H.A. Goodman. Photo is a screen grab from his new pro-2A Youtube Channel.
Cracking the code on what makes someone go from full-fledge anti-gunner to proud, pistol-toting patriot is a bit of a mystery. Lord knows we’ve all tried to win hearts and minds over the years preaching the gospel of guns only to come up short. Sometimes way short in that our efforts only work to harden the position of the person we are proselytizing.
With that said, maybe some insight as to how to be more persuasive can be gleaned from H.A. Goodman. A freelance writer who penned articles bashing the 2A as late as 2014, Goodman has suddenly, it seems, done a 180 on the issue. In an article on the Daily Caller, he explained what led him to change his mind.
To summarize, his awakening centers around three cognitions. First, that government tyranny is still a persisting problem and that the 2A is, and has been, historically, the safeguard against it proliferating. Second, the government is grossly incompetent when it comes to preventing mass shootings. And, third, it’s really a settled matter. Studies prove that gun control is largely ineffective.
As it relates to the first point, Goodman talks about his trust in government shaking after witnessing the Democratic Party conspire with former and active high-ranking government officials like James Clapper, James Comes and John Brennan.
“If intelligence chiefs like Brennan and Clapper can lie under oath without perjury charges, or James Comey can overlook Clinton’s private server (storing SAP intelligence) because of ‘intent,’ imagine the extent of their chicanery with a disarmed population,” wrote Goodman.
“The Second Amendment isn’t necessarily a call to arms — it’s an inconvenient reality for unelected officials who continually act with impunity and without government oversight,” he added.
SEE ALSO: Profile of a Gun Owner: ‘Scared, Under-Educated, Paranoid White Guy’?
The writer than rattles off inconvenient truths about many of the most recent mass shootings, including that the FBI probably had enough actionable intel to prevent the Orlando shooter, the Parkland shooter, the Charleston shooter. But the agency failed to do its job. Oh, and as it relates to the Vegas shooting, he mentions Feinstein who openly acknowledge no gun law could have prevented the attack.
What we need is more good guys with guns, particularly in schools. Goodman now realizes this is the most effective approach to stopping crazed killers.
“I joined the NRA and Gun Owners of America because the groupthink that I once spewed hurts law-abiding citizens and does nothing to prevent the next deranged copycat criminal,” writes Goodman.
The study Goodman was referring to examined gun crime in Pittsburgh in 2008. For more information on the study click here. This may be a helpful tool in a conversation with anti-gunners.
He goes on to say, “Since a 2008 study showed that 80 percent of crimes are committed with illegally obtained guns, ‘gun control’ is a euphemism that won’t stop deranged people intent on killing. It took me a while, but I realize now that murders aren’t stopped by controlling an inanimate object. They’re stopped by heroic people like Dixon Police Officer Mark Dallas and Deputy Jim Long, and the many others who prevented active shooters from reaching potential victims.”
Goodman is now running a pro-gun channel on Youtube. Pretty remarkable change from where he was just four years ago (assuming he is sincere and this not some type of gotcha game). Makes me sanguine about other anti-gunners following his lead. Maybe next time I have a conversation with one, I’ll start by directing them to Goodman’s article.
Look no further than the bio’s of most gun control advocates. Funny how they have serious ethical and legal issues of their own. For one thing do we need to speculate why Pervy Weinstein said he’s making it his mission to destroy the NRA? The rampant sex abuse and child molestation in the sleazy World of show biz has been a poorly kept dirty little secret for over 100 years. No wonder why the overpaid mannequins from Hollywood love to throw their star power behind the gun grabbers, looking pretty in front of the step and repeat backdrops parroting the same old meaningless rhetoric about the epidemic of gun violence. Fmr Cong Leeland Yee, good friend of Shannon Watts aka gun control Barbie who introduced legislation that would’ve effectively nullified the 2A , now serving time in federal prison for GUN RUNNING. Kenneth Glasgow, an ex con who’s now a gun control activist who turned his life around..OR DID HE? He’s now in the Dothan, AL lockup facing capitol murder charges. Seems just after speaking at a March for our lives rally in Birmingham he hooked up with some other thugs, one of whom shot a woman they were robbing with an ILLEGALLY OBTAINED Handgun. These examples are just the tip of the iceberg. Gun control is a study in hypocrisy of the worst kind.
My father taught me about guns at an early age, I don’t remember what age exactly but I remember him helping me hold the Hi Standard 22 lr and the slide cut his hand because it was a little too high on the grip.
He also told me the story of his life at age 8 when one of his brothers was playing with a revolver and pretended to another brother then him and the next brother but this time the round had made its way around to the barrel and he was killed.
This didn’t keep my father from teaching me how to use and how not to use a gun.
I am a child of the 40’s & 50’s. I was taught gun safety at the age of four by my uncle. The first lesson was “Guns are not toys, they are tools”. The major problem I see today is the unending video games of shoot em up’s and the fifteen minutes of fame mentality of today’s youth. If you are not smart enough to get your fifteen minutes by doing something good for the world, go and kill a group of innocent people and YOU ARE FAMOUS. The easy road to fame. And the news media plays up to this mentally, “good news does not make ratings, bad news does”. You almost never hear about someone saving someone from harm by a person with a legally carried weapon, this “might” get a mention in the 4 am news. Let some nut job cut loose in a mall or a school and you will hear about it for the next week on every news cast, on every channel. As to the people who want to get rid of the second amendment. If you want to be a subject, go to England, If you want to be a citizen of the USA read the Constitution and the Amendments, join the NRA & GOA and defend the 2nd Amendment.
None of our laws actually prevent crime. They only provide punishment. And when it comes to your personal protection the same holds true. You are responsible for yourself. The police can only show up after your dead.
I have taken twelve people to my range over the past year and none of them have ever been around a gun. Most thought the N.R.A. was a terrorist organization.
After telling them to look up the history of the N.R.A. and learning When & Why they started protecting our constitution I know of 8 that have joined. Two of those don’t even own or want a gun.
Every single person ( Male & Female) are now educated on guns The N.R.A. and the safety programs they provide to children in schools.
I find that showing people is better to educate them then trying to tell them.
Plus, I tell them why people have more then one gun, The guns are all different and shoot different even if the same caliber.
I suggest for all gun owners to take a neighbor or friend to the range and educate them that it is not the N.R.A. or guns that kill, It is the evil person that desires to kill.
I have a 300 yard range on my property with targets set up every fifty yards and have “educated” several people from teens to seniors on gun safety and how to properly fire a weapon and have allowed fathers to bring their young children to fire their first shots with one of my .22 rifles under my strict supervision of course. Thanks for your suggestion on educating folks about the NRA! Seems trying to explain it someone with a mindset of it’s a terrorist organization supporting gun manufacturers is a waste of breath and time.