Brian Anse Patrick Archives -

I spent three days this week in the gun control paradise known as Chicago. So I’m doing a little catch-up on my reading and I’ve come across a few blog posts that I think are must reads.

Since the murders at Majory Stoneman Douglas HS in Parkland, Florida, we have subjected to a non-stop assault on our civil rights from the gun control industry and their media allies. As the late Professor Brian Anse Patrick showed in his research, the NRA and gun rights groups in general actually benefit from this assault. My friend and Polite Society Podcast co-host Rob Morse has a post up about how NRA and SAF memberships have been rising with this assault. If you want to go into more depth on this, I highly recommend Prof. Patrick’s The National Rifle Association and the Media: The Motivating Force of Negative Coverage. The Kindle edition is $9.99 or about half the cost of the paperback version.

Sebastian at Shall Not Be Questioned has two posts up that I would encourage you to read. The first, Dear NRA, says we and the NRA need to up our grassroots game. In particular, we need to convert those who believe in the Second Amendment from being passive observers to active participants. Our opponents have upped their game and are becoming much more effective. It will not be merely enough to watch a NRA-TV video with Dana Loesch or Colion Noir and nod your head in agreement. It will entail getting our rear ends out to city council meetings and hearings when they impact our gun rights.

In his second post, Sebastian has a lexicon of gun terms that the media has thrown out there to confuse non-gun owners. He addresses them and how we should in turn address them when a non-gun owner asks us questions. In one sense – and this is me saying it and not Sebastian – we need to listen to the immortal words of Crash Davis in Bull Durham, “You’re gonna have to learn your cliches. You’re gonna have to study them, you’re gonna have to learn them, you’re gonna have to know them. They’re your friends.” In other words, we need to know the gun prohibitionists’ argument better than they do. You should also read Tam’s post on Magical Thinking which also addresses this.

Kevin Creighton has a short post saying we need to get back into the game. He’s right. We need to get back into the cultural game because we are in a cultural war. Two things he suggests is reaching out to motorcycle riders as we have a shared interest in freedom and to videogamers to encourage them to get into competitive shooting.

Finally, Erin Palette looks at SB 7026 which was signed in Florida on Friday by Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL). She analyzes it in depth and the implications of many of the things in the bill are horrendous. Insofar as creating “school guardians”, it will be dependent upon a county’s sheriff to approve it there. Moreover, it will require 132 hours of training to become qualified as well as another 12 hours in a “certified nationally recognized diversity training program”. Diversity training for stopping an armed attacker? Who the f*&k came up with that nonsense.

So now you have your weekend reading in nice, digestible nuggets. My other suggestion is if there is a gun show in your area, go to it. Spend some quality time with your cultural brothers and sisters. And, if you are in the Asheville area, go to the Asheville Gun Show at the WNC Ag Center. While there, stop at the Grass Roots North Carolina booth and say hello. I’ll be working it from 10am until 5pm.

Professor Brian Anse Patrick passed away on Tuesday from cancer at the all too young age of 62. He was a Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Toledo, author, CHL instructor, and gun rights advocate. He held a PhD in Communications Research from the University of Michigan. He was a speaker at a number of Gun Rights Policy Conferences and at the National Firearms Law Seminar.

Among his better known works were The National Rifle Association and the Media: The Motivating Force of Negative Coverage, The Ten Commandments of Propaganda, and Rise of the Anti-Media: In-Forming America’s Concealed Weapon Carry Movement. This last book examined how the gun culture used its own media systems (or anti-media) to push shall-issue concealed carry outside of the view of the established media and the gun control organizations.

Dave Hardy, calling him a brilliant mind and a good man, noted that his work on the NRA and the media created objective measures showing that the more negative publicity the NRA received, the greater the growth in membership.

I cannot find any “official obituaries but this one from John Morgan announcing Dr. Patrick’s death on Facebook sums it up well.

It brings me great sadness to report that Brian Anse Patrick, pictured here with a great elk that he took down in Montana in 2010 (his favorite activity of all), known to many as the author of numerous books published by Arktos and elsewhere, as a Professor of Communication at the University of Toledo, as a championship target shooter and advocate for gun rights, as a CCW permit instructor, as well as through his many lectures and interviews on the subjects of propaganda and the American gun rights movement, passed away after suffering from cancer on the night of December 26/27 at the all too premature age of 62. As generous a soul as there has ever been, many of us who knew him can attest that our lives were made better through our friendship with him. Brian helped me through many rough patches of my own life over the course of nearly 20 years with his sage counsel and indefatigable drive to help his friends, as well as with his astute wit, which was matched only by the sharpness of his marksman’s eye. He was also the one who first taught this city boy how to shoot and appreciate the outdoors at his estate in northern Michigan, a true refuge from the ravages of the modern world where we would be regaled with tales of his wild youth and philosophically plumb the depths of life, the universe, and everything while quaffing the finest spirits. One who never suffered fools or those who were slaves to the bureaucratic mentality gladly, but who always nourished intelligence and talent, he was certainly the most fiercely independent individual I have ever known in both mind and action, and a man who benefited from a lifetime of wide reading and love of good books, and one who loved animals of all kinds. I also never knew anyone else who could throw together a meal in half an hour from whatever was lying around his kitchen and have it taste like the best thing you’d ever eaten on every single occasion – and never be the same twice. His story, rising from a ne’er-do-well problem child with a GED to become a tenured professor, should be an inspiration to those who see academia as closed to the unconventional. He was representative of an archetypal type of primordial American who is becoming all too rare in America today. He was free in the most genuine sense of the word. His wise words will continue to echo in my mind for the rest of my life. Brian, wherever you are now, you won’t be forgotten.

UPDATE: The provost at the University of Toledo released this message regarding Dr. Patrick’s death.

Dear UT Colleagues,

It is with great
sadness I share with you that we have lost a trusted faculty and member
of our University of Toledo family. Brian Anse Patrick, PhD, professor
of communication, lost his battle with cancer
on December 26, 2016.

Brian began his
career at UT in 2000. He taught both undergraduate and graduate courses
in research methods, group communication, propaganda and persuasion. He
was a nationally recognized expert on American
gun culture and was frequently invited to speak at events and symposia.
Further, he was the author of five books and numerous scholarly
articles, and enjoyed engaging students in open dialog.

We offer our sincere
condolences to Brian’s family and friends and share in their grief. He
will be deeply missed by our entire UT community. Please keep them in
your thoughts during this time of loss.

Andrew T. Hsu

Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

The University of Toledo

Brian Anse Patrick

Links For Your Weekend Reading

Brian Anse Patrick, RIP (Updated)