Year: 2009

This is the last in our series of interviews with Board Candidates, which means it’s now time to get your ballots in.  I will be engineering a fun series of reminders for you.  As with our interviews with Scott Bach, and Edie Reynolds, my questions are in bold, and the answers italicized.

What, if anything, do you think the NRA can do to help introduce downstate people to the shooting sports and the Second Amendment?

This is a very difficult question to answer, to categorize any citizen of New York as either a “Upstate” or “Downstate” is to invite argument and vigorous debate.

Well, putting that aside then, what do you think NRA can to get more people involved in shooting?

Let’s examine the issue at hand as one that is societal in nature and easily remedied.  The NRA, through its official state affiliate – The New York State Rifle and Pistol Association – reaches thousands of shooters across the state each year.  Anyone so inclined, may avail themselves to a wide variety of shooting experiences….as my campaign motto suggests, “From Black Powder to Black Rifle…”

No matter what your interest is or where you may reside- there is a shooting discipline for you.

Aside from NRA, is there anything you would recommend to individuals, to get more people active?

We need to invite those who may be interested to join us at the gun club, the range or even the match.  I know personally that this is the one of the best methods to get those interested involved…

Addressing specifically the Second Amendment, what is your philosophy on spreading the concepts to the uninitiated?

Regarding introducing anyone to the Second Amendment, I would certainly hope that all citizens – young and old – would be well versed on their civil rights guaranteed under the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. That being said, as one that has instructed at the high school, collegiate and Post-Graduate Level, I – unfortunately – know that not to be the case.

Wherever I present, I go to great lengths to fully “enlighten” those that will listen that the Second Amendment has nothing to do with the “National Guard” or one of my favorite pastimes of hunting. It is plain and simple, the amendment that guarantees us our freedom – the right to self-defense against tyranny.

We’d like to thank Joe for taking time to answer our questions.  Now get those ballots mailed in!

This article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer talks about a community’s dispute surrounding a “live fire exercise” that was to be put on by a militia group.

Lacey Fair, who lives next to the training site, was concerned for the safety of her daughters, ages 4 and 12.

She said Brandon Drabek, who owns the site and identifies himself as the public-relations person for the Home Guard, could not give her adequate assurances.

Her home is about 120 yards from his land. Fair said that when she asked what to do while the training was going on, he told her, “That’s a good question. Keep your dogs and children inside.”

I wouldn’t exactly feel to reassured by this statement even if it were me.  It’s one thing to shoot in the middle of nowhere, or at a properly engineered firing range, but while this area is rural, it’s not exactly desolate.  Is it good community relations to distribute leaflets informing everyone that you plan to shoot up the neighborhood in a live fire exercise?  I’ve also never honestly understood the need for militia groups to claim some kind of legitimacy.

Fair said Drabek told her the group would be using automatic weapons; he denies that. Fair also said Drabek claimed the group had been endorsed by Geauga County Sheriff Dan McClelland.

McClelland said that he extended no such endorsement and would not because he does not know enough about the Home Guard or the Ohio Defense Force.

I have no issues with grown men getting together and playing army, and I’ve never believed all militia groups to be hate groups, or radical outfits, even though I don’t pretend to understand the motive behind it:

Eckhart said the Ohio Defense Force is about 10 years old, and many of its founders were disenchanted with the state-run Ohio Military Reserve, in part because it no longer trains with firearms.

But is the motivation to serve the community, which you can apparently do in the Ohio Military Reserve, or to train with firearms?  If the purpose is to train with firearms, why all the grasping for legitimacy, and the origanizing into platoon sized battalions and whatnot?  Can’t a couple of fellas get together and teach each other to shoot without all the pomp and circumstance?

The only thing I can figure is that a lot of these guys are looking for ways to relate to their government, and serve communities that they feel increasingly isolated from, and have a hard time relating to.  Government has become cold, impersonal, and with an agenda all its own, even at the local levels.  I don’t think the existence of these groups says as much about the men who join them as it says about the governments they don’t feel like they could be a part of.