Bitter – Page 71 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Specific Steps You Can Take to Oppose the Coming Obama/Biden Gun Controls

I’m back with more specific ideas that you can try in your version of a “gun community” to oppose new gun control measures. My apologies for the time off from these, but it was a little tough to blog seriously with a 4-year-old niece crawling in my lap and wanting her hair brushed and styled with “big girl” hair clips. But those kinds of moments remind me why I try to protect our rights. Someday, she will be a big girl who should have the right to decide the best way to protect herself when she’s out on her own in this world.

In case you missed the previous posts, Iâ€™m writing a short series on the topic of contacting lawmakers over the next few days with specific ideas for various communities of gun owners to expand their reach. Whether youâ€™re just some guy who owns guns and finds their â€œgun communityâ€ online, own a commercial gun range or shop, or are a member of a community gun club, Iâ€™m going to collect specific actionable, easy ideas for you to think about.

Todayâ€™s list is for individuals with a focus on reaching out through the media.

Don’t write off the media as completely against us and worthless for outreach. Many individual members of the national media aren’t good targets, but the local press is much more likely to be open to different opinions. In my holiday local news viewing opportunities, the often featured viewer comments via social media and email responses which showed support for the Second Amendment and opposition to new gun control measures.
If you live in an area with local weeklies or other small papers, turn to those as an outlet. When I did my Congressional internship, the Congressman’s primary office had a subscription to every single paper in the district – no matter how rinky dink the circulation. I can’t speak for every single Congressional office, but I suspect that this is pretty common. The offices generally want to keep up with what all district media are saying about them.
If you are writing to the local paper, try to include the name(s) of your targeted elected officials. As the only intern willing to work daily in the aforementioned office, I had the joyous task of reading every single paper and finding any and all references to the Congressman. It did not matter what the topic of the article/letter to the editor was about. If it was calling him to do something or mentioned his record on something, I had to cut out the article. This is likely still done for any offices that take smaller local papers that don’t publish all sections online.
If you submit a letter to the editor or comment to the local television/radio stations that doesn’t get published or aired after several days, then post it online. If you have a blog, post what you intended to say online and include a link to what inspired you to write. The staff of any officials named will pick it up in Google Alerts and see that you are contacting media outlets in his/her district, even if your letter or comment wasn’t published that day. If you don’t have a blog and have a particularly well-written letter to the editor that you have submitted that didn’t get published, then email it to your favorite gun or political blogger to see if they will post it. Make sure to include the media outlet you targeted, and any relevant links to original stories.
Email a copy of your letter to the editor directly to your lawmakers. If you want to go the direct route, just email the office of your representatives with a note that you thought they might like to see the letter to the editor you just submitted to the relevant district news outlet that mentioned them. Don’t do this every single week, but just a friendly and professional heads up since it is relevant to potential press coverage for their boss.
In any communication with the media, you’re more likely to be featured if you are clear and concise. With letters to the editor, they shouldnâ€™t be any longer than 150 words. The shorter letters provide more flexibility as they lay the pages out for publication. Typically, a writer or commenter won’t be featured more than once every 30 days, so don’t bombard any outlet with constant letters or comments if they have recently published or shared something from you.
Use spellcheck. Ask a family member, friend, or even a fellow commenter on your favorite gun blog or forum to take a look at something before you submit it. It will help to keep you message. Don’t forget to include your name and city, as well as contact information so they can verify with you if they want to publish or feature your comments.
If you have a state or regional political news site or blog that covers your lawmakers, consider submitting a guest editorial to them on the specific policies being discussed. If you’re lacking inspiration, use gun blogs and forums as guides in writing a well-argued piece. Don’t plagiarize, but you can certainly use ideas and concepts for composing a serious post.

I do have more ideas for individual action than just the media, but I wanted to do a media-themed post since there will be so many opportunities to talk specific issues and specific lawmakers in the next month. It’s not a completely lost cause to use these outlets.

A thorough response to one of the bigger (now defunct) political blogs here in Pennsylvania got at least one journalist to stop falsely reporting that a Democrat was pro-gun. While I’m not encouraging that kind of response to every mainstream report, it shows that readers/viewers/listeners who speak out can remind the media that we’re going to keep them on their toes. More importantly, it amplifies your voice to lawmakers since they now know that you’re not only contacting them as a constituent, you’re out there talking to other voters.

Media Pulling Strings with Administration Officials

It seems that NBC contacted the DC police about having David Gregory use a 30-round-magazine on Meet the Press and was told that they could not violate the law. However, TMZ reports that NBC appears to have gone to the ATF and they contacted the DC police about the issue. It seems to me that permission to violate the law was suddenly granted once the federal agency stepped into the situation.

Political Lessons from Charles Durning

If anyone has watched the news today, I’m sure they have seen the sad news that Charles Durning passed away yesterday. When I think of Durning, I only think of one character that he made famous.

It’s particularly relevant to share that famous character on this blog since I think we all need to be reminded that this isn’t a terrible exaggeration of how politicians really work. Well, the booty shaking might be an exaggeration, but not much more. :)

Durning should also be recognized for his service in World War II during the D-Day invasion. He was the recipient of a Silver Star and three Purple Hearts.

A Family that Joins NRA Together…

So it turns out that NRA memberships are the hottest gift of the holiday season – at least in my family. My mother bought my uncle a membership for his birthday today. In a completely separate conversation tonight, my brother asked me to send him a link to sign up. My mom is already a life member, so is everyone in our household. I don’t have a huge family, so this is now a pretty sizable percentage – all of whom vote in every major election.

People in my family who don’t normally concern themselves with Second Amendment issues are concerned about the kinds of proposals that have been discussed in the media. This doesn’t automatically mean that “we win” the debate. This means that we have some new allies. But those allies need to be informed of what’s going on and when we need them to contact their elected representatives.

For those of you looking for extremely last minute gifts, NRA gift memberships are sold online. :)

Illustrating the Term “Idiot Box”

In our holiday travels, I’ve had the opportunity to watch local news in two metro areas that have reduced Wayne LaPierre’s entire speech and NRA’s entire proposed school security program down to the “good guys with a gun” quote.

At first, one might assume that this is because the hostile mainstream media just wants to make NRA look like they only thing they are capable of saying is “more guns!” I don’t think that is true though, or at least I don’t believe that it is the primary motivation.

Watching the rest of these news programs, I was struck by just how much they dumb down all content. I was once told by a lawyer that when speaking to a jury, they shouldn’t speak above about a 5th grade level. I got the impression that the news producers were working with the same advice.

Vacuous would be a generous term for what I have seen in the way of local news programming, and I think that Wayne’s attempts to play the folksy sound bite game actually backfired. It made NRA look like they aren’t thinking above the demonstrable intelligence level of the local anchors – and that isn’t saying much.

NRA Press Conference Live Coverage

Those of you who want to watch NRA’s press conference can watch online via either the NRA or NRA News Facebook pages, on NRA.org, or on NRANews.com.

If you can’t tune in because you’re at work, then I’ll live blog the press conference here. (Sadly, this does mean I’m missing the gun control debate between PA Rep. Daryl Metcalfe and Sen. Daylin Leach, a showdown that would no doubt call for popcorn and a drinking game.)

We’re having a few buffering hiccups already in these last five minutes before the scheduled start time. Hopefully NRA has the capacity to stream something like this to such a major audience.

Damn it! The press conference has been bumped until 11am. I could have listened to the Leach-Metcalfe debate. Of course, then I probably would have been drunk for the NRA press conference.

The press conference room is packed based on the NRA News feed. Lots of reporters are taking pictures of how packed the room is. That’s interesting if it’s news even to them.

We just had a two minute warning from Andrew.

NRA President David Keene comes first. He’s a great spokesman.

He jumps right into the discussion that parents are concerned about how to stop shootings. He’s going to turn it over to Wayne LaPierre. He said they aren’t taking questions, but will next week via normal outlets.

Wayne starts out talking about the concern for victims. He notes that NRA didn’t comment because of respect for families. He says they must speak, and that as much as the anger is directed at NRA, no one has talked about protecting children right now in a way that “we know works.”

He notes that we have gun free school zones, put out releases about them, and post signs about them in a way that shows criminals can face no consequences. He’s highlighting that we pay to put armed guards for power plants, sports stadiums, and politicians, yet we, as a society, have decided to leave them defenseless.

We have a Code Pink infiltrator getting in the way of Wayne. The Code Pink protestor is getting more attention since he’s being allowed to scream. The security didn’t remove the guy early enough.

Wayne is highlighting that federal prosecutions of gun crimes are down by 40%.

Wayne now says the media is trying to hide a dirty secret that there are violent video games. He highlights a game called Kindergarten Killers that’s been online for 10 years.

Now he’s talking hurricanes and natural disasters. He then cites music videos that show violence – but who is airing music videos these days? He says that this stuff is the worst form of pornography.

He says that these issues bring cruelty into homes. He says that kids witness 16,000 murders in media by the time they reach 18. He says that the media is to blame.

Another Code Pink protester with credentials. She started screaming from the beginning. Now the media is interrupting Wayne on the protests. And he then starts attacking the media again. This is clearly a speech meant for NRA members & gun owners who support the policies of NRA members.

He’s also going after misreporting on the power of ammunition and firearms.

He does say that the police were prompt. Ummm…20 minutes?

Wayne says that parents need to be personally involved in schools. They need to be invested in school security. He says that only good guys with guns stop bad guys with guns. But he points out that people who want to call 911, the good guy with the gun could be closer.

He points out that society views guns good in the hands of law enforcement, so they should just acknowledge that it’s guns in the hands of good guys that make the difference.

He goes back to a statement after Virginia Tech where he called for armed security in schools. He notes that if Adam Lanza could have been challenged by a qualified armed security person that maybe he could have saved lives. He notes that teachers and the principal had to sacrifice their lives in order to try and save kids, and that leaving them unarmed forces the sacrifice onto them.

He goes after Obama for scrapping school security grants in the budget. He asks if foreign aid could pay for a police officer in every school. He notes that there are plenty of people who make a corps of security plan options – retired police, military, emergency personnel, etc.

He acknowledges that local budgets are strained, but their dedication is there. He calls on Congress to pay for armed police officers in every single school in the country. He suggests they do it right now so kids return to armed security after the holiday break.

He says that schools should be planning meeting with parents to talk about these security ideas. He notes that every school is different, so the plans might look different.

NRA, as the top instructor, is highlighting their law enforcement training programs and offering them to communities. He notes that NRA did use these training programs to help in WWII. He says they are developing a new model call National School Shield. It’s going to focus on many facets – access to schools and teacher training.

They have tapped former Rep. Asa Hutchinson to lead the National School Shield. NRA will pay for it. Schools get it free of charge. No money required by schools or communities to get the materials to get them talking about how to secure their school.

Wayne notes that we should be securing our schools at least as much as sports stadiums.

For what it’s worth, I’ve been in the room where NRA is hosting this event, it can hold well over 1,000 people.

Rep. Hutchinson is speaking now, but the press is trying to yell at Wayne over them.

He notes that parents aren’t confident in school safety anymore, and that he’s bringing together security experts to put together serious recommendations that doesn’t just focus on armed security.

He says the focus is to come up with a model security plan that schools can pick and choose to fit everything for urban schools to small, rural schools.

He notes that the plan won’t be focused completely on armed guards. Hutchinson notes that there are already basic models in the public and private sphere – Pres. Clinton backed a police in schools program and his own son participates in a group of dads that actually provides extra security to playgrounds and schools in the community.

David Keene is back. He says that Andrew will be around next week to answer press questions. He also says he will be available to press next week. Reporters tried yelling over him. The text of speeches will be posted today.

Sebastian will work on a post later with a full analysis and reflection on today’s press conference.

Don’t Forget Your Mayors

Bloomberg’s band of criminal mayors have all signed a letter to the President asking him to ban semi-automatic firearms.

You know what this means, right? It’s time to add your local MAIG mayors to your letter-writing list. Only, instead of making the generic pleas to not support gun control, ride their butts about why they sent letters to the White House calling on Obama to ban your firearms.

Remember, most of the mayors don’t know that Bloomberg is signing their names to letters to Washington & in newspaper advertisements. It doesn’t matter that they didn’t expressly approve it, their signature appears on the letter. Hold them accountable.

PA Gov. Tom Corbett Questioned on Assault Weapons

Asked if he has publicly changed his mind like Sen. Bob Casey on the topic of banning semi-automatic firearms, Governor Tom Corbett spoke out and made clear that his position is that mental illness is the underlying common issue in many mass attacks.

He made clear that he does not support state action on banning semi-automatic rifles, but acknowledges that the main debate will be at the federal level. He says flat out that banning guns won’t make people safer.

Two Men Want to Tell Women What to Think on Guns

I had to check out this video of two male Wall Street Journal reporters talking about how Smith & Wesson will need to go back to the drawing board on their new marketing efforts because those efforts included outreach to female NRA members.

The logic here astounds me. Their assumption that Smith & Wesson will need to give up their women’s advertising is based on the idea that women who are already involved in the gun culture enough to join NRA and follow NRA’s Women’s Network channels will suddenly no longer be interested in guns.

But, then they show a picture of a man browsing Smith & Wesson products and say that those core customers probably haven’t changed their attitudes. I guess we women can’t be relied upon, we’re too flakey or wishy washy. These two apparently think that we’re simply not as principled as men. *ahem*

Boys at the WSJ, let me give you a little lecture on females with strong views rooted in constitutional principles and concern for self-defense and that of our homes. We’re dedicated. We’re the biggest advocates and loudest supporters of efforts like the Friends of NRA to raise money for advancing the Second Amendment through safety programs and legal programs. We’re the ones who, when we get involved, bring the entire family along with us. I see more women – even those who aren’t NRA members – share images promoting the Second Amendment on Facebook than I see from men. When we come on board to the cause, we’re vocal. We don’t sit back and listen to men tell us what they think we “should want” to hear. We’ll make up our own minds about messages that resonate with us.

More Record Gun Sales Verified

Cleaning the shelves dry of guns and ammunition is something that apparently brings red states and blue states together at the moment. My mother was checking up on the gun situation in her new home state, and she read me the report that Tennessee has likely set gun sales records – at least they did set a record for the number of gun sales background checks.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Kristin Helm said in an email that the agency performed 9,772 background checks over Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That’s 500 more than the second biggest weekend on record â€” Black Friday and the two days that followed in November. …

At the Goodlettsville Gun Shop, outside of Nashville, sales continued to be brisk on Wednesday.

Owner Phillip Arrington said in a phone interview that the store was packed and he had five check-out lines going.

He then cut the reporter short saying that he was too busy to talk. Ha!