I think Gun Law News just got us all some good press from Fox News:
“The amazing thing about Zumbo was, he posted it on Friday night and by Monday there was a mushroom cloud,” said Jeff, a gun-rights advocate who runs GunLawNews.org and did not want to be identified by his full name. “I think it teaches a lesson to those who are listening that the power of the Net should not be underestimated.”
He’s not happy about the segments used, but I think overall this isn’t bad press. I don’t, however, really appreciate how NRA vs. Bloggers was played up though:
While Cox said the NRA is able to “update our members in real time” on legislative alerts and other perceived threats to their cause, some bloggers say their online network has allowed them to report stories even faster.
“Blogs covering gun rights provide the same immediacy of coverage and action as others do that cover more general politics,” said Soyer. “Blogs are on the story as it happens.”
Miller suggests that blogs have evolved to the point that they can go around the NRA hierarchy to communicate with millions of people on their own.
“I think bloggers have diluted the power of the NRA,” said Miller. “If I find an atrocity done by my elected official in my state, I don’t have to contact the NRA and tell them to get on it. It can be passed along where it does not have to go through the bottleneck, where the NRA puts its own spin on it.”
Cox said, however, that the NRA is at the heart of the grassroots effort. “Both our friends and enemies agree that when it comes to making a difference, when it comes to grassroots activism, no one does it better than the NRA.”
Bloggers are important, and we’re definitely not the NRA lapdogs the press and Brady Campaign would make us out to be (as my position on the workplace carry bills should convince anyone), but we’re all essentially on the same side, and we both need each other.
I don’t think my comments came across as bloggers vs. NRA, but that the ability to get information out without them, and their nature to spin, is a good thing. I can now get first hand accounts from all across the country instead of small quotes in email alerts and such.
I think bloggers can work hand in hand with gun groups, if each respects the other.
I didn’t really think that was the angle you were going for, but I felt the highlighting of that indicated that maybe the reporter and editors wanted that to come across a bit.