Tea party movement: There is power in cooperation

By Jeff Knox

The growing dissatisfaction of more and more citizens with the direction of our government and our nation presents a wonderful opportunity for rights activists to build and strengthen coalitions and grow the movement's base. The media, the administration, and Democrat leaders have broadly attempted to discredit and dismiss several large "right-wing" groups of dissatisfied and concerned citizens by lumping them all together with racist, anti-Semitic, and seditious groups and individuals.

Doing this is an unfair and inaccurate distortion which does do some damage in the short run, but it also serves to drive these mainstream activists together into a more unified front. There are always "kooks" and "undesirables" inserting themselves into any populist movement, whether "right-wing," "left-wing," or "centrist," but "lunatic fringe" aside, the core groups are discovering that they have much in common and they are beginning to coalesce into a broad-based, cooperative coalition which is becoming a powerful political force.

Not everyone in the gun rights movement opposes nationalized healthcare or massive bailouts of the insurance, financial, and auto industries. Not all rights activists oppose unprecedented deficit spending and fear major tax increases. Not all supporters of the Second Amendment support the "mobs" turning out for town hall meetings or the masses attending "Tea Party" rallies, and not all agree on immigration issues... But, many rights activists do strongly support these other causes and many of the people active in these causes do or would strongly support the Second Amendment.

There is an old political saying that if you want to hunt ducks you should go where the ducks are. Well if you want to find new allies and supporters for the cause of firearms owner rights, go where the rights activists are. Gun rights are all about individual liberty and individual responsibility and these recent rallies are full of people who support the Constitution, individual liberty, and individual responsibility.

If you don't support the "Tea Parties," the "mobs," and other such groups, that's fine; no one is suggesting that you involve yourself in a cause you're not committed to. But if you do support any of these causes, you have an opportunity to go duck hunting while flying with the flock. As more people begin to understand the importance of the Second Amendment to the preservation of the Republic, they will need information, education, and guidance. You can provide that for them by being a responsible ambassador, setting a good example, and sharing information. It can be as simple as wearing a pro-rights T-shirt or lapel pin or handing out "Guns Save Lives" stickers or something of that nature with a web site address printed on it.

To this point in history the gun rights movement has been almost exclusively populated by gunowners. With the advent of street-level conservative activism that is going to change. More and more non-gun owning activists will be getting involved in the gun rights movement and their involvement is going to tremendously increase the power and reach of pro-rights political clout. Whether the shift is dramatic and "game-changing" or just a minor realignment depends on you and other rights activists and how effective you are at taking the important message of the Second Amendment into these groups and converting conservative activists into Constitutional and Second Amendment activists.

Of course organizations like The Firearms Coalition have a role to play in all of this. Where else would you send these folks for solid information about gun rights? But single-issue organizations are limited in what they can do and still be true to their stated single issue, but individual activists are under no such restraints so it is up to you to take the message of rights and responsibility to the "mobs" and "Tea Parties" and bring those sympathetic to the Second Amendment cause into the fold of gun rights activists.

Permission to reprint or post this article in its entirety is hereby granted provided this credit is included. Text is available at www.FirearmsCoalition.org.