OSD 92: Gotta be friendly to make friends
You can be unpopular. You can be in the minority. But you can’t be both.
Thanks to the Firearms Policy Coalition for posting this video shouting out OSD on Saturday. It’s on a subject that’s pretty instructive when it comes to gun rights: the history of minorities in majoritarian societies.
The US is of course not strictly majoritarian — compared to most places, there are relatively more roadblocks between a 51% majority and absolute power. But directionally, a majority tends toward getting its way. The bigger the majority, and the more strongly the majority feels about an issue, the truer that becomes.
From world history, US history, and even recent US history, there’s a stark lesson in this: unpopular minorities do not survive. You can be unpopular. You can be in the minority. But you can’t be both — at least not for long.
Gun rights folks sometimes fall into the trap of whining about the way things should be, but reality deals in the way things are. The way things are is that in order to thrive, we have to be popular, grow our numbers, or both. The good news is that both of those are happening. Gun rights have been getting almost monotonically more popular for 30 years and counting. This year, more people bought guns than in any year in history — about 4% of the total number of guns in the US were bought this year. These are positive trends for people’s gun rights. But keep your eye on the ball and remember that there is no escaping the power of these trends. If they point up, we’re set. If they point down, we’re not, no matter what else we do.
So keep them pointed in the right direction. That means building bridges and continuing to grow the community. And as ever, take newbies out to the range. See you out there.
This week’s links
Who do we know in Austin, TX?
This one isn’t a link. But two of the OSD cofounders now live in Austin. If you’d like to meet, or know someone here who we should meet, reply to this email. We’re gameplanning some live events for 2021.
Prosecutor withdraws charge in the first bump-stock-as-machine-gun federal prosecution
Ideally the beginning of the end for the idea that bump stocks can be summarily declared machine guns by ATF fiat. The legal tenuousness of that rule change hasn’t stopped federal prosecutors from charging bump stock possessors with machine gun crimes, but it’s a bit of good news (albeit cold comfort for a defendant racking up stress, jail time, and legal fees) that prosecutors aren’t actually willing to argue this in front of a judge.
Do you live in Philadelphia? Do you want a carry permit and can’t get one? The Firearms Policy Coalition wants to sue the government for you.
Click above to hop aboard the lawsuit train.
SwissGunGuy on YouTube
This guy should have way more subscribers. Let’s make it happen. He’s holding down the fort in Europe and doing in-depth reviews of some pretty cool guns along the way.
Lucky Gunner: How to shoot a pistol better at 25 yards
Good, actionable tips from Chris at Lucky Gunner, as always.
Reuters on the sometimes-fraught intersection between qualified immunity for government officials and gun rights for the populace
The article doesn’t go into quite as much detail as it could on the legal specifics (good or bad) of qualified immunity jurisprudence. And those details are important. But it does paint an outline of the issues, and also dives into the extremely under-discussed killing of Andrew Scott. (Quite similar to the circumstances under which Ryan Whitaker was killed earlier this year, which we discussed in “OSD 74: How many times do you get to say oops?”)
What happened when one redditor tried to get the LAPD to investigate his son’s beating and robbery
A useful anecdote for the “just call the police” talking point.
“US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency proposes rule prohibiting large banks from discriminating against ‘legal but disfavored’ customers”
The proposed rule specifically mentions both the firearms industry and Operation Choke Point. The history here is that Operation Choke Point and similar actions by state governments (e.g. New York’s warning to banks that doing business with “the NRA and similar organizations” could create “reputational risk” that would place the banks in violation of their fiduciary duty) have applied implicit pressure to the financial industry to cut off firearms-related businesses. This new proposed rule is a step towards reversing that.
Forgotten Weapons hands on with the MP5SD
Tom Clancy intensifies
OSD Office Hours
If you’re a new gun owner, thinking about becoming one, or know someone who is, click here to come to OSD Office Hours. It’s a free 30-minute video call with an OSD team member to ask any and all your questions.
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