Gun Control and You

[Michael James Cobb]

Friends, we are at a crossroad.  I knew that this day would come, where we have a President who does not share our values and an event that could galvanize the electorate to support very restrictive gun laws.  The only glimmer of good news is that congress is still Republican.  That and the fact that we are riding a surge of positive legislation on a local level.  The problem is that a President can largely do what he wants, thru signing statements and Executive Orders.  Obama is no different in the slightest on this score, in fact we owe a large "debt" to George Bush when it comes to manifesting executive arrogance.  Get gave permission, as it were, to any sort of antics that Obama would want to engage in.



All that said, no gun owner can stand on the sidelines any longer.  To that end I have a few thoughts that I would like you to consider.

• Register register register.  So you can comment on stories wherever you see them.  The Times, the major News outlets, Blogs.  Anyplace you come across a story about gun control (or related issues) register and comment.  Half of the population owns guns.  Imagine if even 10% of us was standing up to be counted at every opportunity.
• Be sure of your facts.  Familiarize yourself with the ONLY source of crime stats, the FBI.  http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/crimestats
• If you see an error in something online, correct it.  If you can amplify on an issue, do so.  Just be sure of your facts but once you are, make them known.
• Be polite.  Be accurate and polite. 
• Watch your spelling and grammar.  The grabbers love nothing better than to characterize us as illiterate yokels.  I, myself, am an illiterate yokel but I really, really proof read
• Write to everyone.  Not just on a Federal level.  Write to your State representatives  judges, selectmen  mayors.  Anyone who can have a say in our affairs should be contacted.  It is more likely that State reps have the ear of your Senator or Congressman than you do.
• Elected officials live in fear of having to find real work.  If they hear from you then they know that they have to work for your vote.  That is a good thing. Threats are simply unnecessary.  Never say "you will loose my vote if you blah blah blah".  It goes without saying so don't bloody well say it.
• Join the NRA.  We all have issues with them, some big, some not so big, but they are the only relevant lobbying group that we have.  The fact that  they only have 4.5mm members is a crime.  If you are a member, donate some bucks to the ILA (http://www.nraila.org/).  They are going to need it.
• Posting here is nice but we all agree with each other.  We must engage and convert people who do not post on gun boards such as this.
• Get ammunition.  Like from places like these: http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/12/16/an-honest-liberal-writes-about-gun-control/ and http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/12/21/gun-control-isnt-the-answer-even-if-you-dont-like-guns/
• See what some reasonable liberals have to say: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/12/the-case-for-more-guns-and-more-gun-control/309161/?single_page=true and http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323723104578185271857424036.html

From the first reference above:

...these gun-control efforts, while noble, would only have a modest impact on the rate of gun violence in America.
Why?
Because it’s too late.
There are an estimated 280 million to 300 million guns in private hands in America—many legally owned, many not. Each year, more than 4 million new guns enter the market. This level of gun saturation has occurred not because the anti-gun lobby has been consistently outflanked by its adversaries in the National Rifle Association, though it has been. The NRA is quite obviously a powerful organization, but like many effective pressure groups, it is powerful in good part because so many Americans are predisposed to agree with its basic message.
America’s level of gun ownership means that even if the Supreme Court—which ruled in 2008 that the Second Amendment gives citizens the individual right to own firearms, as gun advocates have long insisted—suddenly reversed itself and ruled that the individual ownership of handguns was illegal, there would be no practical way for a democratic country to locate and seize those guns.
Many gun-control advocates, and particularly advocates of a total gun ban, would like to see the United States become more like Canada, where there are far fewer guns per capita and where most guns must be registered with the federal government. The Canadian approach to firearms ownership has many attractions—the country’s firearm homicide rate is one-sixth that of the U.S. But barring a decision by the American people and their legislators to remove the right to bear arms from the Constitution, arguing for applying the Canadian approach in the U.S. is useless.
Even the leading advocacy group for stricter gun laws, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, has given up the struggle to convince the courts, and the public, that the Constitution grants only members of a militia the right to bear arms. “I’m happy to consider the debate on the Second Amendment closed,” Dan Gross, the Brady Campaign’s president, told me recently. “Reopening that debate is not what we should be doing. We have to respect the fact that a lot of decent, law-abiding people believe in gun ownership.”

[/size]Interesting stuff, and it is important to know what the other side is thinking.
[/size]In any event, we must all pull together on this.  It brings to mind a person, who shall remain nameless (for the mioment) who is the President of a gun club in Connecticut.  He hates "black rifles" and would like to see them outlawed at the club's range.  People like this should not have any position of power and authority in our community.  We are way beyond being tolerant of any opinion in our ranks that would allow for the banning of any class of firearms.  Worse is the potential of this person's views betting on the public airwaves "See, see!!! Even gun guys want to ban these horrid things". 
[/size]Slippery slopes exist.  Oh, my, they exist.
[/size]

[SHOOTALL]

I had the pleasure to hunt in Canada while they were trying to register all long guns and many said they would not comply. One outfitter was using a worn out junker he told me his good guns were hid . Since I have heard the govt. decided the 11 million spent and the failure of many to not heed the law it was pointless to continue and stopped the program.
 Gun owners in the USA need to set aside their petty differences as to how to hunt , who should be allowed to carry and all the other BS and come together to protect our rights.

[Mike in Virginia]

Good advice.  The problem is that too many folks won't take action until it's too late.  "Gun control" is an issue quickly going the way of "gay pride" control and so many other serious issues that are taking us to our end.  What do you think about religion?  Do we still have a right to practice that?  I think not.  Can we pray in school?  Do we dare pray at any public gathering other than our own church?  What about the truth of racism?  We cannot express the truth in that regard.  We would quickly be named racist and ignored.  I, for one, stand up and freely declare that I am a racist.  I refuse to ignore the facts.  I will never say that the cancer of race is our demise.  We will most certainly die with that disease.  We've suffered too long and too much to prevent it.  Do you know someone that died from a cancer?  Can you not see the cancer attacking us from within?  Gun control is a very small percentage of the disease that is consuming our rights and our freedom.
We worry about what the government will say about our rights to have firearms.  But we completely ignore the certain issues that are our demise.   
Sometimes I'm glad I'm old and will not live to see the end of the U.S.  Such a horror is inconceivable to the masses, but it's so very close.  I expect I'll still be on the plantet when it comes, but I'll be too old to know or receive the full consequences of the inaction of those who refuse to see the truth.  I don't mean to say you might stop it.  I mean only that it's coming.  For sure and for certain.  If you are not prepared for it, or if you have children who have no idea what's coming, I do not envy you, and may God have mercy on your ignorant soul.  I'd rather be within one step of my grave than to be unprepared.   
 

[Redtail1949]

i agree we must make our voices heard, however, i know that it will fall on deaf ears. they are going to take them by hook or by crook and i fear for my children and my grandchildren. the cancer was left to fester to long and we as a nation are going to pay the price in the loss of our freedom.

[SHOOTALL]

"they" are elected by "us" and maybe "they" need reminding !

[tom548]

I have done all the above for the past 3 or 4 months. Some thing I would like to see is one web site that you could use to get all the info on who to contact for Fed and state rep. and the may be another for local rep. This would make it much easier to contact them.  I really think we may be in trouble this time and it wont be for only 10 years.

[Dee]

When the Clinton gun ban was in effect, if you could find one, a 20 rd mag was $50+, and when GW was president he offered to make the Clinton Gun Ban PERMANENT, but Congress backed out.
Congress is the key, not Obama. Obama is a bugger, but he is not "THE" bugger.

[SHOOTALL]

Here many 30 round mags went for $100.00 , Hi Cap Glock or other brands went for over $50.00. Also many gun makers/suppliers  replaced alot of police guns back then , traded in all the old stuff then resold the used HiCap mags for a profit . We had a run of "pratice" Glock mags sold here they were orange . They were produced before the ban. Then there were guys who went to the Islands and came home with unmarked mags for Glock pistols. The entire time the ban was in force you could buy every part of a hi cap mag as a replacement part. Of course it was illegal to build a mag from new parts but if you replaced one part from alot of mags then used the old parts ? illegal ? I don't know , didn't try it .Bet some did .There were loop holes then and alot of false value was paid for.
 From what has been said it seems that certian guns will require a tax stamp. Maybe future manafacture will be illegal. Then those guns will inflate in value beyond real value and people will make money. Maybe ?

[Michael James Cobb]

Take a look here


http://mikecobbsstuffformen.blogspot.com/


The last posting is a letter that you might want to edit and send. 


Just do something.


Thanks.