Community is Probably Now More Important than Ever

Don’t be that lone shooter. Get involved in something related to shooting. Training new shooters is a great contribution. Get involved in clubs. Get involved with other shooters somehow. Figure out how to plug those people into a network.

Because citizens around the world have chosen to let a small handful of companies do gatekeeping on the Internet, we’re going to face challenges building the Late Professor Brian Anse Patrick called “Horizontal Interpretive Communities.” If you don’t know what those are, read the book. While the tech monopolies are going to throw challenges at us, they aren’t going to be able to enact perfect censorship. We will need to get creative. We will need to fly under the radar.

11 thoughts on “Community is Probably Now More Important than Ever”

  1. I helped bring in two new shooters over the last month. Two Asian fellows that work with me (alas, they may not be able to vote, I’m not sure of their citizenship status). They seemed curious about guns, so I decided to talk about guns with them a little, saw more interest, then I gave them some links to a few good internet sources for new shooters. The prices of a new pistol and training seemed a little daunting to them, so I offered to take them to the range to rent and try out a couple guns. They were eager, and after only one range trip, one of the two went out and bought his own pistol, and the other is seriously shopping. Now I’m just ready to make practice range trips with them and throw some good drills their way now and then.

    Another intern from Delaware joined us, and is also planning on getting his once he returns home.

    So yay. But, I need to get involved with a local club.

    1. Even if they can’t vote now, I think it’s great to introduce them to gun culture, for a few reasons:

      First, if they ever become citizens, they *will* be able to vote.

      Second, it’s good to have people making the case for gun ownership — even if *they* can’t vote, they can influence *friends* to.

      Third, they *may* be able to vote in their home countries. It might be a very small thing, but it’s a start. We need a better gun culture worldwide.

      Fourth, it’s fun! And it strengthens friendship, too.

      I’m sure there are other reasons, too, but regardless, the more people there are involved in gun culture, the stronger it becomes, *regardless* of ability to vote!

  2. I also suggest to have children and bring in anther generation Go to the local public school and get them to start Edie eagle in elementary and a shooting team for middle and high school. Even if you do not have children contact the local Boy scout troop and if a certified instructor offer your services.

    We need to work to get the new generation interested in our 2 A rights and the fun of shooting Plus responsible shooting

    I did that with our Scout troop

  3. Market your gun club to local schools Put flyers in grocery stores Many new shooters want to join but do not know how to get a sponsor

  4. The NRA didn’t create the blogging community back in 2003, and there is no such thing as an NRA Forum. The NSFF didn’t do this, either, it was us.
    We built it once, and we can build it again.

  5. From my own experience, I’d say having hosts that are not under the control of the tech oligopolies is more important than ever.

    It may sound backward but I think forums and bulletin board systems are going to regain some of their importance. It is like paper ballots – old technology but old technology that is private and under our control.

    1. I’m actually considering starting a “liberty blogging network” using hosts in Datacenters…

  6. I don’t think anyone “[chose] to let a small handful of companies do gatekeeping on the Internet”. Rather, the network effect took over – a few large social networking sites are a lot more valuable than many smaller ones (even in aggregate). The same thing happened for mobile device platforms, search/advertisement, and even online shopping.

    We (i.e. the US government) have a few options, but none are very good. We could break up the monopolies/duopolies/etc.; however, that would make the resultant systems a lot less useful for everyone. It might also not stick – when Ma Bell was broken up, the components merged back together (relatively) quickly.

    We could tell the gatekeepers to stop gatekeeping. That’s how you get Gab, though, and most people would just leave to go somewhere else (again, probably the one or two most useful systems with broadly-acceptable gatekeeping policies).

    We could force the gatekeepers to gatekeep the way we want to. We’d need to find the political will to force that sort of change, though, and I don’t see that happening without a seismic cultural shift – which would probably make all of this unnecessary anyway. (It also has all sorts of 1st Amendment issues.)

    Or we could just find a way to live with the current situation. Like I said, none of the options are good.

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