Easy and effective activism that EVERYONE can do.

The other day, I was perusing a thread in which a fellow OC'er was asked to leave a business due to his firearm. Many of us have faced the exact same scenario, and many of us have posted here about our actions, or intended actions, and have received input and advice on what to do about it and proper (and often, improper) reactions.

Often, the term "boycott" is bandied about, and sometimes others pipe in with replies such as, "Well, I've carried there for years without a problem. I'm not boycotting.".

Which isn't very effective, as a boycott only works if a business 1) experiences noticeable economic impact, 2) IS AWARE OF THE REASON FOR THE ECONOMIC IMPACT, and finally, 3) actually alters their policy, or corrects the unwanted behavior because of it.

Therefore, "They aren't getting my money." may have a significant "feel good" effect, and legitimately express your principles, it isn't significantly effective unless 1) a large number of people also participate, or 2) they're extremely sensitive to bad PR.

Therefore, I have a suggestion that can very well be an effective method (in ADDITION to others, not as a replacement.) of activism and protest against anti-firearm attitudes of businesses we frequent:

In ADDITION to getting the manager's name who kicked you out, writing a letter to corporate, not spending your money there (boycotting) and informing everyone who will listen why.....

Don't forget to REVIEW THE BUSINESS!

I often Google businesses (mostly restaurants) that I am unfamiliar with on order to gather information before I give them my business. Maybe I'm out of town looking for a place to eat. Maybe I need a new item and search in order to find businesses geared toward that genre. In the majority of cases, there are tons of REVIEW SITES that offer to provide information.....but when I click on them, they're almost always unreviewed and simply offer a rote statement describing the business and the contact info.

If a manager kicks you out of a business because of your firearm, GO ONLINE! REVIEW THE BUSINESS ON THESE REVIEW SITES AND LET OTHERS KNOW WHY YOU AREN'T SPENDING YOUR MONEY THERE! This helps to "get the word out", not only helping your principled cause of not financially supporting a business that disregards your rights, it also LET'S THEM KNOW, in a not so subtle manner, how devastating trampling on your rights can be.

HIT THEM WHERE IT HURTS! Not just in their wallet....but where everyone who Google's them can SEE IT!

I agree, there are so many business's out there, listed in Yellowbook.com, and other more local directories, that have 0 reviews. Dropping a note on those pages, wouldn't be a bad idea. It may even open up a few which were previously unknown.

That's not a bad idea at all. Thanks for the hint!

:banana:

Ya ever wonder why so many businesses have zero reviews on those review sites? Yepper, nobody goes to those review sites. It costs nothing to place the review, go ahead. But don't count on it making a difference. Now, facebook? There may be something there. Except for me, I do not use or even visit facebook, I visit review sites.....uh, did I just type that out-loud?

That is a very good idea. There are tons of these types of sites around these days.

OC for ME said:

Ya ever wonder why so many businesses have zero reviews on those review sites? Yepper, nobody goes to those review sites. It costs nothing to place the review, go ahead. But don't count on it making a difference. Now, facebook? There may be something there. Except for me, I do not use or even visit facebook, I visit review sites.....uh, did I just type that out-loud?

Click to expand...

Not always true. Yelp.com gets a ton of traffic and a lot of places have reviews. Sites like this are pretty popular with the 30 and under crowd and people with Smart Phones especially.

OC for ME said:

............go ahead. But don't count on it making a difference.

Click to expand...

Yeah. You're right, I guess. I should probably save all my wasted effort and do absolutely nothing. Improving firearms rights would probably be better served If everyone had that attitude. It is hard for me to sit at home on the couch while hoping that things improve on their own. I've developed this habit of actually taking an active role and trying as many ways I can think of, no matter how seemingly insignificant, to forward the cause of firearms freedom. However, thanks to your sage advice, I'm no longer going to waste my time with all that useless effort. Your outlook has convinced me that it would be less troublesome to simply remain oblivious, go buy some Cheetos, and just sit on the couch watching Jersey Shore.

Someone should have talked some sense into George Washington. It might have saved him a cold hungry winter at Valley Forge.