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I just finished reading "What Americans really want...REALLY - The Truth About our Hopes, Dreams, and Fears" by Dr. Frank I. Luntz.

Some of you may have seen Dr. Luntz on Fox News or on other networks. He is a professional wordsmith, and he has worked for major political campaigns, both sides of the aisle, large corporations, large unions, etc., etc., etc. His specialty seems to be surveying people and running focus groups to find out what they really want, and then offering them verbal/marketing advice on how to get it. In any case, he has surveyed thousands of people over a lot of years, and he has come up with some pretty interesting results. The reason I'm posting about this is that there is an appendix in the back of the book with the survey results from a broad array of questions he has asked different focus groups. Some are general in nature, and some are much more specific. For instance, in the opening table of results, participants are asked to answer the statement "I'm mad has hell and I'm not going to take it anymore."

The results were:
72% - Agree
33% - Strongly Agree
39% - Somewhat Agree
17% - Somewhat Disagree
10% - Strongly Disagree
28% - Disagree

So, what does that have to do with gun rights, you ask? On pages 282 and 283 are the following questions/answers, and it doesn't bode well for the existence of untrammeled gun rights:

Question: Which of the following matters the most to you? (1st/2nd Choice Combined)

Results:
66% - Freedom of Speech
40% - Freedom of Religion
20% - Freedom to Own a Gun
18% - Freedom from Unreasonable Search and Seizure
16% - Freedom to Petition Government
12% - Freedom of the Press
12% - Freedom from Cruel and Unusual Punishment
9% - Freedom to Peaceably Assemble
5% - Freedom to Have a Quick and Speedy Trial by a Jury of Your Peers
2% - Freedom from Having to Incriminate Yourself

Question: From the same list, which of the following matters least to you? (1st/2nd Choice Combined)

Results:
47% - Freedom to Own a Gun
29% - Freedom from Having to Incriminate Yourself
25% - Freedom of the Press
19% - Freedom from Cruel and Unusual Punishment
17% - Freedom to Peaceably Assemble
17% - Freedom to Petition the Government
17% - Freedom to Have a Quick and Speedy Trial by a Jury of Your Peers
14% - Freedom from Unreasonable Search and Seizure
11% - Freedom of Religion
1% - Freedom of Speech

What that means for us as gun owners is this: only 20% of Americans think that the RKBA is most important to them (after the freedoms of speech and religion); while fully 47% of all Americans think the RKBA is the least important of our rights.

This seems to be the direction our nation is headed in. So, collectively, what are we going to do about this — not just the protection of the 2nd Amendment, but the promotion of the importance of that right in the minds of the public?

I thought the public determines what is important to them. While the shift is interesting I don't know that it calls for not allowing people to express themselves in a free manner.

The Annoyed Man wrote:

What that means for us as gun owners is this: only 20% of Americans think that the RKBA is most important to them (after the freedoms of speech and religion); while fully 47% of all Americans think the RKBA is the least important of our rights.

It is sad and it is unfortunate but that is my sense as well. I'm glad, in a way, that I'm long of tooth and gray of beard, alas.

The Annoyed Man wrote:
What that means for us as gun owners is this: only 20% of Americans think that the RKBA is most important to them (after the freedoms of speech and religion); while fully 47% of all Americans think the RKBA is the least important of our rights.

This seems to be the direction our nation is headed in. So, collectively, what are we going to do about this — not just the protection of the 2nd Amendment, but the promotion of the importance of that right in the minds of the public?
It doesn't mean much at all. Just because many people believe that the ability to speak freely and worship our God as see see fit is the most important things in our lives, doesn't mean that the RkBA is not important. The right to keep arms to many people is only needed to guarentee the rest. I cvan't see where any of the listed choices aren't important.
The survey is sorta like asdking asking "Which part of your baody would you mind the government taking from you the most:
A: Your Heart
B: Your Brain
C: Your Kidneys
D: Your Lungs

Darn it they are all important!! If they take our hearts away our brains aren''t going to find much use!!

Same can be said about our constitutiuonal rights

Liberty wrote:The survey is sorta like asking "Which part of your baody would you mind the government taking from you the most:
A: Your Heart
B: Your Brain...

You beat me to it. Or asking which of your kids you love most (as in Sophie's Choice).

The Annoyed Man wrote:So, collectively, what are we going to do about this — not just the protection of the 2nd Amendment, but the promotion of the importance of that right in the minds of the public?

What we have always been doing:

• Support the NRA.
• Support the TSRA.
• Support any other pro-RKBA group that you think is worthwhile.
• Research candidates and support those that favor individual rights.
• Take people to the range.
• Write letters to the editor.
• Lay off the "sheeple" and other dismissive language. We are all in the same boat, whether we like it or not, and there's nowhere else to go.

- Jim

Which is most important to you:

Food
Water
Air
Shelter

mymojo wrote:Which is most important to you: Food Water Air Shelter

Actually, that's an easy question. You die in minutes without air. You die in days without water. You die in months without food. You can live your entire life outdoors.

As long as you can breathe, you can find the other things.

BTW, this ranking of rights overlooked habeus corpus, the only right mentioned in the body of the Constitution. If the government can lock up people without notice or the possibility of bail, all the other rights become meaningless. They can simply lock up anyone whose speech, politics, beliefs, or activities annoy them. When the prisons become full, they can shoot them in the back of the head and harvest their organs.

- Jim

Seamus says,

BTW, this ranking of rights overlooked habeus corpus, the only right mentioned in the body of the Constitution. If the government can lock up people without notice or the possibility of bail, all the other rights become meaningless. They can simply lock up anyone whose speech, politics, beliefs, or activities annoy them. When the prisons become full, they can shoot them in the back of the head and harvest their organs.

- Jim



Jim, too

Thanks, Jim.

There were so many Jims in my family, it wasn't funny. if you called "Hey, Jim," at a family get-together, at least five men or boys would have answered.

The same is true at any Irish wake.

- Jim