On this topic there is only black and white. Any compromise results in incremental loss of rights. No more. So yes. Only two strategies.
I negotiate for a living. Negotiation only works when both parties engage. When one party compromises and the other won't then the one who wins is predictable.
On this topic we keep compromising and the other side keeps chipping away. It's time to reset the field.
I no longer believe appeasement, compromise, avoidance, etc are viable.
You're right 99 out of 100 times with this, but there are exceptions - if there was absolutely no compromise, and a bunch of states asked for con carry out of the gate, they'd still be sitting there with their ass in their hands, when instead minor concessiosn were made and millions ended up carrying guns in public as a result of those minor concessions. It's usually a bad idea but occasionally a minor sacrifice has to be made. I don't think the wave of desire for con carry would have happened without the shall issue CCW era. (It gets much easier to sell con carry when you can show that shitloads of people carry guns in public without a problem so why do we need permits?).
Minor compromises were made to ensure that cases like Heller and McDonald would actually "grow legs". Would you just throw those cases away because we didn't "win everything at once" ?
Sometimes tactical considerations must be made. That said, all of this isn't really relevant to this "issue" which is some guy holding his gun on his porch...
Assuming that because people don't see or agree with your view means they don't think or are stupid is unlikely to advance your cause.
I think the huge flaw some people are making in this thread is that:
-This guy on the porch with his gun is meaningful to RKBA advocates
-This guy on his porch with a gun actually gives a shit about RKBA activism. He probably doesn't give two
****s.
We need to get away from this nostrum that assumes that every gun owner is some kind of puritanical pro rights crusader or something. It's dumb- it's like saying that a car owner cares about motorists rights, when in reality, maybe .02% do. It's easier to just accept the fact that "some people are stupid" and move on with life. There have always been stupid gun owners, that isn't news. Just because someone doesn't use their right in the most saintly/pious way doesn't magically change everything. I mean even if everyone here thought that he was damaging to our cause, what are you going to do? shoot the guy?
I never thought that getting worked up over things that are difficult (read impossible) to change was very productive.
FTR, I think this guy is within his right to hug his gun on his porch if he wants to. That said, he's probably a weirdo whose elevator doesn't go to the top, but it's not something, by itself, worth calling the kopsch on. I think this likely got out of hand because of the parking bullshit. There is a 2nd facet to this story that is probably not being told. (probably altercations with people parking in his driveway, etc. Then he decides "I'll loaf with gun out on the porch and see if they
**** with me now." even if he didn't admit that being the reason... )
-Mike