New Polling

Most people think increasing police presence in school and better mental health services would be the most effective. The spin from our opponents is going to be that 63% of those polled thought banning semi-automatic firearms would be effective, ignoring the fact that arming teachers and principals is a point ahead at 64% if they want to look at it that way. Banning semi-automatic firearms also has the second highest negative opinion, behind only news media refusing to print or read the names of the person responsible.

(If I owe someone a h/t for this, I’m sorry, I forgot to note my source on this.)

Senator Boxer Proposes Using National Guard

For school security. I think the Senator means this to be a lesson on why gun control would be a better option. But it probably would be a hell of a lot more effective than new gun control laws. Me thinks this might not have the rhetorical effect the Senator desires.

Two Men Want to Tell Women What to Think on Guns

I had to check out this video of two male Wall Street Journal reporters talking about how Smith & Wesson will need to go back to the drawing board on their new marketing efforts because those efforts included outreach to female NRA members.

The logic here astounds me. Their assumption that Smith & Wesson will need to give up their women’s advertising is based on the idea that women who are already involved in the gun culture enough to join NRA and follow NRA’s Women’s Network channels will suddenly no longer be interested in guns.

But, then they show a picture of a man browsing Smith & Wesson products and say that those core customers probably haven’t changed their attitudes. I guess we women can’t be relied upon, we’re too flakey or wishy washy. These two apparently think that we’re simply not as principled as men. *ahem*

Boys at the WSJ, let me give you a little lecture on females with strong views rooted in constitutional principles and concern for self-defense and that of our homes. We’re dedicated. We’re the biggest advocates and loudest supporters of efforts like the Friends of NRA to raise money for advancing the Second Amendment through safety programs and legal programs. We’re the ones who, when we get involved, bring the entire family along with us. I see more women – even those who aren’t NRA members – share images promoting the Second Amendment on Facebook than I see from men. When we come on board to the cause, we’re vocal. We don’t sit back and listen to men tell us what they think we “should want” to hear. We’ll make up our own minds about messages that resonate with us.

News I Miss

I’m going to be out of pocket soon, as we head into the holidays and I need to crunch work stuff. I’ll still be blogging, but for news I might be missing, SayUncle has been doing a pretty bang up job of covering these trials and tribulations as well. Signs are starting to indicate our efforts are working, but as I mentioned in Uncle’s comments:

I’ve been feeling better since Obama’s Presser, because I too thought it didn’t signal seriousness. But we still need to continue to mobilize. Obama is still throwing down, and we need to remind them that we can still mobilize a hoard if the people in DC signal they are thinking about f***ing with us.

This reminds me of a somewhat famous letter of Thomas Jefferson’s:

The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions it is a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. We have had 13. states independent 11. years. There has been one rebellion. That comes to one rebellion in a century & a half for each state. What country before ever existed a century and half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve it’s liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?

Jefferson was speaking in the context of Shay’s Rebellion, but even for a political threat like the President has made, we still must show that we “preserve the spirit of resistance” to lawmakers.

Stunning Revelation in Fast and Furious

Some of the guns turning up in Mexico are tracing back to 4473s filled out by ATF Assistant SACs, using a false address. I’m surprised people aren’t going to jail. But hey, the I guess the Administration is too busy trying to ban our guns to clean up his own house before soiling mine.

Giving Credit Where Credit’s Due

Larry Pratt, head of GOA, does a pretty bang-up job of handling Piers Morgan:

I think every time you get discouraged, or think this struggle is too difficult, or too time consuming, just watch yourself some Piers Morgan. He’ll fire you right back up.

h/t to Miguel who has more.

UPDATE: Dave Weigel on Twitter: “Piers Morgan is doing Mike Bloomberg a favor by becoming the new most insufferable gun control advocate.”

Yeah, really.

More Record Gun Sales Verified

Cleaning the shelves dry of guns and ammunition is something that apparently brings red states and blue states together at the moment. My mother was checking up on the gun situation in her new home state, and she read me the report that Tennessee has likely set gun sales records – at least they did set a record for the number of gun sales background checks.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Kristin Helm said in an email that the agency performed 9,772 background checks over Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That’s 500 more than the second biggest weekend on record — Black Friday and the two days that followed in November. …

At the Goodlettsville Gun Shop, outside of Nashville, sales continued to be brisk on Wednesday.

Owner Phillip Arrington said in a phone interview that the store was packed and he had five check-out lines going.

He then cut the reporter short saying that he was too busy to talk. Ha!

Pennsylvania Carry Permits Surge Along with Gun Sales

I find it amazing that anti-gun groups still try to use the line that the only people lining up to buy guns are people who already own guns. If that was the case, we wouldn’t see the same surges in something like concealed carry permits that aren’t something you buy multiples of in your home state. Gun sales and permits in the Keystone State are surging in the last few days.

Joe Staudt of Staudt’s Gun Shop in Harrisburg was sold out of his usually large stock of AK-47 and AR-15 semi-automatic weapons by Wednesday. … The store Staudt opened in the spring of 2011 had record sales Monday, but Tuesday “is now our new record day,” he said. …

At Grice Gun Shop in Clearfield, which bills itself as Pennsylvania’s largest gun shop, the phone was busy much of the day. A recording asked callers to be patient and said the store was swamped because of the holiday season and “the recent gun-ban rhetoric.”

The article notes that the surge isn’t just for guns, but concealed carry licenses, too. They report that applications are up all over the state. They interviewed the Greene County Sheriff who reported that their previous record was to process 110 applications in one month. Yesterday alone, they had 40 applications in hand hours before close of business. He reportedly told the reporter that as people drop them off, they pick up new applications for friends and family who are convinced to get a permit, too.

(h/t to commenter DannytheMan for the link!)

Specific Steps You Can Take to Oppose the Coming Obama/Biden Gun Controls

In case you missed the first post yesterday, I’m going to do a short series on the topic of contacting lawmakers over the next few days with specific ideas for various communities of gun owners to expand their reach. Whether you’re just some gal who owns guns and finds their “gun community” online, own a commercial gun range or shop, or are a member of a community gun club, I’m going to collect specific actionable, easy ideas for you to think about.

Today’s list is for community/non-profit gun clubs. Anything advised here should be taken into consideration with the legal structure of the club.

  • All club outreach needs to consider two things: One is the power of all of the individuals who could, in theory, contact lawmakers from one region. Two is that the club itself should act on behalf of members, but not at the expense of direct member-to-lawmaker communication. By acting in its own voice, the club’s message to lawmaker is that we don’t just have X number of gun owners in your area, but we have a COMMUNITY of X number of gun owners and their families in your area. That kind of organization is a signal to lawmakers.
  • If your club leadership is hesitant just because they haven’t done something like this before, then get on them. That actually makes their voices more powerful at the moment. If a lawmaker gets a letter from a club in his district that he has never heard from before, their staff will know it. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing at the moment because it signals new activism on our issue in response to the proposals.
  • Send letters on behalf of the board of the club – with permission from the board, of course – to every federal and state lawmaker that represents at least a handful of your club members. Do not leave anyone off just because they are anti-gun. You want to send the message that if we’re even pestering you, the known vote against us, just think about what how we’re writing to your colleague you you want to pull over to your side.
  • At your very next club meeting – whether it’s tomorrow or next month – get your board to agree to set up an area for all attendees to write a letters to their lawmakers. Make it easy for them. Provide a few versions of a similar letter -maybe be a little more focused on mental health on one, make another just generic and nothing more than “no more gun control,” and another might mention a little more in the way of cultural concerns – where your goal is to give people a choice in damn near anything they might want to say, but don’t know how to write themselves (or are too lazy to write themselves). Have blank sheets that are simply pre-addressed at the top. If your club has the equipment, or you can get it there, get a few computers there, with a printer, and offer to type up whatever the members want to say and print it right there on the spot for them to sign. Then, collect these letters and either fax them in to the offices or mail them in individually. Don’t leave it to members to send, have someone from the club handle delivery. Get the club to furnish stamps, if needed. Make sure all communications have an address on them so the member gets a response.
  • Make the above the standard activity post-meeting for next couple of months. Advertise it in the newsletter and put it out to the club email list. Tell people to come down and someone with experience in contacting politicians will help them out if they aren’t sure what to say. If the equipment is on-site, then work with shooting committees to have someone organizing the same thing for their big shooting nights. This is potentially more effective because you can tell shooters exactly what kinds of guns are being threatened. Trap night? Did you know the one of the more recent versions of a McCarthy gun ban would have outlawed every single semi-automatic shotgun? Pistol night? I hope you don’t like regular-sized magazines.
  • Give the people who participate something beyond a thanks and a pat on the back. Does your club require work hours? Give them credit of a work hour for participating and leaving you with three letters to fax or mail. Does the club have any kind of raffle or drawing? Give a special entry to anyone who participates (depending on the laws in your state on this issue). If the club is really serious about involvement and can afford it, then give club members who participate a credit on their dues for the next renewal. It shouldn’t be a paltry amount, but the exact value should be in reasonable proportion to the membership fees.
  • Does your club host competitions that draw from outside of the normal membership? You’ve just expanded your sphere of influence! Ask match directors to set up a table at their match with a sign/write a letter station. Again, if you can target talking points to the guns used, that’s even better. And, hey, what’s a better introduction in a letter than, “I’m writing you as I take a break during a competition shooting my semi-automatic rifle that anti-gun groups want banned. There are dozens of people from your district right here in front of me who will lose their sport and their primary home defense option if you ban our firearms.” Does the match have the financial wiggle room to offer a discount to those who write their letters? A few bucks off for people who participate and leave their letters to be faxed or mailed is an incentive. Or, if the match/club doesn’t have wiggle room, how about asking a member if he/she can make/donate lunch for the competition that might “cost” people a few bucks, but give a free plate to anyone who writes letters?
  • Target your club email list by district as much as possible. If you have a particularly weak potential ally in your area like we do, then make sure that your club members with emails get a special email that tells them their help is needed to go above and beyond. Let them know that their interactions asking their lawmaker to defend their rights is particularly important because it’s possible that he/she could be feeling extra pressure from anti-gun groups or partisan groups who normally don’t work on gun control, but want to exploit their position on it.
  • When making the pitch to club members and shooters, give people specific examples of what is proposed in your state. Even the most informed gun owners may have missed something breaking from within their own state since so much is being discussed at the federal level right now. We have a powerful talking point since one suburban lawmaker here is calling for confiscation. Not even Dianne Feinstein is talking about taking things that far.
  • Get permission, if needed, to hang a sign on the relevant ranges that talks about the kinds of guns used on that range that will be banned. Add photos if that will garner more attention. Make it so that casual shooters who may not be the most attentive or the most involved in the competitions or leagues will have the information right in front of them.
  • Ask the match directors and various shooting discipline organizers within the club to write specific letters, too. Tell them to mention that they organize a regular match with an average of X shooters of these types of firearms every month, or they run the weekly shoot that has X number of participants. It’s about showing that we have community that we will talk to and mobilize from every single corner we can find.

Like I said in the post for commercial ranges & shops, give members who normally aren’t involved in politics an incentive that shows your club values their effort to defend gun rights. The other strength in non-commercial gun clubs is that these are voluntary communities that have self-organized. Gun control activists try to tell lawmakers that DC-area organizations direct all pro-gun action of a tiny minority. Show these lawmakers that it isn’t true. We have our own local communities, and we will organize outside of any top-down approaches.

I know there are many other ideas for longer term political involvement, such as hosting a fundraising shoot or dinner for a lawmaker, but this list is focused on immediate action in regards to pending gun control issues. However, I would encourage those of you with ideas on that fron to share in the comments so that people can find out what other clubs do to help our cause.