We need media targets to focus attention on reforming gun safety laws. Let’s start using the media, and their insatiable appetite for sensationalism, to attack the ambivalent, and NRA-funded, state, local and federal governments. The vast majority of the country want to ban semi-automatic weapons, and want to introduce far more stringent background checks, so let’s prove this is a democracy. We need targets. Let me explain what I mean.
Ten (10) people were gunned down in cold blood in my supermarket last Monday. It’s time to play hardball and show the NRA, and its bought-and-paid-for politicians, that the people are what is important in a democracy.
Where can we find targets that we can use to manipulate the media so they mount serious campaigns against the gun lobby on our behalf? We have to cater to the media’s market penetration strengths and, at the same time use their weakness in always following sensation over any other consideration. They have abandoned integrity for ratings and advertising dollars, so let’s use it.
Two obvious targets immediately come to mind: The gun shop in Arvada, Colorado that sold the assault weapon to the killer, and the judge that revoked Boulder’s ban on assault weapons three days before the killer bought his weapon.
I can hear the cries of protest. The gun shop owner followed the law and regulations – I assume he or she did – and the judge followed the letter of the law in the judgement – again, I assume she/he did. THAT’S NOT FAIR!
Absolutely, that’s not fair, but I don’t care. They are targets that can be used to incite a media reaction that can be manipulated in the cause of gun safety.
TO BE CLEAR, I AM NOT SUGGESTING ANY SORT OF PHYSICAL ATTACK OR VIOLENCE. THAT WOULD BE TOTALLY WRONG, COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE AND TOTALLY DISTRACTING.
However, large numbers of citizens, and I mean large, not just a few dozen, camped outside the gun shop, and maybe even the gun shop owner’s home, as well as outside the judge’s office and her/his home, will bring the media, guaranteed.
Some might say that such tactics should be used against politicians and legislators, since they are the ones that have to change the laws. I say, we all know, and history has shown us time and time again, that is a total waste of time and effort. The NRA has bought and paid for enough of them that such efforts are futile. We need a different method of attack.
First of all, the strategy I am suggesting needs detailed planning to avoid the pitfalls of most such events. Everything should be coordinated and planned with the police – more police presence will bring more media coverage, and it will give the police a unprecedented opportunity to be on the side of their community, instead of vilified for their reactions.
The police will also be needed to immediately stop any attempted violence by “Rent-a Crowd” individuals, mobs, and the NRA fanatics. A self-imposed event closure will be necessary an hour before dusk, which will curtail most of the lunatic, and violent, fringe elements that haunt most such events. It is also important that coordination with the police be a media event, so everyone understands the role the police and the media should play.
Given the normal speed of media response, aided and abetted by some pre-planned encouragement, these events will go viral in hours.
Again, it will need detailed organization, driven by a solid and consistent message that says:
WE WILL NOT TAKE THIS IDIOCY ANY MORE.
WE WERE FOUNDED AS A DEMOCRACY, AND WE WILL NOT BE BOUGHT, OR PERVERTED FROM OUR IDEALS, BY ANY ENTITY, EVEN IF OUR POLITICIANS ARE WILLING TO BE SO.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
I would submit that:
THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE IS STILL FORMIDABLE, WE JUST NEED TO PROJECT IT EFFECTIVELY.
IT’S TIME TO USE THE MEDIA, INSTEAD OF BEING SUBJUGATED BY IT.
