Labels are useful to categorize and divide us. Sometimes I would be considered quite liberal and other times more libertarian. As a lobbyist I’ve always been a radical centrist because that’s where the swing votes reside in any close legislative fight necessary to forge a winning majority. I’ve watched the gun debate for the past 35 years. Not much has changed. The same groups are having the same fights over the same issues talking right past one another. If anything the rhetoric is harsher, the policy issues more distorted, and our civic engagement and confidence in our ability to self govern increasingly suspect. These are dangerous trends.
Compromise, once a hallmark of civil society and democratic progress has somehow been transformed into a dirty word, or worse, a “fighting word”! No one wants to “give an inch” anymore. Posturing for partisan political advantage is more rewarding (to both parties and most politicians) than protecting the principles of liberty, freedom and the empowerment of the individual over the unbridled power of the state. We are a far cry from that “shining city on the hill” the world once saw in us, and we believed in as a compass if not our destiny. As a nation we are being drained financially, spiritually and emotionally. Our society has become culturally depressed by endless wars – foreign and domestic. We now have a ten year war on terrorism, a 40 year war on drugs and another going on since 1968 against the role of firearms in a free society that ostensibly trusts its citizens, “the people,” over everything else.
Why then a gun rights group? Fifteen million liberal Americans own guns, (I know, I married one). Sixty million self identified moderates own guns. The defining central issue over firearms ownership has been decided already. The Supreme Court ruled, {Heller v. DC} that you have a right to own a handgun for self protection and local governments may not impose restrictions designed to absolutely prevent law-abiding citizens from exercising that right. The remaining firearm policy debates revolve around what process or procedure should there be to possess/carry/purchase/sell a tool which is now a constitutionally protected right. There are a range of answers that are generally acceptable to most gun owners and most non gun owners alike.
Meanwhile, at about the same time the gun issue was born (1968 Gun Control Act), the Nixon “war on drugs” began. That never ending money pit continues unabated with gargantuan police, judicial, and military expenditures which have led to disastrous unforeseen consequences in our country and indeed the world. Our efforts have raised the price of marijuana and dramatically lowered the street cost of cocaine and heroin. It makes you wonder if our anti-drug warriors ever bothered to study free market economics.
The drug war has destroyed the lives of hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens seriously eroded our constitutional freedoms all due to propaganda, powerful entrenched interests and huge quantities of money and political inertia. Our jails are full of non-violent criminals costing us billions of dollars at a time when we face national bankruptcy. Politicians are addicted to spending your money on a flawed philosophy proven time and time again … not to work!
I believe it’s time to join forces on these seemingly disparate issues. They really are not so different. As a Jeffersonian Republican, I want the least government intrusion into my life as possible. Yet we need government to set the boundaries, protect us from others but do we want or need the government to protect us from ourselves?
Gun owners have learned to successfully exert the type of grass roots influence on elected officials that are the envy of every corporation, issue group and trade association in Washington and many state capitols. Declaring an end to the wars on drugs and gun owners and replacing both with pragmatic national policies are objectives that demonstrate how much the two issues are interconnected in ways far beyond ATF’s “Fast and Furious” embarrassment on the Mexican border.
So why the Independent Firearms Owners Association? Call it, if you will, a rights and empowerment group that is serious when we say “the debate stops here!” It’s time to stop re-hashing the polemics of the 70s, 80s and 90s and move beyond bumper stickers. IFoA has solutions that target societal problems in an intelligent, sophisticated and professional manner in an environment where uncomfortable truths are discussed without vitriol or condescension. These issues infringe on our rights whether we are Liberals, Moderates, Conservatives, Democrats, Libertarians or Republicans. It’s time to jettison the political insanity practiced by so many groups repeating the same unproductive behavior for decades yet hoping against hope for a different outcome. It’s time for something 21st Century, a professional organization you retain to get results. If we meet your expectations - keep us, if not fire us! That’s the IFoA.
If you are ready for a contemporary oranization where individual opinions matter and your personal involvement with our efforts are the lynchpin for our early success, we want to work with you. Operating from the Radical Center we can refocus the cultural and political debate on both these contentious issues. The decision to engage is yours alone. Isn't it time we move the agenda forward instead of just talking about it? See www.IndependentFirearmOwners.org
What do you think?