The Four Square Plan

In the year 2000, I proposed the 3 Cubed Plan for gun owner activists.  Simply, it was a list of the three most important and achievable goals to achieve before the 2004 elections.  Those three goals were:

1. Concealed carry in all 50 states
2. Reverse assault weapons bans
3. Export the 2nd Amendment

We achieved one (sun-setting of the AWB), and made great progress on the other two.  But, this is just a beginning and we have a critical problem ahead.

Problem: We have friends in the White House and congress.  Gun owners tend to get complacent, and this is poisonous as we have four short years to make the most progress as we can - this opportunity may never come again.  In other words, we cannot afford to become complacent now.

The Four Squares:  With the help of Gun Facts readers worldwide, I have defined four goals to achieve before the 2008 elections (these need to be done before the election to remove them as election year issues).  The four goals to achieve in four years are:

1. Shall Issue concealed carry in all 50 states (CCW-50)
2. National CCW reciprocity (N-CCW)
3. Repeal parts of the Gun Control Act 1968 (No-68)
4. Push gun rights as human rights in the United Nations (UN-Push)

Shall Issue CCWs in all 50 States:  The progress on this during the 2000-2004 election cycle was outstanding.  As of the end of 2004, 35 states were shall-issue states, with more contemplating the option.  Only a handful of states are rejecting the possibility outright.

The data from the 35 states that do have shall-issue CCW laws has completely discredited the scare tactics used by gun banners.  Pushing forward on CCW-50 will remove the fear from an ever larger part of the population, and destroys more of the opposition's failing credibility.

National CCW reciprocity: Currently, any state can deny concealed carry privileges to people who have CCWs from other states (if you live in California, and have a Nevada CCW, you cannot carry concealed in your home state).  The "full faith and credit" clause of the constitution will not solve this problem.  Federal legislation (likely on interstate commerce grounds) needs to be passed to allow those who have CCWs to carry in any state.

Repeal parts (or all) of the Gun Control Act of 1968: Passed in post-assassination fervor, the GCA68 took away many gun owners rights.  The value of this laws is questionable at best as it has not proven to be effective.  With many new laws that control criminal access to firearms, we have justification to repeal the more onerous parts of the GCA68.

Gun rights as human rights in the U.N.:  The United Nations has two big projects: one to promote human rights around the world and the other to cripple private access to firearms (yes, that is a contradiction . . . but what did you expect from the U.N.).  Since the Bush administration did a fantastic job of blocking the latter, we need to use the administration of Non Government Organizations (NGOs) within the U.N. to add "the right to keep and bear arms" as a human right in their list of human rights.

No plan will work without some tactics to support them.  Here are a few that I would like gun rights activists to employ for the next four years.

Neighborly CCW work:  If you live in a CCW state, but a neighboring state is struggling to pass CCWs, get involved over the border (Hear that Nevada?  We Californians need your help.)  You benefit as it is much easier to convince the new CCW state to provide reciprocity to you in a neighboring state.

NGO promotion:  Write your favorite NGO (the NRA/GOA/SAF will do) and demand that they push gun rights as human rights in the U.N..  Even if we don't win, we force the U.N. gun grabber into a defensive mode from where they have to defend their entire human rights program.

Talk freely about gun ownership:  Here in Alameda, California, heart of the San Francisco Bay Area anti-gun throngs, the local NRA Member's Council marched in the 4th of July Parade.  Positive response from the crowds outnumbered negative response by 30-to-1.  Come out of the gun control closet, and take a friend or reporter shooting.  Being visible is part of the campaign to remove fear from voters.