Just because someone is anti-gun, doesn’t mean they always will be:
I started the video ad saw the 41.5 minute length and expected to start it… skip through… stop and roll my eyes. That wasn’t the case, it was interesting to hear about his journey and he does go into great detail. It definitely helps that he’s obviously not a stupid person, and can actually look at facts and use logic.
He touches on a lot of points in this video… He’s good. Almost too good ;) I started thinking he was always pro-gun and just pretending to have switched sides haha.
Thoughts?
Hat tip: TTAG
Comments
9 responses to “Man Switches Sides From Gun Control To Gun Rights”
Ditto, also thought I would click thru, but ended up listening to the whole thing. My one criticism is that he didn’t touch on his former, anti-gun life. And even still, like you said, he doesn’t seem to have been super anti-gun. Either way this is a great video though!
There’s definitely a longer story behind my former “anti-gun life”. However, it was already a long video already, so I cut most of that stuff out. For my first video I just wanted to show how I went from one stance to the other. If you think it would be helpful, I can make a video that specifically covers when I was anti-gun.
By the way, I do plan on making more videos specifically geared toward addressing common questions/concerns from the gun control crowd. I know I can’t get through to die hards, but I’d like to reach out to those on the fence or who aren’t as committed to being anti-gun (like I was).
I also promise that future videos will be shorter. lol
Great Video. Really appreciate you taking the time to record this. I really want to sit down and show it to my ex who told me she could not commit long term because I was a gun owner. I had hoped to get her out to the range so she could see how fun it was but things didnt work out.
Cheers
LT Dan
Interesting, but I think the key is he was exposed to guns as a kid. He may have been intellectually in favor of gun control, but he also had a tangible point of reference that didn’t allow him to hold the emotional/irrational fear that all guns are bad all the time that so many of those in favor of gun control are motivated by.
I have long argued that anyone interested in gun rights needs to own a very boring looking 22lr pistol that they can use to take people shooting. Anyone can shoot them, and you can provide plenty of others with the same point of reference that allowed this guy to change his stance. You may never get to the most emotional of the bunch, but if all the people in the middle had some personal experience with guns, then the rabid all guns are bad all the time arguments that gun grabbers make would seem immediately inconsistent to a whole lot more people.
Good point I forgot that you mention here, he shot as a kid. I followed the same path as the guy in this video. I shot here and there as a kid, mainly a 22 rifle, but then didn’t touch a gun for ten+ years. That childhood experience definitely made a lasting impression on me that allowed my journey into gun ownership happen much easier.
I completely agree, and yes, my early exposure to firearms did help.
I have a lot of friends who are still pro gun control, but I always have an open invitation for them to go out shooting with me. Often times, taking me up on that offer helps them get over most of their initial misconceptions about firearms. They’re often times surprised to find that shooting is fun, firearms are safe (as long as the basic rules of gun safety are followed), and that gun owners (and the gun community as a whole) are very friendly and normal people. After going out shooting for themselves a lot of them still hold on to the anti-gun stance, but they’ve gained a better understanding of those who are pro gun rights, and those initial seeds of descent are planted to where they may change their mind down the road. Some of them eventually ended up becoming gun owners as well.
There are die hards on both sides of the issue, and I know I can’t convince the die hard anti-gun folks, but there are plenty of those who are on or close enough to the fence who can be swayed to see things differently like I did.
If you’re hungry for it, I used to be ant-gun and wrote a blog post about my backstory a while back (pardon the typos it’s an old post)
http://www.weerdworld.com/2011/my-story/
Very well said glad to see someone willing to learn willing to investigate on there own, and smart enough to realize what most gun owners see comming
Good vid, watched it all the way through too. Great point about listening to 911 calls, hadn’t heard that before.