Even people who know about guns, let alone the laity, are frequently shocked at the level of gun nerdery required to actually know the differences between gun laws in different jurisdictions. And they can vary even down to the municipality level. https://twitter.com/StephenGutowski/status/1235947645555875843

Ppl are used to odd differences in state laws. “Haha, once I tried to fill up my own gas in NJ, and my friend who’s from there looked at me like I’m crazy."

Except on guns, people have *no idea* about the severity of the differences. There’s no parallel in American life.

This step-change is completely alien to most people’s morality. Visit the range with friends in, say, Pennsylvania. You bring 4 rifles and 4 mags each.

In PA, a fun Saturday with friends. In NY, 20 class D felonies (1 per rifle, 1 per mag). Max penalty: 140 years in prison.

So you have a maze of laws that:
- Vary between states and municipalities
- Are poorly understood by police, and often require a lawyer to parse
- Depending on which state you’re in, the same exact behavior snaps instantly from “oh, a fun family activity” to “oh, life in prison”.

And it won’t surprise you to see who these laws are most vigorously enforced against. https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/local/2016/03/06/safe-act-charges-rising/81416444/

84% of SAFE Act prosecutions (just to take an example of one of these laws) would have been misdemeanors before, but are now felonies. Same laws, but imprisoning more people for longer, or forcing them into more coercive plea bargains. So empirically, it’s the poorest who suffer.

Here’s Giffords explaining every detail about NY gun laws. Just 1 thing missing: prison terms.

Hmm, they list *everything*. Why leave out that key info?

B/c when people learn you get 7 years in prison for the wrong-shape grip on your rifle, they recoil. https://lawcenter.giffords.org/assault-weapons-in-new-york/

So, circling back: the laity has no idea about how these legal step-changes destroy people’s lives. Esp. poor and disadvantaged people. So with good intentions, they think these laws are moral. And groups rely on never letting those good intentions encounter the dark truth.

We're lucky in that we get to *only* focus on spreading the truth. The more people know about guns — guns themselves, gun culture, gun laws, the whole gamut — the less they respond to fear.

If someone’s telling you to be afraid, they’re telling you to let them think for you.

We want you to think for yourself, which means exploring the whole truth and going wherever that takes you. More info, more nuance, more sources, more voices.