Hi All,
The last week has had a confluence of events that got me to looking at myself, my views, and my involvement in the shooting community at large.
I'm retired Military, an NRA Life Member, a Hunter, Match Shooter,Pistol and Rifle), I reload, and just generally enjoy most anything firearm related.
The Jim Zumbo thing, combined with the current flood of gun ban legislation in both the Federal and State legislatures got me to looking at, "What am I actually doing to help?" To be honest, until lately, not much. Ok, I send my dues, support the gun rights organizations, blah, blah. What most folks do and was pretty comfortable that I was "doing my part."
Wrong, well maybe but it's not enough, especially not now.
If there was one good thing to come out of the recent public pilloring of the afore mentioned writer, it was the overwhelming tsunami of grass roots shooters from all our communities voicing their common outrage over a prominent shooter's/hunter's suggestion that a particular firearm should be banned based on it's appearance. I'm not getting into that, there is another thread for that already and that horse is pretty much hamburger.
That got me to thinking though. Why can't we channel that sort of energy and focus to the law makers? A politician is no different than a sponsor. If people stop supporting them, be it money or votes, it's over. A simple analogy but I think it's accurate.
I have to admit, that has put me into my motivated activist stage right now, and quite frankly I'm sorry to admit I got out of it. I am so fed up with the current state of legislation and the overwhelming apathy of quite a few gun owners, be they hunters or shooters, that I am willing to try anything that might get people off there butts and do something.
I spent the last couple of days on the phone to my Illinois reps regarding the latest Chicago driven "Assault Weapons Ban" in the Illinois State legislature, and to the sponsors of Jim Zumbo. I have also been writing and mailing letters.
Do I think that my individual input will make a difference? Maybe, maybe not, but I'm not standing by passively anymore letting the NRA alone do the speaking for my rights. Quite frankly I'm amazed at what happened with the Zumbo thing, and to be honest it gave me back hope. If we could keep that kind of ground swell going, we might actually make some progress.
Think about this. When a publicized bill gets brought out we all jump up and start deluging reps with letters and calls. Granted, that helps and has worked, but that is reactive.
But what if we get proactive instead. What if we all sat down and wrote 1 letter a week to each of our Senators and Representatives,federal and state), once a week or heck even once a month stating our positions even if there isn't legislation pending. I know that most elected officials consider one letter to equate to the opinion of 30-35 people. Even if they don't actually read them,I have Durbin and Obama so I figure it's unlikely), the numbers eventually will eventually force them to at least pause for a moment. They might not stop, but it might temper some of rhetoric. Who knows, but if we don't mount a steady and constant defense, we are going to loose this battle. The anti's are out there every day spewing nonsense in the papers and on the news. We must meet that head on.
I used to email, it's quick and easy, but I found out that isn't enough, email doesn't carry the same weight that a phone call, and especially a hard copy letter does. Emails are too easily sent with little to no effort, so they get discounted.
Honestly, what does it take to write and mail a letter? Less time than it took to post this plus clicking on print. If you're not sure who you need to write to or their addresses, use the NRA-ILA's Action Center to look them up.
I think it's worth the effort and the price of postage, especially for something this important not only to us individually but our nation as a whole. I truly hope that some of you will too.
When I retired from the Navy, I thought my days of actively defending our country were over, and that I had done my part. I now realize that you can never stop, whether in uniform or not, we all still have to defend her and it is an everyday effort.
The last week has had a confluence of events that got me to looking at myself, my views, and my involvement in the shooting community at large.
I'm retired Military, an NRA Life Member, a Hunter, Match Shooter,Pistol and Rifle), I reload, and just generally enjoy most anything firearm related.
The Jim Zumbo thing, combined with the current flood of gun ban legislation in both the Federal and State legislatures got me to looking at, "What am I actually doing to help?" To be honest, until lately, not much. Ok, I send my dues, support the gun rights organizations, blah, blah. What most folks do and was pretty comfortable that I was "doing my part."
Wrong, well maybe but it's not enough, especially not now.
If there was one good thing to come out of the recent public pilloring of the afore mentioned writer, it was the overwhelming tsunami of grass roots shooters from all our communities voicing their common outrage over a prominent shooter's/hunter's suggestion that a particular firearm should be banned based on it's appearance. I'm not getting into that, there is another thread for that already and that horse is pretty much hamburger.
That got me to thinking though. Why can't we channel that sort of energy and focus to the law makers? A politician is no different than a sponsor. If people stop supporting them, be it money or votes, it's over. A simple analogy but I think it's accurate.
I have to admit, that has put me into my motivated activist stage right now, and quite frankly I'm sorry to admit I got out of it. I am so fed up with the current state of legislation and the overwhelming apathy of quite a few gun owners, be they hunters or shooters, that I am willing to try anything that might get people off there butts and do something.
I spent the last couple of days on the phone to my Illinois reps regarding the latest Chicago driven "Assault Weapons Ban" in the Illinois State legislature, and to the sponsors of Jim Zumbo. I have also been writing and mailing letters.
Do I think that my individual input will make a difference? Maybe, maybe not, but I'm not standing by passively anymore letting the NRA alone do the speaking for my rights. Quite frankly I'm amazed at what happened with the Zumbo thing, and to be honest it gave me back hope. If we could keep that kind of ground swell going, we might actually make some progress.
Think about this. When a publicized bill gets brought out we all jump up and start deluging reps with letters and calls. Granted, that helps and has worked, but that is reactive.
But what if we get proactive instead. What if we all sat down and wrote 1 letter a week to each of our Senators and Representatives,federal and state), once a week or heck even once a month stating our positions even if there isn't legislation pending. I know that most elected officials consider one letter to equate to the opinion of 30-35 people. Even if they don't actually read them,I have Durbin and Obama so I figure it's unlikely), the numbers eventually will eventually force them to at least pause for a moment. They might not stop, but it might temper some of rhetoric. Who knows, but if we don't mount a steady and constant defense, we are going to loose this battle. The anti's are out there every day spewing nonsense in the papers and on the news. We must meet that head on.
I used to email, it's quick and easy, but I found out that isn't enough, email doesn't carry the same weight that a phone call, and especially a hard copy letter does. Emails are too easily sent with little to no effort, so they get discounted.
Honestly, what does it take to write and mail a letter? Less time than it took to post this plus clicking on print. If you're not sure who you need to write to or their addresses, use the NRA-ILA's Action Center to look them up.
I think it's worth the effort and the price of postage, especially for something this important not only to us individually but our nation as a whole. I truly hope that some of you will too.
When I retired from the Navy, I thought my days of actively defending our country were over, and that I had done my part. I now realize that you can never stop, whether in uniform or not, we all still have to defend her and it is an everyday effort.
