Boston Globe write up on Jim Wallace

[The5thDentist]

Cekim, I do agree with what you said, and that we should never underestimate our enemies.

And as much as I want to call him up and tell him where he can go, it won't be productive.

What is productive is reaching out to our potential allies, like the LGBT community, and educating them on why they need guns; or helping the inner-city residents understand that the only thing that stops gang violence is an innocent bystander taking out a couple of these gang morons, and having them DEMAND, no COMMAND their public servants to start issuing carry permits. And yes, reaching out to our fellow gun owners who aren't politically active and wake them up.

If we can prevent NY style gun control with just 16,000 members, imagine what can be done with as little as double that amount?

Lawgivers said -- they didn't want to hear from us anymore. They got their whiff of coffee. Imagine what they'll do for us when there's enough of us who are active, and can serve up the whole carafe? Despite their personal opinions on guns.

 

[cekim]

Cekim, I do agree with what you said, and that we should never underestimate our enemies.

And as much as I want to call him up and tell him where he can go, it won't be productive.

What is productive is reaching out to our potential allies, like the LGBT community, and educating them on why they need guns; or helping the inner-city residents understand that the only thing that stops gang violence is an innocent bystander taking out a couple of these gang morons, and having them DEMAND, no COMMAND their public servants to start issuing carry permits. And yes, reaching out to our fellow gun owners who aren't politically active and wake them up.

If we can prevent NY style gun control with just 16,000 members, imagine what can be done with as little as double that amount?

Lawgivers said -- they didn't want to hear from us anymore. They got their whiff of coffee. Imagine what they'll do for us when there's enough of us who are active, and can serve up the whole carafe? Despite their personal opinions on guns.

Agreed...

GOAL has penetration into MA gun owners similar to that of the NRA nationally into the national pool of gun owners (~5% in both cases).

Of course MA has a much bigger problem when it comes to attacks on our rights than most places in this country.

This is why "2A is mah permit" is useless a political rallying cry in this state, we need to get to the more basic and common issues of liberty and work together with other groups to support eachother's liberty even where or if we disagree on other issues and choices they may make.

If we can agree on liberty itself, then we have a partner.

Use the system against itself, that is what it was designed for - literally. Our Constitution describes a system kept in check by internal conflict and division of power amongst its own branches and between the people and government.

If you aren't ready to do that, then for your own safety, I am sad to say it is best to move away. This state needs a lot of work to conform with the US and even its own Constitution. [sad2]

 

[Quiet]

What is productive is reaching out to our potential allies, like the LGBT community, and educating them on why they need guns; or helping the inner-city residents understand that the only thing that stops gang violence is an innocent bystander taking out a couple of these gang morons, and having them DEMAND, no COMMAND their public servants to start issuing carry permits. And yes, reaching out to our fellow gun owners who aren't politically active and wake them up.

If we can prevent NY style gun control with just 16,000 members, imagine what can be done with as little as double that amount?

Lawgivers said -- they didn't want to hear from us anymore. They got their whiff of coffee. Imagine what they'll do for us when there's enough of us who are active, and can serve up the whole carafe? Despite their personal opinions on guns.

For example

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2204691521/

What are the "Pink Pistols"?
We are a shooting group that honors diversity and is open to all shooters. We help bring new shooters into the sport and provide a fun social environment for all our members. We work to build bridges between the shooting community and other communities, such as those based on alternative sexualities.

Do I need to be gay to join?
You don't have to be gay to join us, any more than you have to be Black to support civil rights, or be Jewish to support the JPFO (Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership). We include members from the GLBT, Polyamarous, and BDSM communities, but you don't need to be gay or have an alternative sexuality to join and shoot with us.

Do I need to know how to shoot, or have my own equipment?
No, want to make the sport accessible and we are friendly to new shooters. We can give you basic instruction, and on all our range trips you can either rent guns and ammunition or club members will bring extra for you.

 

[GlockJock]

There's so much hatred against the second amendment is mass that I doubt that would make a difference. Anti's would ridicule her, probably call her a similar name to the term Uncle Tom.

Yeah, good point. Anything to further their agenda.

 

[sieveboy]

It was the massive and ongoing civil disobedience in NY and CT, coupled with the unrelenting calls, emails, voicemails, meetings and testimony that made this only and incremental infringement instead of something worse. Next time will require even more of each and every one of us.

 

[beaker]

Effing progressive liberal shit mongers. This is what they do, just look at what the Divider and Chief has done since his administration began - put their "enemies" at each other's throats. Scumbags.

 

[PaulD]

My point is that I want to motivate others - all 334,000 other gun owners (especially you younger guys reading this) to stand up, and be noticed, and heard, and try to counter the onslaught of the Anti BS that's growing in this country.

Everyone's complaining about the way the country is "going" and, especially, for those of us who live here, the way MA is going. Meanwhile, young impressionable minds nationwide are Facebook and Twitter zombie-sheep, being taught that guns are bad, and that a soldier returning from overseas who goes to his daughter's school to surprise her, while wearing camo fatigues, should be turned away at the door.
And some among the 334,000 gun owners in MA do nothing to try to influence lunatic lawmakers that maybe their kids should be able to ride the MBTA after dark without fear that a paroled rapist - murderer might be aboard and planning to follow them to their car in the parking lot.
16k GOAL members. And the NE Patriots/Bruins etc fan clubs have over 200 thousand members.

NAMBLA probably has more than 16k members in MA.

FUBAR

I totally agree with where you're coming from. I wish I knew how to fix the problem.

 

[Dadstoys]

The only way to make them stop is to make it painful.
Here's a thought for the hand wringers about how outnumbered we are.
Estimated 300k firearms owners.
Even if those 300k got 2 friends/ family to vote against the grabbers.
Now it's 900k.
Think they didn't factor that in?
You bet your ass they did.
Otherwise you'd be getting your NY style letter to turn in your " high cap" tube fed .22 right now

 

[Coyote33]

I think we have an idea of what is going on here. We have a ton of gun owners in MA. We have a bunch of activists right here on NES. The majority of gun owners are not on NES and don't belong to GOAL. Most don't have email or computers. We need to reach out and assist clubs in organizing and getting more active. Not sure how to make this happen. Some sort of phone tree, organized somehow would be a good way, but I don't know of any open source software that does this. Again, computers and email aren't the way for these folks. It will have to be phone based. Here's a thread on this: OUTREACH, big opportunity

The next step is to bring in a new generation of aware gun owners. They WILL have the tools, means, and motivation to get involved. A kid I helped at the Mike Moore event today was an awesome shot, and won a S&W M&P (father will accept on his behalf). Good stuff! I am proud to have been a part of that. We need more like him, and they are out there, and eager to join us. We just need to reach out.


We need to find and support pro RKBA candidates, and also find and eradicate enemies of the 2nd Amendment. Here's a start: Massachusetts Pro Liberty Candidates

 

[garandman]

Pretty sure that Jim and GOAL have done a good job of that by themselves.

And what have you done to move the ball?

Gun ownership is increasing, GOAL helped fight the most egregious parts of the legislation, and some more people here have discovered that picking up the phone and telling your legislator what you think counts for a lot more than they expected. This game ain't over until someone quits. Like Obama.

 

[Rider]

There are something like 350,000 gun owners in MA,...

There are probably more like 1 million gun owners in MA. There are only 350,000 FID/LTC holders. While I think a lot of your post makes sense, much of the problem is due to indifference on the part of people.

Forget about guns for a minute. Think about last week's primaries. When only 9% of the eligible population turns out to vote for the people who more or less rule them, that tells you a lot: It tells you that people don't care, it tells you people think it makes no difference, it tells you that people think their choices suck, etc.

 

[Mike S]

Great posts here, I'd like to add a missing part of the math puzzle here regarding MA and the 350K-1MM gun owners.

We need to figure out how to make the issue of our Second Amendment rights important enough to them that it sways the way they vote. When that starts happening it will become toxic for politicians to work towards 2A rights restriction.

Right now I know that there are too many issues out in front of the 2A for MA voters, even the gun owners.

What we need to do is paint it as a bigger picture, infringing upon one right is infringing upon all of them.

That's the message we need to communicate.

 

[PaulD]

Supporting that latest piece of crap in the legislature didn't do anybody many favors.

[video=youtube_share;oAKG-kbKeIo]http://youtu.be/oAKG-kbKeIo[/video]

 

[jefftk]

The majority of gun owners are not on NES and don't belong to GOAL. Most don't have email or computers. We need to reach out and assist clubs in organizing and getting more active. Not sure how to make this happen. Some sort of phone tree, organized somehow would be a good way, but I don't know of any open source software that does this. Again, computers and email aren't the way for these folks. It will have to be phone based. Here's a thread on this: OUTREACH, big opportunity

I call BS on that. Its lack of awareness or caring, not lack of email that is the problem. Anecdotally, I think I've met one person at my club that refuses to "do email". There is plenty of lower hanging fruit to worry about before worrying about those guys without email accounts.

We need to figure out how to make the issue of our Second Amendment rights important enough to them that it sways the way they vote. When that starts happening it will become toxic for politicians to work towards 2A rights restriction.

This is the problem... most people just have no clue or don't give a shit. The people who could listen to you rant about current or proposed gun laws and will agree with everything you say and then 5 minutes later the biggest issue in their life is when the next Pats game is on and who they're playing - nevermind worrying about which candidate will or won't screw them over.

 

[Quiet]

I call BS on that. Its lack of awareness or caring, not lack of email that is the problem. Anecdotally, I think I've met one person at my club that refuses to "do email". There is plenty of lower hanging fruit to worry about before worrying about those guys without email accounts.


This is the problem... most people just have no clue or don't give a shit. The people who could listen to you rant about current or proposed gun laws and will agree with everything you say and then 5 minutes later the biggest issue in their life is when the next Pats game is on and who they're playing - nevermind worrying about which candidate will or won't screw them over.

I've said it before - NO customer should be walking out of a Massachusetts gun store without being PERSONALLY asked for an email address to be added to GOAL's email list. Not. One. Ever.

It is in everyone's best interest.