Snowflakes in Hell

Looks like I’ve been linked by NRA publications, in an article by Chris Cox.  But to me the neat thing is that the article appears in American Rifleman and America’s First Freedom.  If only dead tree media could drive click throughs, I’d be doing well traffic wise this month, I’d imagine.

Looks like he’s having his say in Bitter’s comments.  It looks like he’s distancing himself from previous comments.  He’s still not getting my vote.

We need to make sure this guy never gets on the board.  Pat Wray has been highlighted on the gun blogosphere before when he stood up for Jim Zumbo’s statements about “assault weapons”.  Needless to say, he’d be a long shot.  He’d have to run by petition, because there’s no way the nominating committee is going to give him space on the ballot, but keep in mind, there are NRA members who don’t know much about Wray, other than his outdoor writings.  It’s never a good idea to take this stuff for granted, so I’m glad Bitter found this tidbit.

The Supreme Court isn’t the only institution that’s gotten a boost in the polling data from Heller.  I wonder how the Brady Campaign and VPC are polling post Heller?  That pesky constitution’s a bitch isn’t it?

SayUncle notices that some gun rights groups are going to be stacking up some serious legal bills, and encourages you to donate.  I couldn’t agree more.  Also, I would add to that list, the California Rifile and Pistol Association, who have joined NRA in the suit against San Francisco, which challenges the ban on firearms in Public Housing.

Interesting side note, the Plaintiff in the San Francisco case is a gay man who wants to be able to protect himself.  So much for the notion of us being a bunch of cousin humping, gay hating rednecks eh?

So pony up and donate some bucks, or join these fine organizations.  The outcome of all this will depend on hiring the very best attorneys, and that’s often not a cheap proposition.

UPDATE: See this bit linked by Random Nuclear Strikes as well.

According to the LA Times, it’s because we’re winning.  SayUncle says: “I find it amusing that the LAT felt it had to spin NRA’s success as a negative.”  It’s hard to accept it when your agenda is going down the drain.

I thought her first appearance on Cam & Company went pretty well.  She is an excellent on-the-air speaker.  Much better than me.  For those of you who missed it, you can hear an audio recording of it here.

Remember that VCDL open carry dinner we posted about a month ago?  Seems the reporter left out some important context.  Go to the VCDL Web Site and scroll down to watch the video.  It seems it was a bonafide VCDL event, compete with a state delegate.  I would have updated on this sooner if I had known.

Some interesting statistics on how NRA members vote.  I hope blog readers who are eligible to vote in NRA elections do so.  It’s really the only way to make sure your views are represented in Fairfax.  Bitter thinks participation is low because of the lack of star power.  I actually don’t tend to vote for the celebrities because they don’t usually need any help getting votes.  I tend to pick about 6 or so candidates, and leave it at that.  Here’s a poll to answer some questions I’m curious about:

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Bitter takes Paul Helmke to task on some of his claims poo pooing the power of NRA endorsements.  It’s a case of “pot, meet kettle.”

Tom King relays something said to him by a police officer in Pittsburgh during the 2004 Annual Meeting:

No, thank you and all the NRA members who came to our city. this was the largest, most peaceful, the cleanest family oriented and financially successful convention held in this city. There have been no fights, no litter, no drunkenness and the restaurants/stores are all saying you guys spend money. This city needs that! The sad part is that our Police Chief had all our SWAT Teams on alert because he predicted it would be like ‘old Dodge City’ with you drunken gun owners shooting up the city. On behalf of my brother officers and the city of Pittsburgh thank you and please come back; you guys are the best.

That would probably make Jadegold, and other like him, cry.  Read the whole thing.  Of course, a bunch of rowdy gun bloggers will be descending on the Annual Meeting this year, so you never know what’s going to happen!

The gun rights movement also has more members.  So many, if 15% of our membership were to come to the annual meeting, there’s no city that’s large enough to hold us all.  Not even Las Vegas.

Bitter is not happy about the NRA alert she got tonight. I saw it too and thought it was a bit hyperbolous. Either way, it’s not quite as important as the advances we just made with National Park carry, and the fact that there would be lawsuits on the Florida parking lot bill is predictable.

Bitter reminds us that NRA ballots have to go out now for board elections, and she squeezes in a last minute message to vote for Bob Viden of New Jersey.

Bitter describes the various types of non-profits, which is relevant in understanding exactly how NRA (and our opponents, for that matter) are put together.

Can be found here.  Hat tip to War on Guns for pointing it out.  I don’t really agree with Suprynowicz, in the sense that I think Gura did what he thought he had to do to win the case, but I don’t find this article particularly inflamatory.  What set me off on GOA was the implication that the people involved in this case were not on “our side.”  I think there’s a difference between offering criticism and using language that tends to undermine or downplay the contributions of others.

This case won’t be the end of second amendment litigation by far, just the beginning.  Will we rescue machine gun rights from this?  I’m doubtful, there’s a lot of damage to be undone in that area, but we’ll have to wait and see what’s in the opinion, and where we can go from here.  We will need groups that will make machine guns an issue, because it’s not going to be NRA carrying that torch.  But we need these other groups to carry a message of “We’re standing up for machine gun owners.”  Not a message of “We’re standing up for machine gun owners, and all these other people to our ’shock and horror’, who are on ‘our side’ are undermining us.” This can’t become “If you don’t agree with me on everything we’re enemies.”   That’s a great way to lose.

GOA once again fans of the flame of anger and resentment by trying to trash people who actually pick up the ball and try to move if forward:

More to the point, Justice John Paul Stevens asked Alan Gura, the attorney for Dick Heller, if it would be proper to say that the right protected in the Second Amendment shall not be “unreasonably infringed”?

To our shock and horror, Gura answered “yes.” He did qualify his answer somewhat by saying “we don’t know” exactly what this “unreasonable standard looks like.” But he conceded a significant amount of ground with his answer, because any ban would be “reasonable” to Chuck Schumer and Sarah Brady.

Truth be told, we do have a proper standard for interpreting the Second Amendment. The language doesn’t say anything about “reasonable” or “unreasonable;” it simply says the right of the people “shall not be infringed.” It’s a shame that even people on “our side” don’t fully understand that.

Larry Pratt is no doubt a legal expert and knows better than the parties involved in this case, many of whom were experienced supreme court litigators, how to handle oral arguments before The Court.  And is GOA suggesting with “our side” schtick in quotes that the people who worked long and hard on this case, many of whom have been laying the groundwork for this all their academic and legal careers are not on it?

As I said yesterday in a comment over at Dave Hardy’s site, where Dave mentioned Gura was getting messages all that evening from angry folks:

I want to be the first to welcome Mr. Gura to the wonderful world of pro-gun activism, where if he had the entire team of petitioners dangling over a shark tank with a copy of the National Firearms Act sticking out of their back pockets, there would still be yahoos screaming that the sharks don’t look hungry enough.

Guys like Dave Hardy, Dave Kopel, Clayton, Joe Olsen, Alan Gura, Bob Levy, Bob Cottrol — the names of people who have worked on this case could go on and on — they are on our side.  I don’t question that.  I do question whether Larry Pratt and the GOA are interested in really anything other than feathering their own nests at the expense of the entire movement.  Alan Gura in all liklihood just won a case that gives us a second amendment that actually means something, but he’s not on our side?  GOA can go to hell.

Tonight I was happy to have the opportunity to take members of Academics for the Second Amendment, Joe Olsen, Dave Hardy, Clayton Cramer and his wife, out for some dinner.  It’s money well spent as far as I’m concerned, since if we prevail in Heller, it will be in no small parts through their efforts.  I do wish them luck in getting in to see the oral arguments.

Be sure to visit their blog, read their brief, and send some dollars their way yourself.   You can use the paypal “Donate” button in the upper right corner.  I think, as gun owners, it’s important for us to support the people who support us.

UPDATE: Clayton has a picture up:

(Click to embiggen)

For those of you who have long wondered, yes, that’s Bitter.  From left to right, Dave Hardy, Me, Joe Olsen, Bitter, and Clayton Cramer.  Definitely one of the great things about blogging is getting to meet people who’s names you’ve known since you got into RKBA issues. These gentlemen are indeed people we are lucky to have on our side.

In honor of Bryan Miller, I have decided to become a dues paying member of the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs.  Not many people think to join other state associations, but I think it’s important to keep the fight alive in those states.  It helps that I’m ten minutes down the road from Trenton if they ever have a rally day like we’re having in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmens Clubs, Allegheny County Sportsmens League, and Pennsylvania Firearms Owners Association, along with several other groups, will be rallying in Harrisburg on Monday April 7th, 2008.

I have made arrangements to be able to attend this rally, and I hope you will all join me in going.  We are under constant assault by anti-gun forces here in Pennsylvania, and we need to push our own legislative agenda.  We can’t let the anti-gunners gain an inch of ground.  We must let the folks in Harrisburg know that we’re here, and we’re active.  Our continued gun rights in Pennsylvania depend on it.

Long and rainy trip down to Virginia tonight.  After I arrived here, Bitter and I drove over to Alexandria and paid a visit to the set of Cam & Company tonight while the show was airing, and got to sit in the control room while Lars worked his magic.  Talked with Cam and the guys at NRA News a bit about the Second Amendment Blog Bash, hosted along side the NRA Annual Meeting in Louisville, which is now up to more than twenty confirmed bloggers in attendance.  Cam said he mentioned the blog on the air today.  I’ve heard him mention me a few times, but it always seems I get mentioned when I’m not listening.  Either way, I definitely appreciate the promotion.

NRA will be hosting a Grassroots Workshop this year at the annual meeting in Louisville.  I would like to direct you toward the bottom:

Please also plan to attend the “In Their Own Words” Special Session. This session will consist of a panel of your fellow NRA Members discussing their personal grassroots experiences. There is no registration for the “In Their Own Words” Special Session, and as with the Workshop, it is FREE to attend! The “In Their Own Words” Special Session will be held Saturday, May 17, at 2:00 p.m., in Room B104, of the Kentucky Expo Center, located at 937 Phillips Lane, Louisville, 40209.

I will be a speaker at this special session.  I will be presenting an introduction to gun blogging.  If anyone at the Annual Meeting wants to attend, you should sign up.  I will be giving the talk under my own name rather than my assumed name here.

Bitter has more on a board candidate, Curtis Jenkins, who is reaching out to the blogosphere to help gain our support in the board elections.  I think he deserves our consideration.

I see some folks seem to be confused about how NRA elections work.  I’ve noticed questions in comments on other blogs too.  NRA has some internal protections in place to prevent exactly this type of scenario:

“I had this grand plan — if they had four million members, I’d get five million Americans to join [NRA], vote for me, and then I’d dismantle the organization,” - Michael Moore

Fancy plan, but it won’t easily work.  NRA has voter eligibility requirements, and seventy six board seats, none of which are ever up for election at the same time. The board does not direct day to day activities of NRA, but they do hire Chris Cox and Wayne LaPierre.  They also oversee various activities of the Association through various committees. Seventy five of the board members are elected to three year terms.  The seventy sixth board member is only elected to a one year term every year at the annual meeting.  Who ends up on the ballot is determined by the Nominating Committee, which is largely composed of existing board members.   NRA membership can run petition candidates on the ballot to bypass the Nominating Committee process.  Driving change within NRA is a slow process, and would require a prolonged desire by membership to move in a certain direction.

But back to voter eligibility.  All life members are eligible to vote in NRA yearly elections. People with continuing memberships are eligible to vote after five unbroken years.  If you have let your membership lapse at any period of time in the past five years, you’re not eligible to vote in NRA elections.  When you are eligible to vote, you will get a ballot included in your issue of National Rifleman, America’s First Freedom, or whichever NRA publication your subscribe to.  Your existing publication for this month probably contains bios, but may not contain a ballot if you’re a new member.  If you’re pretty sure you’ve had five unbroken years of membership, and your issue doesn’t have a ballot in it, call NRA’s membership number and see about getting one if you want to vote.  I have heard of people failing to get ballots when they were eligible to vote.

Bitter has her endorsements up over at her site.  They are also my endorsements as well, so go read.   I would note we have two Pennsylvania guys on the ballot, but I can’t say I know either one well enough to offer an endorsement.  I do feel that Pennsylvania is underrepresented on NRA’s Board of Directors, but I’m looking for the right kind of board representation.  Being from Pennsylvania will not automatically get my endorsement.

I’ve heard that Tim Powol is a good guy, I talked to him very briefly at the September board meeting, and I think Pennsylvania NRA members can feel good about casting a ballot for him.  Let’s keep him on the board.

Leo Holt, from Newtown, PA is the other Pennsylvanian on the ballot.  I know nothing about him.  Given that he’s a member of my club, which recently had an attempted revolt by anti-NRA factions within it, that seems rather surprising to me.  That’s not to say that I know everyone involved in gun rights in this area, far from that.  Bitter is really the one who is the social networker, but she’s never heard of him either.

Dave Hardy also has a list of endorsements.  Dave is no stranger to NRA board meetings, so I’d give some weight to his choices as well.