TexasCHLforum.com

Great article.
Funny it doesn't specify the religion or politics of the sheepdog. Wonder why that is?

The Annoyed Man wrote: Does it help to add that the Klukkers were all democrats and MLK was a registered republican? (true)

I'm just twisting your tail a little bit for fun. Please don't be offended.

It absolutely helps TAM!
I've no allegiance to a political party so bash the Dems all you want. Obviously "liberal" /= democrat and "conservative" /= republican.

Chas-
There's a little thing called "cognitive dissonance" that makes it hard for everyone to accept new conflicting data. This is a well-demonstrated psychological phenomenon. But we should first realize that there are plenty of pro-gun people that applies to as well. There's quite a bit of psychological data on the approach to changing minds, and that is supposedly the best approach. I've rarely seen it as well - but keep in mind these are rare things generally speaking, not just for gun issues.

The other side says the same thing - just swap "liberal" with "conservative" and you have a perfect flag waving "red vs blue" and "us vs them" situation. How's that working out for us all?

I don't want to get into politics, suffice to say I think there are a lot of people who are anti-gun who can be persuaded to be pro-freedom by using prominent liberal people as examples and arguments from a civil rights perspective.

Snatchel you don't have to apologize to me.
As long as 2nd Amendment issues are a culture war between "us" and "them" we will make no progress. As soon as these issues are about shared values as Americans that don't have anything to do with other beliefs, we have a chance to help people understand. This is not a "conservative" or "liberal" thing - it's an American civil rights, tolerance, and privacy thing.
/lecture

I liked this series of articles quite a bit: http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/Raging-A ... lf-Defense" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm a "liberal" by the way - let's be careful we don't throw that word around and make the same mistake the anti-gun people do: come up with a nice convenient term for a very diverse group of people that is emblematic of just the things we don't like.
About now the terms "liberal" and "conservative" are about as useful as "gun-nut" and "hippie". Hoi Polloi's comment is just as true for people who use the term "liberal" in a pejorative way.

I heard once that people are entitled to their own opinions but not entitled to their own facts. If people want to THINK that increasing concealed carry freedom makes things more dangerous, they are welcome to that opinion. Just please acknowledge that the actual facts are exactly the opposite. You can think campus concealed carry will make things more dangerous, and I can think its safer to drive without my seatbelt on. But as long as we are adults we both need to acknowledge the facts don't support our position. Nothing wrong with emotional feeling about things, but realize that as a human society we need to let facts also into the equation.

Pointing out "liberal" support for gun rights helps too. Seeing someone they identify with that position helps:
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/02/25/gun-rally.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/20 ... rship.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Reminding them that gun control laws were the Klan's favorite law, that MLK jr and his contingent carried weapons legally for necessary protection, and that http://pinkpistols.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; exists for good reason often helps.