And that is why you will lose. The fact that you want to actually filter the word weapon means you have already lost.
I said almost!
We can't actually have a real debate without being able to use the actual words. However, you also have to factor in almost 40 years of Liberal social re-engineering that has indoctrinated the 25 million non-gun owners in Canada to hate and fear firearms and by association, gun owners. Is it right? Absolutely not, but in order to win those people over, we need to be smart and not adopt the bull in a china shop aproach.
While I firmly believe that we have the right to own and use firearms and the right to self-defence via English common law traditions, Canada in the last forty years hasn't had the same cultural influences in terms of our "gun culture." We have no overt constitutional shield like the US 2nd Amendment to stand behind. In America, an attack on the 2nd Amendment is seen by many to be an attack on the entire constitution and bill of rights itself. Even non gun owners take exception in such cases. We're not going to get the same kind of support from the latte-swilling tree huggers that live in downtown Toronto, as we've seen time and again up here in Canada.
To win the fight, we need to focus on the individual and not so much the firearm. A firearm is an inanimate object that, by itself, cannot kill anything. As responsible firearms owners, we need to present ourselves in the very best light possible and to dispell the myths and lies that the progressive gun banners have been spreading about us.
As a hard core black gun guy, I own more than a dozen, I genuinely think of them as no different than any of my other long guns. I truly see them as nothing more than "modern sporting rifles." At one time it was legal to hunt with my Colt AR-15 SP1 (a better seal gun was never made IMHO) and I'd like to do so again one day legally. I currently use my Swiss Arms and Tavor to hunt coyotes and have taken a moose with a Norinco M14S. That is how we need to frame the debate over our black and green guns. They aren't "weapons of war" but civilian sporting rifles of a modern design. At its core, the Winchester Model 70 is nothing more than an updated Mauser/Springfield design. That is the connections we need for the public to make.
If we do things right:
Gun owners = Good Guys & Swiss Arms, Tavor, etc... = Innocuous Spoting Rifle.
NO DANGER! NOTHING TO FEAR!
We do ourselves a disservice if we inadvertently live up to all the incorrect stereotypes the Coalition for Gun Control and their allies have been propogating. We certainly won't advance our cause if we come across as a bunch of beer-swillin', camo-wearing, angry, AK-47 toting rednecks who sprout "From my cold dead hands." While I can share that sentiment privately, the fact remains that image is the nightmare that the gun banners have instilled into millions of soccer moms from coast to coast.
We need to play things smart and think strategically. After all, you can win all the battles, but still lose the war. I want to win the war, and if that means calling my AR-15, Swiss Arms Classic Green or Tavor a firearm instead of a "weapon" and my magazines "standard capacity" rather than "hi-cap" than I will do so.
