The Purpose of This Blog
We've been seeing a destructive trend lately in the Gun Space. We've seen content creators shifting from education and expanding our community and turning into what we call "GunBlabbers". These are tabloid-style channels that exist solely to disseminate and discuss gossip, slander, and drama in the community. They often position themselves as righteous because they are "Holding the community accountable". In reality, they are stroking a weak ego and creating divisions in an already small, albeit critical, community of gun owners. They justify their actions in a plethora of ways, but at the end of the day, they are intending on capitalizing on drama and mistakes of others to build their own following and their own clout. We disagree with this methodology, and we believe it is irreversibly destructive to our community. That is, unless others step in to be a lighthouse to bring true accountability to the community we exist within. THAT is why we made the video, and this is why we are writing this blog. We sincerely hope this blog encourages you and inspires you to take the higher, more difficult road. Let's dive into this.
The Evidence of our "Community"
When I entered this space, I saw three words prevalently displayed across the platforms:
1.) Faith
2.) Family
3.) Freedom
3 words that define focus areas for a community to exhibit excellence with the intent of building a strong culture. I was excited to enter this space. But I quickly found that our community simply used God as a check box to make sure others knew we were "Christian enough". We checked the box, but our actions didn't align with the values and the statement. Family was something many people bragged about and acted as though they led well, but our industry is full of vacant fathers, broken homes, and divorce. Freedom is a word that got thrown around. "Don't Touch My Freedom!". But the moment someone we disagreed with entered the space, we ostracized them and treated them as outcasts. The Holier Than Thou mentality was and is rampant. We want "freedom" so long as the others practicing it fit into OUR moulds. If they don't we want to restrict them from access, and we will be unwelcoming to new community members.
Bravado, egos, idolization of gear, and descent into gossip plagued this community. I saw this right away. But in the early days, it wasn't as prevalent. People still desired to create quality content, people were all around pushing each other to become better. But as more creators came online, the quality of content increased, and technological advances slowed, boredom and burnout plagued those who created content. Click bait became rampant, and industry personnel and creators found that the low hanging fruit was creating negative content that got people emotional and caused division. This content stokes flames and gets clicks and engagement faster than anything. Pages grow rapidly, ad money and income increases, and the creator rinses and repeats.
Want to Support what we are doing at TA?
Purchasing a Steel target system is a fantastic way to financially support us. Get leading class steel targets backed by our warranty and guarantee. Become a capable provider and protector!
Defining a Community
Before we talk about what we can do to build a functional community, we need to first DEFINE what a community is. Here are three definitions of the word "community":
1.) a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.
2.) a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.
3.) a group of interdependent organisms of different species growing or living together in a specified habitat.
I get a lot of resistance when I call this a community. It's because the Gun Community consists not just of physical people interacting, but also digital interactions. More of a network, if you will. We often separate the two into different categories, but they either add or subtract in the same way. A quality video that encourages people to become better has as much impact as a quality range day with friends, or a local gun shop that galvanizes people around a higher calling. Likewise, a negative video destroys trust and breaks down our community, just like a negative gun shop or an unsafe range day experience will.
They add and subtract. They give and take. You can't have one without the other, and the actions of all of us inside the network and physical world leave a lasting impact, good or bad.
Discussing the observations I see:
1.) We do not look out for the interests of others. We are selfish and pursue only what makes us feel good in the moment.
2.) We do not intentionally build up others. Instead, we linger in wait for the next controversy. Whether that is the next Sig drama, A YouTube personality creating the next controversy, or a business separation that has nothing to do with us, there are figure heads that are masters of division amongst us. Take our video with Jake Paul. Rather than understanding strategy and seeing what we did for what it was: Simply making a video showcasing a range, there are hundreds of people who are so fast to spew negative garbage. Few came to us and said “Hey. I’m genuinely curious why you did that. I’ve followed you for a decade, I know who you are and what you’re about, so there must be a reason.” No, instead some of you acted like this was an airline and happily announced your “departure”. So be it. We are SO short sighted. I shouldn’t have to explain strategy or expansion.
3.) We claim we want reach and want to bring new people into the fold, but the moment a good company does that and pours back into the culture, many of you pose and prep for attack.
4.) These people intentionally stoke flames of division rather than unity because it financially benefits themselves, strokes their ego, and brings attention to themselves.
5.) We feel our opinions are more important than they actually are. This confirmation bias leads us to believe that we are in the right when in fact, we often are completely missing the mark.
6.) We are hypocrites who forget that all have fallen short, all have made mistakes, all have marks in our past that we wish nobody would know about.
7.) We are happy to hang the dirty laundry of others out for display, to engage in public ridiculing, but we are unwilling to deal with our own shortcomings, flaws, and mistakes first.
8.) Calling out actions that go directly against our standards isn’t the problem. Engaging in destructive gossip with the intent of harming and spreading rumors is.
9.) Our community claims that we want to prepare to resist tyranny, but a large portion of us can’t even resist the urge to make dumb comments on the internet. Tell me how your resistance to tyranny will go when you can’t even be cohesive in a peaceful time.
10.) On one hand we call anyone who reviews products we love to learn about shills, and we claim they’re worthless. But the moment they do something we don’t like; we create a stampede to their comment section to join in the tribal meltdown that is sure to come. Wait, I thought you said they were shills, and we shouldn’t pay attention to them? Do they have influence or not? You don’t even know what you stand for.
11.) God is not honored as we simply amass gear for selfish reasons rather than selfless causes. We replace the reliance on our creator with defensive tools we feel will protect us. We create idols of metal and plastic, rather than using the tools to train for a higher purpose.
12.) We are entitled because most of us haven’t had to fight for anything. We are comfortable and we forget that ownership of God given rights always comes at a cost.
13.) We are not often welcoming, and in fact we can be extremely abrasive to people who are just beginning their journey into firearms.
I am not saying that this community lacks and good energy. I am saying that there is visibly MORE negative content than positive. And there is a general desire to pray on each others downfall, rather than a desire to build up.
Core Values
Core values are "beliefs that drive our actions". One of the solutions I see to solving this problem is to lay out an agreed upon set of values that our community operates under. In order to hold something accountable, you need a measurement to compare against. All this talk of "transparency and accountability" means nothing without this metric. So when someone says their comment is "holding a person or brand accountable", that isn't possible without a scale. Here is what I propose for the SEVEN core values of the Gun Community:
1.) Freedom: we possess the inherent right to arms, the foundation of liberty that defends all other human rights.
2.) Responsibility: As members of this community and holders of the knowledge of liberty, we have a responsibility of stewardship, education, and accountability among our community.
3.) Faith: Believing in something higher than ourselves. Our actions are driven by a vision that is larger than just our wants, needs, and desires.
4.) Love: We prepare to protect because of a sacrificial love of others. We measure our words and actions by this value. Because we love others, we extend grace, forgiveness, and we become mentors of those who are new and on their firearm journey.
5.) Family: Blood and Chosen families are the bedrock of any community. And we will lead ours with honor, principle, and set an example through our families so others may follow the example. Because communities consist of groups of families, we will build ours intentionally, setting an example for others to follow.
6.) Courage: We are willing to do hard things that may cost us something in order to protect others.
7.) Unity: We put aside our selfish desires, the egos, and our pride in order to create a cohesive community of people focused on these values.
If you resist those values, then I believe you are not part of this community. You are not a cultural fit. You will be abrasive to furthering the vision, you will hold back the rest of us from our potential impact.
How do we make the changes needed?
This is where it gets interesting, and this is where the hard work begins.
1.) Responsibility: If you own guns, get trained. Stop making excuses. Stop waiting. Get after it. To be a teacher of these things, you first must be able to showcase these things. You will only really teach someone to slightly below the skillset you possess. Make sure YOUR skillset is ample to be able to empower another person.
2.) Accountability: We NEED accountability. The next time you see an influencer running their mouths spreading gossip, here say, half-truths, or genuinely posting content that goes against these values, speak up. Make a stand. Call out those who are acting like toddlers engaging in this nonsense. Make it known that as a community, we no longer will engage or tolerate behavior from “men” who act like they are five. When you feel yourself getting fired up about something that happened to some company in the industry, or some influencer starts pointing fingers, remind yourself that they are here for division. You are here for unity. You are here for furthering our rights. They are here to stroke their weak, fragile ego. Do not give them the attention they desire.
3.) Be courageous. Speak boldly about our rights, bring others into the fold, speak the truth and be willing to come beside others in their journey. Teach others that guns aren’t scary. Be the advocate for the cause and the reason our community expands.
4.) Love others. Remember that we all have our own dirty laundry. Give grace. When you see the gossip monkeys yelling about the next drama, extend grace, forgiveness, peace. We have ALL made major mistakes in our lives. We have all done wrong. We have also all been wronged. We are not perfect, and people are not perfect. Instead of casting judgement, let’s first extend grace and understand we might not have the information needed to judge. And it’s not our place. Focus on loving others instead of tearing down others.
5.) Unity: Remembering that unity doesn’t mean we agree on everything. But it DOES mean we operate with a certain standard. We weigh our words and actions and make sure they build instead of breaking. That we are intentionally operating at a higher standard, and that we hold each other to a higher standard for the sake of Unity.
If we do not change, we will not impact.
I believe in a grander vision for this community. One where men act like men, and the boyish nonsense is put to rest. Where gossip channels do not get engagement, and people hold them privately accountable. Where we agree upon a standard of which we act, and we graciously accept others into our community. One where we lead by example. We set an example WORTHY of following so that others may see what it means to be a contributing member. IF, and only IF, we do this, will our rights expand and will we reach the potential of this collective. If we disregard this calling or reject these ideals, than this community truly is a con. A phony. A Fake. It stands for nothing, and it will achieve nothing.
Give our next video in this series a watch. Leave us a comment. Let's talk about this.
The Gun CON-munity