Jeff Folloder
“Let’s go Brandon!” By now, you almost certainly have heard this cheer. If you’re unfamiliar, this cheer/meme started when a crowd was heard during a live news presentation screaming out a vulgar epithet about our president. The reporter decided to portray the vulgar cheer as “let’s go Brandon!” instead of what was really said, despite what was really being said being very clearly understandable. Queue the meme factory. Social media posts, shirts, stickers, opinion pieces, arguments… all conspired to make “let’s go Brandon” famous. Yet another example of a variant on the Streisand Effect, which promotes the idea that you cannot make something go away by suppressing it. Doing so tends to have the opposite effect.
We are at an interesting time, politically. We are polarized. We are divided. Many of us are vocal. And many of us are unhappy with the current state of political affairs. Brandon does not appear to be bringing us together. More importantly, Brandon appears to be widening the divide, albeit with a different approach than its predecessors. Where are we at, as a National Firearms Act community?
From my perspective, we are in a precarious place. Many of us are getting older and have lost some of our zest for politics and doing something about those politics. Many of us have grown weary of the political shouting that never seems to get anywhere. Many of us don’t even bother to vote anymore. These are factual statements, and the accuracy of those facts imperils our ability to affect change. We must get out and vote. We must engage in civil discourse. We must try and win hearts and minds. We must find ways to work with the regulators to correct mistakes and make progress. Giving up is simply not part of the program. And it’s time to reengage.
An example of an engagement opportunity involves a news item that was circulating at the time this column was written. A great turmoil was caused when noted actor Alec Baldwin negligently shot and killed a cinematographer on a movie set. Many took the incident as an opportunity to create a divide: us versus them, liberal versus conservative, Second Amendment supporter versus gun grabber. There was and is a better way. It was a time for us to educate with civility. It was time to take the high ground by calmly explaining the four rules of gun safety instead of creating even more conflict:
- Treat every gun as if it was loaded, until you determine that it isn’t
- Never point a gun at anything you do not intend to shoot
- Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot
- Know your target and what’s behind it
We are all aware how important these safety rules are. Each one is a reinforcement of the other and provides a redundant failsafe in case one gets overlooked or ignored. The Alec Baldwin incident was an opportunity to demonstrate that the issue was not a gun issue, it was a gun safety issue. Anyone who ignores all the rules of gun safety is going to encounter calamity. Alec Baldwin did not have a major problem because he was a liberal. He had a problem because he was untrained and had a cavalier attitude to a specialized tool. It’s an opportunity for civil discourse.
The NFATCA has spent almost two decades engaging in civil discourse with our community, our regulators, and our legislators. We believe there’s more productivity in discussion than there is in shouting. We are patient in working towards results that benefit the entire NFA community. If you would like to join us and support us, we would be honored! www.nfatca.org
| This article first appeared in Small Arms Review V26N2 (February 2022) |
