Wylie,
The New York State Rifle & Pistol Association has sunk almost half a million into their lawsuit against SAFE Act in NY. I joined them and sent $$$. The bad news is that a federal District judge just upheld most of SAFE. The next step is an appeals court, and the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals is pretty anti-gun and thus will almost certainly uphold the SAFE Act. So the question is what the Supreme Court of the US will do when the case is appealed to them. I am not optimistic about the courts. That said, while all that plays out, the best thing to do if you want to help is to send something to the NYSRPA, Connecticut Civil Defense League, or Second Amendment Foundation.
The next thing to do is to help true Patriot refugees from these collectivist progressive shitholes escape. There are good Americans who need to escape CT, NY, CA, etc. Their states are lost and will not be reclaimed, short of a massive pro-gun federal invasion (like dropping the 82nd AB into NY to enforce the spirit of the 2A... kind of like dropping the 82nd into the South to force the integration of schools...). They have lost at the soap box, ballot box, and jury box. So they need help getting out, or at least getting their families out. Sponsoring a family and helping them relocate, steering jobs or educational opportunities their way, etc are all good things to do.
The next step is to contain the collectivist bullshit. We need to be aware of Tories leaving these states and heading our way like rats leaving a sinking ship as their economies implode. True Patriots who love freedom and are trying to escape should be welcomed; Tories looking to retire in a low-tax state yet who want to continue to vote for their anti-freedom bullshit should be shunned. Seriously, make them feel unwelcome, especially if they are still house hunting. If they have already moved into your state, then you either need to shun them and make them leave, or find a way to socialize them in the ways of freedom.
We also have our own internal problems in the free states; we need to put more attention into waking and empowering freedom minded Americans, helping people stand on their own two feet with productive employment, and ensuring our kids are growing up in an environment that values freedom and liberty. We need to push our reps at the state level to support a pro-freedom agenda, even if that means allowing some of "those people" who look/act/believe differently from us to exercise some freedoms in a way that makes us uncomfortable. Seriously, the South has cut off its nose to spite its face in its effort to impose racist gun control (and other laws) on the population in an effort to disarm racial minorities. All of us, regardless of skin color, deal with the legacy of Jim Crow when navigating the pretty marginal gun laws of the south. We need to push for things like Constitutional Carry, even if it means people that don't look like us will get to carry guns too. "Freedom for me but not for thee" is a losing game and allows the enemies of freedom to divide and conquer.
The end game has to be federal intervention to force the Ban States to deal with the 2A, or it needs to be some degree of partition. I know federal intervention is controversial and unpopular. We fought a civil war over the idea, and in the end we decided that the Federal Government has the authority and responsibility to ensure the states honor the Bill of Rights (read the 14A). The federal government can impose laws which require the states to honor the Bill of Rights; the feds can also provide for the disciplining and organization of the militia. Such acts can be backed up with federal authority (force). I realize that a strong central government is a risk; however, even the Founders realized that protecting liberty is a fundamental function of government.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
So that requires pushing your federal reps to support things like National CCW reciprocity (done properly), strengthening the FOPA, etc. We need to push concealed carry into the Ban States and force the Ban States to honor "safe travel" provisions. We need to federally pre-empt state level Assault Weapons Bans; for example, the feds could determine that any firearm or accessory used in Service competition is particularly useful for militia service and thus is exempt from any state regulation. That would protect Beretta 92s, AR-15s, M1As, and so on from state nonsense.
The alternative is partition. If you refuse to believe that a strong federal government is necessary to bring NY, CT, CA, etc into the fold and protect the natural rights of their citizens, then the best solution is an amicable divorce. Let the ban states go in their own direction; perhaps we carve a few new states out of them or adjust borders (tack Western NY onto PA, for example), but ultimately in this view there would be some states slave, and some free, and ultimately the house divided must be brought together or separated.
That's how I realistically see this going down, best case, from our perspective in the free states looking in.
