What the Colts can teach about restoring gun rights

I read an article from the Indy Star today, What the Colts can teach politicians. The author, Matthew Tully, related how lessons from the Indianapolis Colts win over the New York Jets in this past Sunday's AFC championship game can be carried over to managing political parties. I noted that many lessons from that game apply to the fight to restore gun rights.

In football, it is often said that the first points are the hardest to get. Whether a touchdown, field goal, or safety, you have to start somewhere no matter how early in the game or how far behind you get as the game goes on. Sunday, the Colts were able to get those first points early but then fell behind. However, they refused to give up and kept chipping at the Jets lead until it evaporated and they were left with a win.

In Ohio, concealed carry was banned for 145 years. Finally, in 2004, Ohio gun rights activists were able to get passage of a concealed carry bill and got the first points on the board, so to speak. Some people were content at that point and willing to coast, as Braylon Edwards accused the Jets of doing once they had a big lead. I remember talk within Ohioans For Concealed Carry (OFCC) that the group could now disband as concealed carry was passed. Mission accomplished.

Except that the mission wasn't accomplished. Ohio had then, and still has today, some of the most restrictive concealed carry laws in the country and there was still a lot of scoring to be done to get back into the game.

Every year, a bill is introduced in Ohio to do away with the requirement to have a concealed carry license, which could make Ohio similar to Vermont or Alaska. Usually also included in the bill are numerous other rollbacks of gun control laws and broad restorations of freedoms. However, just like it wasn't possible for the Colts to score 11 points on one play, it isn't politically possible to make that big of a score in Ohio. Instead, the points must come in smaller chunks and play after play must be called and executed. But, just like the Colts did, gun rights activists in Ohio are figuring out the gun control movement's defenses and systematically defeating each one.

In his article, Tully also talked about building for the future. The Colts have long made moves with the future of the team in mind, rarely grasping at the quick fix that would only provide immediate gratification. Bryan Torok, OFCC's vice-president, often talks about making moves for future results. When after a specific right to be restored, you sometimes have to ask for it over and over before it starts to gain traction. Sometimes lawmakers need time to get used to an idea and maybe even see how it works in another state first.

Tully also talked about the Colt's reliance on younger players, allowing aging stars to move on with their careers elsewhere or to retire. We also have to be careful in the gun rights movement to not get too stuck in our ways and work to instill our values and ethics into the next generation of gun rights activists to keep the movement going and bring in new ideas.

Fighting for gun rights is no game and lives can hang in the balance, but the lessons learned from that one game and that one team can help us to be successful in the long run.