?
Frankly put, we lose because our message on gun violence is aimed only at ourselves.
To us, the National Rifle Association (NRA) is the enemy—one of the most unpopular advocacy groups in the nation. The truth that we often miss, however, is that the NRA means something very different to the average gun owner. The NRA is the jovial proprietor of the local gun store. The NRA is the friendly local range instructor who taught marksmanship and safety lessons to the entire family.
When we clamor that a certain type of weapon ought to be banned on the basis of lethality, our message sometimes sounds as though all those owning such firearms should feel guilty for possessing them. When we laud the rarity of mass shootings in countries such as the United Kingdom or Australia, we level a subliminal threat at gun owners suggesting that American gun laws ought to be like those overseas. When we mock the venerable age of the Second Amendment, we posit that gun owners ought to return to the age of blackpowder, ramrods, and flintlocks.
On the day of the Senate vote on the assault weapons ban proposed following Sandy Hook, Senator Dianne Fienstein (D-CA) held up a photo of the 20 children killed in Newtown before Congress during her address—almost as though accusing rifle owners collectively of the murders. Fifteen Democrats joined the Republicans in defeating the measure.
The vast majority of gun owners don’t doubt that gun control advocates have good intentions. Rather, they are tired of sermons and they doubt our methods. Feeling unheard and demonized by the left, they either do nothing or resignedly organize underneath the NRA’s banner—and the NRA wins.
Within this political environment, the National Rifle Association’s strategy to win the gun debate is not an all-out defense—it’s an all-out, well-organized counterattack. The platform of the opposition is built upon refutation. Gun laws, the NRA crows, won’t work. Even if most gun owners disagree strongly with the NRA’s positions, they are given no room elsewhere to join the discussion.
Excluding them from our movement is a fatal mistake. The average gun owner is intimately familiar with laws regarding the purchasing, carrying and safe storage of firearms. When a firearms enthusiast calls his representatives, he can—and does—point out precisely which provisions of the proposed laws are flawed or weak.
Sometimes, they are completely right. New York State was forced to revise its own set of new gun laws after policymakers realized that a seven-round capacity limit would effectively outlaw most semiautomatic handgun magazines manufactured within the last eighty years (many carry eight, ten, twelve or fifteen rounds). When we overreach like this, we only reinforce the NRA’s message to gun owners that it—and only it—cares about their perspective.
Yet gun owners’ expertise can work both ways! While gun owners are well-armed with the know-how necessary to fight gun legislation, they are also the most qualified people in America to draft gun laws that will work.
The hunters of Montana, the marksmen of Texas, the gunsmiths of North Carolina and the skeet shooters of Tennessee might just be the key to a national victory.
Some gun control activists might recoil at the thought of associating with them, but shotgun-toting Americans are not the enemy. Let us ignore the vocal pro-gun extremists. Mainstream gun owners have families, dreams and fears just like the rest of us. In many cases, their choice to own firearms stems from an honest desire to protect loved ones. They are no less saddened by violence than we. They are rational, not radical.
The push for change may feel daunting, but believe me—this is a close fight. Only a handful of votes in Congress are needed to get the ball rolling. To win those crucial votes, however, the left must earnestly engage gun owners in the conversation.
How can we make victory possible? The first step is to shift the discussion to policy. We must stop lecturing and start listening. We must focus less on statistics and more on the specifics of proposed laws. We must debate, exploring and evaluating possible solutions. We should remain committed to upholding our own viewpoint and principles, but we must also be willing to work together.
I’m tired of losing. But, unless we can convince gun owners to march alongside us, this fight will remain all but unwinnable.
Seaver Wang is a Ph.D. student in the Nicolas School of the Environment. He can fire a shotgun one-handed and hit a head-sized rifle target a hundred yards away over iron sights. He was also raised in Wilton, Connecticut—less than a twenty minute drive from Sandy Hook elementary school.
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