I always see folks talk about how politicians are the biggest threat to firearms (2nd only to rust), but this isn't true. Apathy is our worst enemy.
I lived in Virginia and stood witness as most of the 'gun folks' ignored what was happening. They were always too busy to pay attention to local/state politics, to support VCDL, to write letters, to go to lobby day or even to vote. Some folks talked a good game, but always had an excuse when it was time to put up or shut up. Although it took a while, Virginia went from a solid state with a low cost of living, lots of jobs and a good record on supporting the 2nd Amendment to being a place referred to as Southern Maryland or Southern DC.
I taught classes and always encouraged people to pay attention. It was good when we had someone from Maryland (25 miles away) or even DC (~40 miles away) that came in for a class because they could talk about why they couldn't do that in their State. When we talked to people, we asked them to look into the VCDL, GOA, NRA (before Wayne destroyed it's reputation), whoever and told them that they needed to get involved - most didn't.
Did lots of liberals from the NE move into VA? yup
Did they continue to vote for the same idiots and policies that they just fled from? Oh yeah
What caused VA to fall (as was proven by the last election) wasn't just the transplants flooding the State. We had a great Lobby Day in 2020 with 40k+ people all showing up to support the 2nd Amed. when Northam and his ilk were doing a copy/paste of NY anti-self-defense gun laws at the local and State level. "It won't happen here" was very common to hear, especially after that day - until it did happen. Firearm owners throughout the state ignored the warnings even when the politicians on the left came right out and said what they were going to do. They ignored the money raised and the large gatherings of <insert left leaning group> who all received supportive TV, print and social media posts (something the VCDL never got). The next election the voter turn out was very low for our side, but not for theirs. Elections do have consequences - don't think that they don't. People got upset (except for the Fudd's), but even then it took years and several election cycles for people to get their act together and the message out so that people would take things seriously.
Time will tell if they fall back into that false sense of security (my guess is that they will), but I hope folks here take it seriously enough so that it never happens in Texas. It's very easy to lose what we have and once lost, you'll probably never get it back again.
Talk to your neighbors, co-workers, whoever about what's going on and stress the importance of talking with others, writing letters and getting out to vote. Just because someone is known to you as being on "our side" doesn't mean they'll get off the couch and actually do what's right. The other side is doing the same thing, but they are better organized (regardless of the jokes we make about them), know how to raise money, how to motivate their base and most importantly - how to get them to vote.
I lived in Virginia and stood witness as most of the 'gun folks' ignored what was happening. They were always too busy to pay attention to local/state politics, to support VCDL, to write letters, to go to lobby day or even to vote. Some folks talked a good game, but always had an excuse when it was time to put up or shut up. Although it took a while, Virginia went from a solid state with a low cost of living, lots of jobs and a good record on supporting the 2nd Amendment to being a place referred to as Southern Maryland or Southern DC.
I taught classes and always encouraged people to pay attention. It was good when we had someone from Maryland (25 miles away) or even DC (~40 miles away) that came in for a class because they could talk about why they couldn't do that in their State. When we talked to people, we asked them to look into the VCDL, GOA, NRA (before Wayne destroyed it's reputation), whoever and told them that they needed to get involved - most didn't.
Did lots of liberals from the NE move into VA? yup
Did they continue to vote for the same idiots and policies that they just fled from? Oh yeah
What caused VA to fall (as was proven by the last election) wasn't just the transplants flooding the State. We had a great Lobby Day in 2020 with 40k+ people all showing up to support the 2nd Amed. when Northam and his ilk were doing a copy/paste of NY anti-self-defense gun laws at the local and State level. "It won't happen here" was very common to hear, especially after that day - until it did happen. Firearm owners throughout the state ignored the warnings even when the politicians on the left came right out and said what they were going to do. They ignored the money raised and the large gatherings of <insert left leaning group> who all received supportive TV, print and social media posts (something the VCDL never got). The next election the voter turn out was very low for our side, but not for theirs. Elections do have consequences - don't think that they don't. People got upset (except for the Fudd's), but even then it took years and several election cycles for people to get their act together and the message out so that people would take things seriously.
Time will tell if they fall back into that false sense of security (my guess is that they will), but I hope folks here take it seriously enough so that it never happens in Texas. It's very easy to lose what we have and once lost, you'll probably never get it back again.
Talk to your neighbors, co-workers, whoever about what's going on and stress the importance of talking with others, writing letters and getting out to vote. Just because someone is known to you as being on "our side" doesn't mean they'll get off the couch and actually do what's right. The other side is doing the same thing, but they are better organized (regardless of the jokes we make about them), know how to raise money, how to motivate their base and most importantly - how to get them to vote.