Sorry for the lack of updates on the NRA Annual Meeting. This has been one of the busier meetings for us, and I’ve probably spent a grand total of five minutes wandering around the exhibit hall until this afternoon. I’ve been going around with Dan Pehrson of PAFOA doing some relationship building.
Yesterday Dan and I were lucky enough to score an invite to a reception that had a high likelihood of featuring a number of lawmakers. We were pleased to be able to spend some time talking to PA Senator Richard Alloway about Castle Doctrine, along with NRA’s Pennsylvania Liaison John Hohenwarter. I think we should have Castle Doctrine soon, and Alloway has been a real leader on this issue for us in the Senate.
Spent a good deal of time talking to NRA’s Illinois lobbyist Todd Vandermyde. For those of you who haven’t ever met Todd, he’s a fun guy to talk to, and has a through knowledge of how to play this game. Illinois gun owners are lucky to have him. I told Todd I keep expecting to wake up, and talk bout the crazy dream I had where we were actually getting close to passing concealed carry in Illinois. This is something I would have said had a snowflake’s chance in hell a few years ago.
This morning we had nice breakfast session with Tom King, President of the NY State Rifle and Pistol association, and David Keene, who tomorrow will become the next NRA President. Jim Porter, who also stopped by briefly, will become First Vice President, next in line for President. Keene was also ACU Chairman, and took a lot of heat from conservative groups for including GOProud at CPAC. I think that was a smart move, and given that Keene is keen on using his term as President to recruit younger members, and women members, into NRA, I think he brings a lot to the table in that regard.
“Dan Pehrson of PAFOA doing some relationship building.”
Dan should work on getting his own yard cleaned up. PAFOA has become a wreck full of nitwits who will do us all more harm then good. They’re also the first group to bash the NRA as sellouts – I’m not quite sure what they’ve sold out or to whom they’ve sold. Dan’s moderators have turned into little tyrants who have effectively run off anyone who posted anything other than negative OC encounters, thus ensuring that the lowest functioning people are running the show.
Tagged to see where this conversation goes. ;)
David has a point. That site has a real tin-foil edge to it.
I cruise by there once a week or so, just to point and laugh at their NFA section. Never bothered with the rest – I just notice that an awful lot of usernames come up with “Banned” statuses over time.
Usually if a site is dropping the ban hammer on a routine basis, they’re either extremely high traffic (and hence high troll draw) or else there’s a staff issue. I dunno if PAFOA has thousands and thousands of posts per day…
When little tyrants go on a rampage they ban users under the false assumption that they will be gone. It only make things worse, dropping the ban hammer is like wetting a gremlin – it only makes more of them. PAFOAs claimed 10,000 members is just an inflated user count that can’t accurately count real users. Dan does not disclose any financial information for the site, even when it claims to be a 501(c)4 tax-exempt organization – so it’s unknown just how much it gets in donations and if it actually does anything beyond just paying the bills to keep the site up and running.
I’ve said it before, most of that site is a trailer park cesspool. What I’ve read there makes me believe that the average poster is the guy you see walking around a gun show in all the nazi crap or the white power shirts. It seems to be a low IQ mouth breathing collection of troublemakers who call that forum home.
Dan’s failure to clean out the racist crap, the posts supporting illegal behavior, and his inability to get his moderators inline (or replace them) has killed a site which had so much promise. It’s turned into nothing more that a social hall to discuss how you told some shop keeper to F-off after he questioned your OC – when you do this crap you become the face of all gun owners and sour people who were on the fence about OC/CC/gun rights. It’s a place where the mention of formal training is met with cries of “it’s a right man”, “you don’t need training to practice free speech”. It’s a place of know-it-alls who do little more than play uneducated armchair lawyer debating the mundane while looking for new ways to get themselves in trouble.
The only area of that site that has any value is the classified. Beyond that, it’s Jerry Springer.
The forum is not PAFOA, and does not represent Dan’s views on things.
@Sebastian
So Dan can wash his hands of what goes on in the forums? He has the ability to clean it up and take out the trash, but he doesn’t. Other than the forums, the one post a month that Dan makes on the Blog is about worthless. 99% of the traffic to that site is the for the forums. Please enlighten me. Besides the forums just what does pafoa do? I’m not seeing it.
It’s a fair criticism. But PAFOA has an ability to get people calling and turning people out to Harrisburg. That does have value.
The reason I’m introducing Dan to people is that he’s been very successful in new media, and has a lot of good ideas. He also does not have a huge ego, which is a rarity in this issue.
What to do with PAFOA has been a frequent topic of conversation, but at this point, with Dan trying to start a business, his time is short.
PAFOA has been personally a source of a lot of good information. You can easly figure out where most of the BS is going to be, and avoid it with few problems. Its the same thing you get from any place that has high traffic and everyone has a voice.. you will hear (see) a lot of the kooks out there.
It sounds like someone has been kicked away at some point for doing something against the rules.
@Bryan S.
I see my comments must have been mentioned in a forum over there and here they come.
@Sebastian
Then it sounds like there is a leadership and time dedication problem over at PAFOA. Dan has the chance to fix the issues or turn it over to someone who does. But saying he is too busy only will ensure that the lowest common denominator will dominate the forums while post quality goes to hell and the site becomes fuel for the anti gun bunch.
I really like the threads where people brag about getting hammered drinking or using pills while still OC’ing and the antic that ensue. I’m baffled that they would actually brag about bad decisions and drug and alcohol abuse.