10/03 © Ronald L. Moody (2003)
All rights reserved.
Reprinted here with permission.

Securing Gun Rights Demands Voyage
Into Social Unknowns

American hunters are painfully aware of the possibility that our national society may turn against the traditional right of private ownership of firearms.

My previous Nimrod’s Trace started a discussion of this concern that rewarded me with a couple of intelligent, thoughtful letters from readers. This was refreshing for two reasons: first, at least I know I have two readers, and, second, the writers engaged the problem with their responses rather than just criticizing me for saying something they didn’t like (as has happened in the past).

I already had planned a second essay to discuss the need for gun owners to shift from defensiveness and cultural isolation to a strategy of open communication and outreach. But the readers asked better questions than I had asked of myself, so I’m taking this discussion in their direction by responding to a couple of major points among the questions they posed.

Sure we have a problem. Everybody knows that. But what are the solutions? Do gun owners have to solve all the problems of modern life?

I don’t have a clue what the solutions will turn out to be. Neither is it necessary to have solutions at this point. I argue that American hunters and gun owners, right now, are faced with a choice of paths, not a choice of destinations — we can bet the future of gun ownership civil rights on hiding behind isolated defensive walls, or we can open the gates and strike out on a political journey into the unknown to engage the problem where it lives.

We are not yet at the point of selecting solutions from a menu of options. We are at the point of choosing a new path for discovering options. We gun owners must, I believe, seek the solutions we need in Congress with other people — particularly the people with whom we have been fighting.

I am not spending much time here on actual outreach ideas. The first steps likely will be as simple as local gun/hunting groups inviting other gun issue advocates to meet locally for informal, honest dialogue. This doesn’t take an act of Congress. I’m a firm believer in Tip O’Neill’s axiom that all politics are local.

I, however, AM spending much time promoting the actual shared decision to reach out to, rather than hide from, other people. I do so because this initial action of accepting the idea of change is both the most difficult and most necessary step in the journey. We always avoid the unknown with a thousand fearful excuses. A journey to an unknown destination is the essence of adventure and it is intrinsically frightening.

While the hour is late, I believe the right to keep and bear arms still can be preserved in our Republic — but not by people who are afraid of new ideas or who avoid the hazards of change.

We American hunters really should have more confidence in ourselves. We have a history of miracles.

The American hunter stood history on its head when we restored game populations to a continent almost emptied of wildlife. Worldwide, the rise of mass urban societies always has resulted in the decimation of wildlife populations. In the United States, however, the 20th Century saw a great continent-wide restoration of wildlife populations even as human populations and sizes of cities multiplied. Gun-owning hunters worked this miracle. Against all odds we have experienced eight decades of large animal species growing in population even as humans daily, hourly take more of their wild habitats away.

This conservation miracle came only after a remarkable generation of hunters engaged new ideas and mastered dispute in a changing time. Actually, I don’t think preserving the civil right to keep and bear arms is that much tougher a challenge. But it will be a scary journey.

Urban firearms violence is not logically connected with use of firearms in hunting and recreation. Hunters, therefore, should not become involved in gun control legislation. Instead, we should pursue more and better opportunities for young people to use firearms for healthy recreation, especially hunting.

If societies of people were logical in their decision-making, I would agree with the first part of this thesis. An individual can be rational. Rationality in human societies, however, is more of a coincidence than a purpose. Societies are subjective, reactionary, and, above all, emotional in their arriving at a new rule of governance. Every successful politician knows this, and everybody else hates them for knowing it.

The taking away of gun ownership rights in Great Britain and Australia are perfect examples. Horrible events of gun violence galvanized an emotional public opinion that forced the political leadership to take gun rights away from people who had absolutely no connection to the crimes - logical or otherwise.

That doesn’t make sense, but it happened. And it can happen here, and likely will. As I said before, “one Columbine too many and . . . . .”

The idea that hunters should assertively seek more local programs to involve young people in healthy firearm activities gets my applause. This can and should happen.

A major roadblock is that the current population of adult hunters is a "ME" generation caught up in self-serving pleasure and can’t be bothered with social or political leadership. That is how hunters have defined their identity and they face extinction because of it.

A second obstacle is that too many gun owners are convinced a high political wall will hide them from the dragon of public opinion. This false security encourages personal detachment and inaction; the purpose of my essay is to challenge that false security.

Where urban youth are concerned, I think the best path to follow is local in nature. The small number of thoughtful American hunters who will act should engage as much as they can of their own local ‘next generation’ to build a smaller, better core community of hunters and firearm users. This new hometown community may be relatively tiny in the near term, but it can earn the staying power of public confidence. (i.e. The 4-H shooting sports program is a great vehicle that only requires a little bit of local leadership to get started and is available in every county.)

Renewal of public confidence in gun ownership is absolutely necessary before competitive shooting programs will ever again be allowed in public school systems, etc.

American gun owners can do much to start on a new path by supporting better background checks, particularly at gun shows. Also, it wouldn’t hurt if gun owners were the champions of stronger state laws to require better gun owner training and greater accountability for responsible firearms ownership.

This wouldn’t take civil rights away from responsible citizens. And, we would earn a lot more confidence from skeptical fellow citizens if our gun control opponents don’t have to drag us kicking and screaming into the same outcome.