I guess what I’m wondering is how you can think I am completely dismissive of VCDL when I stated, right at the top of my comment:

Needless to say – God Bless the NRA.

And VCDL for getting the ball rolling on this in some sense. It actually looks like they are going to get us Restaurant Carry this year (passed both houses, right now on Gov. Kaine’s desk).

With “this” being the issue of National Park carry.

I have no problem with Philip Van Cleave. He’s done a heck of a job – first of rescuing the organization from irrelevancy and then of marshaling his sizable volunteer army (and it is sizable – its one thing to have 4 million members, its another to get 4,000 people to actually drop what they are doing and come out and lobby or protest) to achieve real results.

Within the state, they are untouchable and put the NRA’s efforts to shame.

But on a national front – WHICH IS NOT THEIR SPECIALTY – they simply weren’t effective. Perhaps its because its an all volunteer organization. Or perhaps its cause they just didn’t have the experience or contacts to get the job done. I think a large part of the problem was that they are too closely aligned to GOA and looked to GOA for advice and guidance in how to repeal the National Park gun ban and/or adopted GAO style tactics..

Ultimately though, I think each of these led to the lack of a comprehensive strategy on how to achieve repeal of the National Park gun ban, and the resources to follow through on the strategy, from the get go.

I could go into more detail, but frankly I know the Brady Bigots occasionally read this blog and I don’t want to give them any more intelligence. If you want, SailorCurt, I can email you further offline.

But lets just say this, the problem isn’t Phil. Your right, he’s always eager to accept help and does a heck of a job. The problem is that some of the volunteers who have taken leading roles in VCDL campaigns are nut jobs. And nut jobs – and needless to say the GAO – are toxic to any hope of political success.

Regarding the timing on when each organization got into this first – well, I think your both wrong – or at least by my recollection you are.

I first heard of the idea/effort from VCDL. I’d say that was about 5 years ago, maybe longer. If my memory serves me correct, VCDLs first petition was filed in 2003. At the time it was pretty clear the organization didn’t have a long term plan for lobbying this thing, and I think that was evident in how DOI treated it. When I delivered a copy of it to the White House, I was told this would make a great 2nd Term project – and indeed it is (going back to my first comment on holding your fire until the time is right).

Regarding the NRA, they ran a story on the need to repeal the National Park ban shortly after, in the lead up to the 2004 presidential election campaign. I believe it was in one of the Free Hunter magazines, but I could be mistaken. The story was very well done, and provided significantly more context and understanding on the history of the ban as well as its inconsistent application (it listed a number of National Park Service properties where it wasn’t in effect) than VCDL did. This was the first time I had heard of the effort from the NRA, but it was very clear that they had spent a good deal of time understanding the general field they were about to (or had already) engage in.

I have never claimed to be non violent. I have been violent and I used to be very good at it. What I did claim is that I never used violence against anyone not trespassing me. And I have said very few people would believe me capable of violence because of the manner in which I usually comport myself. I never said nobody had seen it in me. Some people have tried to kill me, rob me, and beat the hell out of me. I have been shot twice, cut a few times and survived. I survived because I prevailed because I didn’t childishly dismiss prudently applied violence as unacceptable. In all but one of the instances referenced above I was unarmed. In the instance where I had a pistol on my person, I never pulled it or used it even though there were three locals who didn’t like construction workers and had already beaten three of them down ( one at a time, of course). They didn’t get it done the fourth time. Oh, yeah, that also ended the attacks on unsuspecting workers at the power plant.

As for the rest of your rant, you haven’t said anything logical, except you don’t like me. Ok, I can live with that. The logic of that is that you aren’t obligated to like me or to pretend you do. But that dislike does not equate to a rebuttal of anything I may have said.

The one specific you cited was about a boss I refused to allow to trespass my rights. You’re damn right, I’ll fight over that. If you won’t, that speaks more to your character than mine. As it was, and you know this because I said so in that post, that my employment there ended and nobody was physically harmed. Up until he understood my position he and his security people were prepared to force the issue and do what I would not allow despite my protests. The belief that he had a personal downside is why he didn’t break into my car, or rather have his security people do it. He had told them to go ahead when I refused to unlock the car for him.

I do not think my position was unreasonable and if you do, I have deep sympathy for anyone who must depend on you.

No one is saying you’re a peasant as you like to claim in your comments. As I said in my response to you at my site that we’ve actually been citing people like you as the strength that VCDL can really play on to be even more effective in the future.

In fact, you say:

“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. What I can do, I should do. And what I should do, by the grace of God, I will do.”
– Edward Everett Hale

This is a good policy, in general. But, was Hale opposed to putting one’s energy and efforts where one can create the most value? That’s actually the overarching theme in this discussion.

Who is asking anyone to swear fealty? I’m suggesting that people ought not accuse them of not doing anything for the cause. None of us know each other in real life. That’s not suggesting you have to bend over and kiss anyone’s ass. It’s suggesting that none of us have enough information to know what anyone else has accomplished. All of us blog anonymously for professional reasons, not related to this issue, not because we’re trying to hide from the readers.

Well, I can’t speak to that definitively because I’m not an insider at VCDL any more than I am at NRA…I’m just a lowly footsoldier who does what I can…but as far as I’m concerned, those accusations are nothing more than hearsay and a further effort to undermine VCDL. If you have some evidence of VCDL refusing help, I’d love to see it, but feel like I know Phillip well enough to say that that just doesn’t sound like the route that he’d take. I’ve never seen him turn down a good idea or turn away an offer of help. And, by the way, some low-level NRA insider telling a low-level NRA apologist “this is what I heard…” does not constitute “evidence”.

You’re right, I don’t know who Bitter or Countertop are and I don’t know what, exactly they do for the cause because they remain anonymous and don’t post about what they accomplish. Must we little people just assume that everyone who hides behind a pseudonym and doesn’t talk about the good they accomplish is some high level elite that we should bow down and swear fealty to?

Sorry, but the only thing I have to go by is what they say on their blogs. They both are excellent writers and commentators but as far as actual accomplishments? I sure haven’t seen anything substantive…unless every NRA apologist gets credit for every NRA accomplishment regardless of their lack of physical involvement…then I’m quite impressed. Heck, I’m quite impressed with myself as an NRA life member…all I have to do is defend them through thick and thin…even to the point of stabbing other gun rights organizations in the back, and then I too can claim that I’m an effective activist. All from the comfort of my own computer without actually having to ever inconvenience myself with little things like…you know…actually DOING anything.

I didn’t go to law school. I chose, instead, to spend 21 years of my life defending our nation in the armed forces. Phillip was a cop and is now a private businessman. That’s the story of virtually ALL the VCDL members and leadership. Just common folk foundering along doing the best that we can…with very little help from the “elites” who would consider themselves our betters. But at least we’re in the game…and, yes, it does bruise my ego when I see other Virginians sitting on the sidelines booing those of us who are actively working for their benefit.

While I have read comments and posts here that I have disagreed with strongly, no single other poster on this blog has come close to the level of stupidity you exhibit on a regular basis. One must wonder if you continue to post here for any purpose other than a contrary nature, as you have made your feelings clear long ago. You are now simply a more persistent version of Jadegold, albeit a more embarrassing version as you claim to be on our side. Your intoxicating blend of arrogance, irrationality, stamina, and support of the rights of gun owners almost makes me wonder if you are some sort of Brady sock puppet, a cunning caricature meant to discredit the average intelligent gun owner.

You have single handedly caused me to actually question my views against gun control personally, because knowing that people like yourself that have such a painful aversion to any form of logic or reason are walking around armed is terrifying, should any sort of emergency break out.

You continually claim to be a nice guy, totally non-violent, yet in comments before on this site you have admitted to angrily threatening bodily harm for totally childish reasons. This leads me to believe you are either actually the one full of shit and talk big on the internet to make it sound like you’re some sort of tough guy, or you’re so dangerously self deluded that you cannot see the paradoxical nature of your statements.

The most recent example I can remember is where you stated that you basically threatened an old boss just because he mentioned that the company rules stated he could search your vehicle. Taking a stand and leaving in a situation like that is the right thing to do. Threatening someone is an action on par with the maturity of someone that’s around a quarter of your age. Someone whose first instinct is to threaten bodily harm and then who has poor enough impulse control to actually go through with vocalizing it is clearly of questionable mental stability.

In the end, I can’t bring myself to support more gun control, no matter how terrified I am by a few obviously unhinged individuals. I will instead put my faith in the existing system of making sure that the mentally unstable do not have access to firearms, and hope that one day they will be able to properly classify you among them.

I know your first instinct will be another of your thoughtless monkey scribblings that you attempt to pass off as a comment of reasonable discourse. Please, I implore you, save the internet a little bandwidth and refrain. Nowhere in your rambling, incoherent response would you come close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. We would all be dumber having read it. I award you no points, and may The Flying Spaghetti Monster have mercy on your soul.*

*Apologies to Adam Sandler.

They are perfectly willing to let someone else do the heavy lifting, break the constraints of inertia, then when the ball is rolling run around in front and claim the credit.

Shame on you, Bitter, and Countertop and the NRA.

I don’t blame Sailorcurt for being angry. You just pissed down his neck and tried to tell it was raining.