We had no warning of this one before it passed in Conshohocken. MAIG is getting very good at sneaking these things in before we have a chance to react. They are depending on that, in fact, because when we show up and make a case against the ordinances, and point out that they are unlawful, we’ve generally been winning. This round goes to Max Nacheman, Bloomberg’s hired gun, but it’s worth noting that he can only win by subverting the democratic process and trying to sneak these ordinances in under the radar before we have a chance to organize and respond. This is how these people operate. If they can’t beat us by using above board tactics, they’ll beat us by being sneaky weasels. If you live in Conshohocken, I’d be sure to give your elected officials trouble over this. Show up at the next meeting and demand to know why they passed an illegal ordinance without any public notice. You can find contact information here.
UPDATE: I’ve corrected the record. All pro-gun channels were silent on this town, and I heard nothing in the media about it. These are the traditional channels through which we find out. As it turns out, this was put on the agenda in the February Borough Council meeting, and we missed it. MAIG has paid resources to identify and target towns to try to pass this ordinance. We rely on volunteers to keep us abreast of happenings, and sometimes these kinds of things slip by without notice. So I apologize for the accusation that there was no public notice, but Max Nacheman and Bloomberg are still weasels ;)
You’re not winning. MAIG is trying to show the state legislature there is lots of support from local politicians for removing state pre-emption and/or enacting a statewide L&S law. They don’t need to actually have anything enacted or enforced to make their point.
I agree we’re not winning, and agree with you on their strategy. They understand Pennsylvania very well, which is why they are dangerous.
There are 2500+ municipalities in this state, in contrast to New Jersey which has 500, Ohio which has about 1000, and Delaware, which only has 3 counties which are the local government. This makes the tracking problem very difficult. Because they are on the offensive, they can pick and choose where to attack next, whereas we have to watch everything to notice an attack. We are on very weak ground having to fight in town after town. Preemption was supposed to stop this, but they have figured out towns are willing to ignore it on this issue, and they have a very slick sales pitch.
This sort of attack is not local to PA. They’ve tried it here before. That’s one of the reasons why I fund local candidates. You need to start doing that, and not just in reaction to MAIG. You need to support local pro-gun county executives, county legislators, sheriffs, judges, mayors, etc. You don’t need to be able to operate everywhere, every time either. You need to show enough state legislators that even if you can’t always affect them directly, you can play in their districts back home.
I would agree Jacob… now I just need to get into a position where I have other people’s money to hand out :)