Warning! If you read my blog here you know that I have become a gun owner. I am finding that the interest I have had in them throughout my life is back and I am getting an amazing amount of enjoyment shooting and have made amazing progress in my abilities in a very short period of time. My last post was explaining the motivation for my return to the realm of gun ownership. What I wasn’t expecting was finding what is becoming a real passion for it.
As I went online and read and watched material on guns and shooting, my biggest frustration was having to wade through the constant 2nd Amendment defenses, almost always extreme, turning the channel into a political site disguised as an enthusiast site. It is a knee jerk thing that people assume you to have a far right agenda simply because you are interested in guns.
The laws changed here in Virginia on July 1st and now you are limited to buying one handgun a month. I used to think that was no big deal, but if you are a collector or a retailer that makes a good bit of your income from the obsessed it is a hassle, but I’m still supportive of it. However, I got bitten by it. The law was retroactive and I had purchased a weapon in the middle of June. I wanted another and since it was July I assumed it would be no problem. My purchase was denied because I was trying to buy within 30 days of my last purchase. The dealer spoke to me privately and asked if I had purchased recently and we quickly realized what had happened. He expected me, wanted me, to be outraged and said “Make sure you vote in November!” It frustrated him that I took it in stride and was not particularly annoyed by the delay. I told him I was there for a pistol and not his politics and told him I would pick it up in a couple of weeks and I left.
My frustration with all this, that I was expected to support a particular political ideology simply because I had an interest in a particular hobby, kept building and I decided to do something about it.
I started a YouTube channel.
When brainstorming it I was torn between making it an openly left-leaning offering or one that was strictly apolitical. I decided to start out with the latter, open to the idea that may change as I evolve with this. But the mission statement as stated in the first video I posted was to have it be a place about guns and shooting , not politics.
I bend over backwards to not tip my hand, keeping the content focused. Safety, progress, ways to enjoy handguns and improve with them is the sole target. I can’t help but think there are others out there that share the interest but not the partisanship. They just like shooting. I am a strong supporter of the idea of America as a land of law, that we are all governed by the same rules. The fact that it doesn’t work that way is a different post, but the concept is a very noble one. To that end as laws change I will happily comply with them. That is an unlikely response by the “influencers” I am encountering in my browsing. Defying government is more the norm, the underlying threat not terribly well disguised.
Much of the content I see is good ol’ boys in the backyard, but there are also outstanding professionals out there that are amazing teachers and communicators that have helped me immensely. I don’t fit in neatly with either of these groups. Though I have some experience, I am still basically a beginner and invite folks to come on that journey with me. I share what I do know, and show how I’m learning the rest.
So that’s what it’s about. I am making a naked appeal for your help in launching this effort. I see it as a very subtle way of pushing back against the constant drone of terrified powerless people who see a gun as a way to actively level the playing field. My motivation is a bit different. My motivation to become a gun owner was strictly a defensive posture. I fear they are preparing for a more offensive one, and I simply don’t support that for anyone, regardless of their side of the aisle.
I would like to grow and get some traction so there is an alternative. There just have to be people longing for that same thing, a safe place to just enjoy their hobby and not get radicalized while doing it.
Will you help me? Even if the topic isn’t your cup of tea, can you support the intention? The YouTube algorithm will help content get seen based on how people respond to it and I want this to be an available alternative for people. I’m asking you to go to the channel, like some videos and subscribe to it. Do it as a friend or because you think the idea has value. I just started this and this is the first public announcement of the sites existence, so it is in its very infancy. Now it needs mother’s milk.
It’s called Get on Target with Linc. I am using an abbreviated form of my middle name. I initially called it Get on Target with Lincoln, but the Civil War implications made that untenable. People would click on it just to see profiles on John Wilkes Booth. So I’m Linc. Using the name keeps it in my mind that this isn’t about Bruce, who is a political animal. This is about Linc, who isn’t.
If you’re willing, click the link. If nothing else you might get a laugh.
1 Comment
John VanderMyde · July 18, 2020 at 11:40 am
I find Paul Harrell and Forgotten Weapons to be two good non political Youtube gun channels. But you’re right – most of them are full of right wing garbage.
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