So, I have had plenty of time to sit & reflect on the final hearing yesterday, discuss it with other people who attended, etc. First, I would rather like this not turn into some flame war, of who attended, who didnt, etc. Take the angry hat off, and bear with me.
First, these hearings are actually going our way. The initial intent was, of course, to avoid a fiasco that NY is currently facing. This would be bad publicity for all politicians involved-moreso, if they actually lost seats because of it. Think about it-imagine if they immediately forced these ridiculous recommendations through, and then were recalled. We could, literally, bring down the house. They are aware of that. The DOWNSIDE of waiting this long is, honestly, almost NO ONE CARES anymore. Their time has come, and gone. Who is speaking on the anti side? 6 groups. Moms Demand Action, Gun Violence Coalition, a couple of religious community groups, and Rosenthals puppets, to include the kids group. Thats IT. ALL of their speakers, belong to these groups. They ALL show up, and give the same testimony. Dont think for a second, its helping them. If you watched yesterday, when were the committee members taking breaks? When these groups were speaking. They would lean back, talk amongst each other-never wrote anything down. Why? They are the same people saying the same things. This isnt helping them-watch the body language.
Alternately, when we speak-they lean forward. They actively engage us. We have personal stories-not the SAME ones, but REAL ones. We arent reading from a script. If you were there yesterday, you saw Viera's response to the MDA economist. He is one of two that we KNOW are behind us. Naughton is very friendly with the anti gun groups, sure, but, he is also aware of his political career. As are the others. Think about if a comprehensive bill was put together, and died. There would be a lot of outcry from the antis-but, it would mean political suicide for politicians. So, what would be the solution for them?
One idea, and not my own, is that, they will table this until next year. They will call it research, whatever, but it will give them time to not burn their bridges, within their parties. They certainly will not be rushing anything through this legislative year-at least, not from what I understand.
In speaking with my senator, and one of my reps, the general feeling is that there will be very limited action on this-none of which will actually affect us. There will be additional money asked for school safety, money for research into mental health (my own feeling on this, and I have shared this with my legislators, is that this issue needs to be addressed separately-it REALLY doesnt tie into the gun violence thing at all), a stronger enforcement for current laws, with the addition of trafficking laws (these are rep Petersons bills, endorsed by GOAL), and a look at the licensing issue. Now, the last one may give you pause, but the committee has heard, for a year now, how poorly it is run. Will there be a better licensing procedure? Likely not. BUT, the plan is to put money towards it, to speed the process up, so they are compliant with their own laws.
The more radical proposals have been all but dismissed. There simply isnt enough interest in them, to make it worthwhile. At least 2 of the committee members know that they do nothing to solve the gun violence issue. That being said, lets discuss who, exactly, is pushing the main issues of universal background checks, one gun a month, and magazine limits.
Moms Demand Action-this is a Bloomberg funded political tool. These same people, come to ALL these. They dont even TRY to switch it up. There are, at MOST, a couple hundred members in this state. Active, maybe a dozen.
Rosenthals two groups-the adult one, and the kid one. Again, they say the same thing. The kid panel has read the same script 5 times now. The handgun violence group, breaks up their committees-but are all members of the same group. Maybe a couple hundred members, only a few dozen, at best, that are active.
The religious organizations-they represent their respective houses. They have the same panels of speakers. They take their membership with them to these, but, well, its hard to gauge how many support them-or are even aware of it.
Now, looking at these groups, who benefits from the passage of laws? None. Who suffers if they dont pass? None.
Lets look at us. No panels. We all speak as individuals. We speak as to how these laws would affect us personally. We consistently tell the panel that we, too, want to stop gun violence-ALL violence (as one speaker said last night). But, the laws will not do that. The laws we CURRENTLY have dont do that. To a person, we tell our personal stories, not tugging at heartstrings, but asking, honestly and openly, why its WE who have to bear these laws-and no other group-for the failure of the justice system? We have different people at each hearing. We also have some of the same, but never giving the same testimony. WE are the ones being affected. Now, who are WE?
We are the somewhere between 300 and 400,000 licensed firearms owners in this state. We are the ones who have a true grass roots movement. We are the ONLY ones who continue to call our state house (this has been said by several reps-we are the only ones still hounding them), WE are the voices they are hearing.
When it all boils down, there are 3 groups in this state involved in this battle.
those of us lawful citizens who own firearms-lets say, 300,000 of us.
Those groups being funded to push a political agenda-maybe a few hundred of them, tops.
The other 99% of this state, who have absolutely no idea what the current laws are, who will never give it a second thought, and could honestly care less.
Thats where we stand. Its not a lost fight. In fact, it looks, for once, that we could win this. We maintained momentum. We arent some well funded group. They actively engage us. Ours are the voices they still hear from. So, you can choose to move to another state. You can throw your hands up, call people here sheep, whatever, and wait for your "go time". You (meaning myself as well) can call each other names, chastise each other for showing up, or not showing up, call each other Fudds, or whatever. Or, you can call your reps and senators, speak to them, have a face to face meeting with them. Discuss the issues with them. Tell them how it will affect you. Because, they ARE listening.
On a side note, I am networking with one of the anti groups. I was approached, before they left, as they said that Jim Wallaces words really rung with them.
This is our open door. There are certain groups we will never crack: MDA, Brady, Rosenthals goons-but, a lot of the other organizations, think rationally. I am going to get them to agree to let me speak at a meeting. We actually DO have a lot of common ground-NONE of us wants gun violence in our communities. Its how we go about getting that, is the difference. But, I plan on explaining to them that additional gun laws will not solve problems. Mind you, they only consistently hear one side of the story-the media side. They are ignorant of the facts.
Being aggressive with them doesnt help. Speaking to them, engaging with them, does. Myself, and two other members, yesterday, have started this process. Its something we should have tried sooner. It works. When anti comes up to ME, and tells ME that the two most impressive, and thought provoking testimonials, were from myself in Worcester, and Jim Wallace yesterday-thats a door that you simply do not close. You walk through it. I am planning on doing just that. Imagine if we can actually get some of them to understand-REALLY understand-how these laws simply will not work. If I can reach across the aisles, anyone can. Mind you, THEY came to ME-not the other way around. This showed hope. I will not let that opportunity slip.
First, these hearings are actually going our way. The initial intent was, of course, to avoid a fiasco that NY is currently facing. This would be bad publicity for all politicians involved-moreso, if they actually lost seats because of it. Think about it-imagine if they immediately forced these ridiculous recommendations through, and then were recalled. We could, literally, bring down the house. They are aware of that. The DOWNSIDE of waiting this long is, honestly, almost NO ONE CARES anymore. Their time has come, and gone. Who is speaking on the anti side? 6 groups. Moms Demand Action, Gun Violence Coalition, a couple of religious community groups, and Rosenthals puppets, to include the kids group. Thats IT. ALL of their speakers, belong to these groups. They ALL show up, and give the same testimony. Dont think for a second, its helping them. If you watched yesterday, when were the committee members taking breaks? When these groups were speaking. They would lean back, talk amongst each other-never wrote anything down. Why? They are the same people saying the same things. This isnt helping them-watch the body language.
Alternately, when we speak-they lean forward. They actively engage us. We have personal stories-not the SAME ones, but REAL ones. We arent reading from a script. If you were there yesterday, you saw Viera's response to the MDA economist. He is one of two that we KNOW are behind us. Naughton is very friendly with the anti gun groups, sure, but, he is also aware of his political career. As are the others. Think about if a comprehensive bill was put together, and died. There would be a lot of outcry from the antis-but, it would mean political suicide for politicians. So, what would be the solution for them?
One idea, and not my own, is that, they will table this until next year. They will call it research, whatever, but it will give them time to not burn their bridges, within their parties. They certainly will not be rushing anything through this legislative year-at least, not from what I understand.
In speaking with my senator, and one of my reps, the general feeling is that there will be very limited action on this-none of which will actually affect us. There will be additional money asked for school safety, money for research into mental health (my own feeling on this, and I have shared this with my legislators, is that this issue needs to be addressed separately-it REALLY doesnt tie into the gun violence thing at all), a stronger enforcement for current laws, with the addition of trafficking laws (these are rep Petersons bills, endorsed by GOAL), and a look at the licensing issue. Now, the last one may give you pause, but the committee has heard, for a year now, how poorly it is run. Will there be a better licensing procedure? Likely not. BUT, the plan is to put money towards it, to speed the process up, so they are compliant with their own laws.
The more radical proposals have been all but dismissed. There simply isnt enough interest in them, to make it worthwhile. At least 2 of the committee members know that they do nothing to solve the gun violence issue. That being said, lets discuss who, exactly, is pushing the main issues of universal background checks, one gun a month, and magazine limits.
Moms Demand Action-this is a Bloomberg funded political tool. These same people, come to ALL these. They dont even TRY to switch it up. There are, at MOST, a couple hundred members in this state. Active, maybe a dozen.
Rosenthals two groups-the adult one, and the kid one. Again, they say the same thing. The kid panel has read the same script 5 times now. The handgun violence group, breaks up their committees-but are all members of the same group. Maybe a couple hundred members, only a few dozen, at best, that are active.
The religious organizations-they represent their respective houses. They have the same panels of speakers. They take their membership with them to these, but, well, its hard to gauge how many support them-or are even aware of it.
Now, looking at these groups, who benefits from the passage of laws? None. Who suffers if they dont pass? None.
Lets look at us. No panels. We all speak as individuals. We speak as to how these laws would affect us personally. We consistently tell the panel that we, too, want to stop gun violence-ALL violence (as one speaker said last night). But, the laws will not do that. The laws we CURRENTLY have dont do that. To a person, we tell our personal stories, not tugging at heartstrings, but asking, honestly and openly, why its WE who have to bear these laws-and no other group-for the failure of the justice system? We have different people at each hearing. We also have some of the same, but never giving the same testimony. WE are the ones being affected. Now, who are WE?
We are the somewhere between 300 and 400,000 licensed firearms owners in this state. We are the ones who have a true grass roots movement. We are the ONLY ones who continue to call our state house (this has been said by several reps-we are the only ones still hounding them), WE are the voices they are hearing.
When it all boils down, there are 3 groups in this state involved in this battle.
those of us lawful citizens who own firearms-lets say, 300,000 of us.
Those groups being funded to push a political agenda-maybe a few hundred of them, tops.
The other 99% of this state, who have absolutely no idea what the current laws are, who will never give it a second thought, and could honestly care less.
Thats where we stand. Its not a lost fight. In fact, it looks, for once, that we could win this. We maintained momentum. We arent some well funded group. They actively engage us. Ours are the voices they still hear from. So, you can choose to move to another state. You can throw your hands up, call people here sheep, whatever, and wait for your "go time". You (meaning myself as well) can call each other names, chastise each other for showing up, or not showing up, call each other Fudds, or whatever. Or, you can call your reps and senators, speak to them, have a face to face meeting with them. Discuss the issues with them. Tell them how it will affect you. Because, they ARE listening.
On a side note, I am networking with one of the anti groups. I was approached, before they left, as they said that Jim Wallaces words really rung with them.
This is our open door. There are certain groups we will never crack: MDA, Brady, Rosenthals goons-but, a lot of the other organizations, think rationally. I am going to get them to agree to let me speak at a meeting. We actually DO have a lot of common ground-NONE of us wants gun violence in our communities. Its how we go about getting that, is the difference. But, I plan on explaining to them that additional gun laws will not solve problems. Mind you, they only consistently hear one side of the story-the media side. They are ignorant of the facts.
Being aggressive with them doesnt help. Speaking to them, engaging with them, does. Myself, and two other members, yesterday, have started this process. Its something we should have tried sooner. It works. When anti comes up to ME, and tells ME that the two most impressive, and thought provoking testimonials, were from myself in Worcester, and Jim Wallace yesterday-thats a door that you simply do not close. You walk through it. I am planning on doing just that. Imagine if we can actually get some of them to understand-REALLY understand-how these laws simply will not work. If I can reach across the aisles, anyone can. Mind you, THEY came to ME-not the other way around. This showed hope. I will not let that opportunity slip.
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