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Write a Letter to the Editor! |
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Written by Mike Kinsey
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Saturday, 24 November 2007 |
Anyone that has volunteered at an OFCC gun show booth in Dayton can attest to the fact that I like to talk... a lot. I enjoy debating. I enjoy researching my arguments. I enjoy trying to persuade others. This is especially true when I am passionate about a topic. Baseball statistics, fast motorcycles, and our Second Amendment rights are conversations that you do not want to initiate with me unless you have an evening to kill. If you gave me a megaphone, I would wear out the batteries in one afternoon. Luckily, there is something much more effective than a megaphone and a corner soapbox available to each and every one of us: our local newspapers.
Letters to the editor are an effective means of furthering concealed carry issues. They allow us to inform the general public of concerns that they may not think about very often and provide a means for correcting false information that runs rampant in the media when firearms are discussed. This could be particularly relevant for the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court battle over the meaning of the Second Amendment. One lone voice can educate a large audience on the history and necessity of our right to keep and bear arms.
I have had good luck and almost everything I submit to newspapers around the state gets published somewhere. I humbly submit some suggestions for your consideration when writing your own letters:
- Be concise. Most newspapers have a limit on the number of words allowed in your letter. However, do not restrict yourself right off the bat. Compose everything that you want to say and then later cut what you feel is extraneous. You would be surprised how easy this is by eliminating unnecessary adjectives and adverbs.
- Be focused. Only respond to one issue at a time. Liberal journalists have the luxury of blabbering on about a few dozen reasons why guns are evil in their columns. Unfortunately, an unfocused letter that attempts to address multiple issues will usually not be selected for print. If it is, you may be giving your audience too much to digest at once.
- Be prompt. When writing a letter in response to an editorial or current event, it stands a better chance of being published if it is submitted no more than a couple days after what urged you to write it.
- Be persistent. The internet makes it very easy to submit the same letter to multiple newspapers. When I write something that I would like to see published, I can quickly fill out the online submission form to a dozen Ohio newspapers in just a few minutes by cutting and pasting my work. Also, do not get discouraged if your letter is not published. Rest assured that someone is reading it and it may influence their reports at a later date!
- Remember Your Training. Your boring high school English teacher might lecture about proper thesis construction or “the rule of three” when presenting an argument. I use something more entertaining than that when crafting my letters: The Mozambique Drill! Most of us practice “two to the chest, one to the head” at the range. I say use that approach while sitting at your favorite word processor. I like to double-tap a topic by presenting two significant and factual points before finishing up with a well-aimed “head shot” in the form of something a little more emotional or a catchy phrase that the reader will remember.
Hopefully, these suggestions will encourage you to write more letters to the media. If firearm advocates stay silent when misleading arguments are spouted about our Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms, only that evil is heard. |
