December 2012 – Page 8 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Fighting is Much More Therapeutic than Moping

Posting was light today because it’s an office day, and unlike the professionals in the gun control movement, I have to make a living. But there was also other business to attend to today. Earlier this week I received the OK from the Board of Trustees of my 1200 member club to speak on its behalf to lawmakers. And speak we have. I took any district where we had substantial members and wrote a letter. I’ve been working on this in the background since Monday.

Each one of those represents a fax transmission report for a letter to a single lawmaker, some state and some federal. The first letter is just really an introduction and an appeal to oppose all gun control measures proposed in either the House, Senate, State House or State Senate. When we’re facing threats from specific bills, I will follow up for those specific bills. But introducing us, I wanted just to be firm on no gun control. I will also follow up in my personal capacity, but I wanted to make sure our club was heard first.

Tom Ridge Back to His Old Gun Banning Ways

I remember one of my first votes cast in a gubernatorial election was a vote for Mike Fisher is the GOP Primary because I was angry at Tom Ridge for supporting an Assault Weapons Ban as a Congressman. He backed away from that when he decided he wanted to be governor, but now we see he was never really any friend.

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

I feel like we always assume that people know “what to do” to act when big gun control is coming down on law-abiding gun owners. It’s often summed up as “call your lawmaker.” But, the fact is that the process of opposing these things probably should be spelled out a little more.

I’m going to do a short series of posts on this topic over the next few days with specific ideas for various communities of gun owners. 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 gun shops and commercial gun ranges.

Every person who comes in the store or range will, at some point, provide you with an address. Look that address up and immediately had that person a business card or sheet of paper with the following information: Their two Senators, their Congressman, and the state’s Governor’s office. Your customer base likely only comes from a couple of Congressional districts, so make the effort to get that local.
If you have room, set up a table with paper, pens, and envelopes – pre-addressed if you really want to make it easy. If there’s a wait, strongly encourage people to sit down and write 3-4 letters – one to their Congressman, their Senators, and (if relevant for state concerns) the Governor. Put out sample language and talking points taped to the table to get them started. Put up a collection box for the completed letters, and eat the cost of a stamp to mail them all. This way you know they make it to the lawmakers. If you don’t want to worry about stamps and envelopes, put your fax machine to use and fax them in throughout the day. Just make sure people include their mailing address in the letters if you choose this option.
Offer a discount or freebie of something to people who prove their participation in the issue. Maybe they complete the above letters and get a coupon for $5 off of their next purchase, or even get a gift card to Starbucks if you’re concerned about the process of issuing coupons. Perhaps they get a free range session on their next visit, or can upgrade to a more expensive-to-rent gun. You could also tell people that if they have already sent letters, they can bring in the response from their lawmakers to show and get the discount or coupon.
If you already have some kind of points/frequent renter club, give extra points to those who participate in the letter-writing campaign. If you do this, don’t make the reward very small. Make it worth their while. Make the statement that you value their participation in the defense of our rights at a big dollar amount. It could be the same as spending $25 in range fees or something equally big. Don’t give them a credit that’s equal to like 50 cents of spending. That shows that you don’t value participation at all. (If you don’t currently have any kind of points/rewards club, the perceived dollar value of anything else you give them doesn’t matter quite as much since it’s a new perk, not one comparable to other perks.)
Set up a pay-as-you-go cell phone (choose the option to pay per day used, not by minute) and put it at the counter with the phone number to all area lawmakers – federal and state – with a couple of sample scripts. Tell customers to give the offices a call right there.
Post a petition-type letter that opens with something “we the undersigned members of the InsertLocationHere lawful gun owning community” and make a letter that’s pretty focused on the gun issue. Then, leave lots of spaces and pages for people to sign their names and include at least their cities or zip codes. Collect signatures until you fill a sheet (or more sheets) and then mail it in to all of the regional lawmakers.

The point in these suggestions is that you need to translate to your customers that they will lose their rights if they don’t stand up, and that you VALUE their participation in defending gun rights. It’s not just a mumbled “good job” or pat on the back.

For some, these suggestions may be a bit late for the rush. But, if you have a mailing list of customers, let them know if you set something like this up. It encourages them to come back, even if you don’t have the rifle or ammunition they want in stock. Getting feet back in the doors is ultimately good for business.

What Does a Tidal Wave Look Like?

Something like this maybe? This is traffic to my blog.

It has more than doubled since last Friday. I’ve seen people in the comments I haven’t seen in years coming back and commenting. Welcome back. After a good night’s sleep, I no longer feel so gloomy. Let share with youÂ something I keep being reminded of:

As the Army moved into the field on its expedition, it was operating with incorrect assumptions as to the number of Indians it would encounter. The Army’s assumptions were based on inaccurate information provided by the Indian Agents that no more than 800 hostiles were in the area. The Indian Agents based the 800 number on the number of Lakota led by Sitting Bull and other leaders off the reservation in protest of US Government policies. This was a correct estimate until several weeks before the battle, when the “reservation Indians” joined Sitting Bull’s ranks for the summer buffalo hunt. As one historian wrote: “The (US) Army’s strength estimate didn’t change, because the civilian Indian agents on the reservations didn’t tell the Army that large numbers of Indians had left.”Â Nor did the agents take into account the many thousands of “reservation Indians” who had “unofficially” left the reservation to join their “uncooperative non-reservation cousins led by Sitting Bull”. The latter were those groups who had indicated that they were not going to cooperate with the US Government and live on reservation lands. Thus, Custer unknowingly faced thousands of Indians, in addition to the 800 non-reservation “hostiles”. All Army plans were based on the incorrect numbers. While after the battle, Custer was severely criticized for not having accepted reinforcements and for dividing his forces, it must be understood that he had accepted the same official Government estimates of hostiles in the area which Terry and Gibbon also accepted. Historian James Donovan, states that when Custer asked Gerard his estimate on the opposition, he estimated the force at between 1,500 to 2,500 warriors.

This is not our last stand,Â it is theirs. If we beat them back now, if we deny them their agenda and keep the lawmakers in line, we will sweep these people from the field. They will, like Custer, have underestimated our numbers and our ferocity. We will dog our lawmakers. They will be sick of hearing from us by the time this is over. Obama’s historical legacy will be a lousy economy, and an ineffective and bumbling second term. It is our time to show the weak and pitiful Republicans how this is done, and how you beat Obama.

Live Blogging the White House Press Conference

The White House has announced that Obama will inform the American people about his policy process for more gun control today in a press conference. Considering the way the announcement is worded, I expect that not only will he back specific demands in legislation for the next Congress, but he will pick which parts of Bloomberg’s plans to implement that don’t require any Congressional input.

I will live blog the press conference when it starts, so look to this post for updates.

LIVE UPDATES:

While we wait on the White House (presumably they are running late since their own feed is just showing a blue screen), we do know that Joe Biden has been assigned the role of White House lead for the gun control efforts.

Okay, we’re watching the major networks get ready to do their openings, and some blonde flip her hair.

Obama: He says we don’t know why Newtown happened, but we know that Americans are killed by guns. It’s not just about mass killings, but we need more gun control. He’s happy to see nameless high profile people change longstanding positions on guns.

The fact that whatever he’s going to propose won’t likely stop violence doesn’t mean we shouldn’t restrict guns anyway.

Biden has a January deadline, and he’s going to take immediate action. Obama says he won’t wait at all, not wait on people to study the policies he’s going to enact.

He tapped Biden because he was a sponsor of the semi-auto ban. He says that a majority of Americans support gun control like gun bans, magazine bans, and ending private sales.

He calls on Congress to act quickly. He blames Congress for not appointing his ATF choices.

Obama says that he “is betting” that gun owners would be the first to say that we should ban semi-auto rifles. (Hint: Make clear to your Congressman that he is betting wrong.)

Obama is now talking about every person shot since Friday.

He focuses on using every power, so that’s likely to mean damn near every one of Bloomberg’s plan, but he hasn’t mentioned it specifically. Time will officially tell if that’s the blueprint he uses, but he’s making clear that he won’t allow time for debate over the proposals.

Obama says that we are obligated to help him pass his agenda. We aren’t courageous if we don’t agree with his plan.

Obama is taking questions before turning it over to Biden. The first question is actually asking him if he has betrayed voters by his actions in fiscal cliff negotiations.

After several minutes, Obama is still on the defense about his position on taxes and spending.

Wow. Second question is also on fiscal cliff & his actions in negotiations.

Third question – fiscal cliff agreement questions on whether he has any trust in Republicans anymore.

Fourth question – back to guns, but basically told that presidential commissions are pointless and ineffective. Obama says that he will reach out to “stakeholders” who he will not name, Biden will round up “cabinet members who are interested,” and come up with suggestions for actions that will be featured in the State of the Union.

The reporter asks about the NRA, and Obama says that mothers and fathers who are members of NRA need to do self-reflection and help him out. He claims that “a thoughtful approach” is needed, that responsible gun owners “may carry out their activities” – activities which he is refusing to define.

The final question is from Jake Tapper who says that Obama hasn’t been around on the gun issue even though he campaigned on it the first time. Obama swears he hasn’t been on vacation, but that this is a wake-up call. Obama says that healthcare is relevant to this debate, and that’s why he spent his time on it.

Of the yelled questions while Obama was leaving, the reporters were asking about Benghazi.

And, with that, the White House feed has turned the camera and mics off so we cannot hear what Joe Biden has to say.

I’m trying to see if other news outlets are carrying his statements. So far, every news outlet website I have surfed to has cut out and isn’t covering Biden, either.

Okay, so I’m hoping that C-SPAN recorded the Biden remarks and will include them with their video archive later on. By the time I thought to check their site, they had cut over to a Benghazi report issue. I don’t know if that’s because they didn’t carry Biden or if his remarks were just short with no questions from the press.

Okay, so Biden left the room with Obama based on C-SPAN’s camera angle. I guess he didn’t speak at all.

Boehner Weak in the Knee

Hardly surprising, because I’ve seen kittens that have more fight in them than Boehner. The Republicans can always be counted on to not be counted on. This is what we reap from making our rights dependent on a single party:

Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio) noted the change on Tuesday, telling The Hill that the mood in the conference among “even the strongest gun supporters” is that they “don’t object to having a conversation about it â€” which is a big shift.”

We have to put the fear of ~~God~~ us into the GOP. Obama didn’t win by a landslide, but the GOP is acting like he did. The Democrats would never make this kind of mistake if they were in our position. As one of Glenn’s readers notedÂ â€œI am puzzled why the Republicans continue to want John Boehner to remain speaker. He is genuinely not good at his job.â€

More on Mental Health

Clayton Cramer has an article on the subject in the National Review. Also, see this Cato Unbound paper on addressing involuntary commitment. More from Dave Hardy. Clayton also discusses Involuntary Outpatient Commitment.

Apparently the mother of the child murderer tried to have him committed, according to a member of a local church congregation in Newtown, and who also is coincidentally a Twitter follower of mine, known around these parts, and someone the anti-gun folks decided to put into the Twitter gulagÂ while his congregation is dealing with members who lost children (way to be classy guys). I’m sure, like most of us, he was too bent out of shape this past weekend to organize protests to start off the week.

Where I Go To Cheer Up

Glenn Reynolds is a happier warrior than I am, and has had some real gems, and good rhetorical comebacks to the anti-gun crowd.

Like this one about what the gun community is going to do about this tragedy. Apparently the answer has been a problem for the sarcasm challenged.

So if we’re going to have a “National Conversation on Guns,” here are some openers.

Meanwhile,Â does Media Mattersâ€™ David Brock have a new assistant who carries an illegal Glock,Â or is that over with?

A USA Today piece from Glenn talking about the fallacy of gun free zones. Shame the governor of Michigan didn’t read it, or didn’t care.

Hey, Mayor Bloomberg: What kind of guns does your security detail carry?Â Same goes for celebrities.

The Fruits of Britain’s Gun Policy.

Something Else to Think About

In 1994, there was considerable effort to try to make the federal assault weapons ban less impactful, which required a lot of compromises. But because of that we got a sunset provision, and nothing nearly as bad as what California has.

To what extent should we, using the Courts as a backstop, be more unyielding this time? Would we be better off with a more draconian ban under the theory the Courts may more easily reach its unconstitutionality? Personally, I think that’s very risky, because I don’t know if I believe the Courts would throw out such a ban, even one as broad and horrid as California’s. It’s a tough call. I’m not sure the Courts honestly buy us much right now on this issue.

The NRA Statement

This was just posted to the re-published Facebook page:

The NRA is made up of four million moms and dads, sons and daughters â€“ and we were shocked, saddened and heartbroken by the news of the horrific and senseless murders in Newtown. Out of respect for the families, and as a matter of common decency, we have given time for mourning, prayer and a full investigation of the facts before commenting. The NRA is prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again.

Amen to that.

UPDATE: And, a very bold announcement about a press conference on Friday.