So I felt the need to vent today

[bhmax16]

So I took it upon myself to send the Brady Campaign a rather brutal and firm message, pointing out the true facts of gun control's inverse relationship to crime. Wound up being over a page single spaced, but it felt good to get some things off my chest. I know it won't do any good as they'll never see things our way...but...can I ask for an A for effort?

 

[Mike-Mike]

Nice work.

 

[Mike-Mike]

We should all call them and ask then to send us out information. That will cost a few bucks.

 

[Independence Arms]

A+ my friend, and extra points for effort!

 

[bhmax16]

We should all call them and ask then to send us out information. That will cost a few bucks.

And all info they send can be put to great use...I'm thinking kindling to help heat our homes this winter. Do I have a hoorah?

 

[oldsoldier29]

I would be interested to see what, if ANY, response they send-to include any FACTS they have backing up their claims. OF course, I know I am asking for something that will never happen, but, in the off chance it does, post it!!

 

[Zombieoutfitters]

Well done my friend!

 

[AppleSeeds]

Can we see what you wrote?

 

[lupis42]

You should post that... maybe we could letterbomb them.

 

[Mike-Mike]

I just visited there facebook page and i wanted to puke

 

[bhmax16]

Can we see what you wrote?

Sure...it wasn't extremely well thought out (very informal as it was an e-mail) and even a couple of my "facts" may be inaccurate (but only by maybe 0.5% error...I was going by what I remembered off the top of my head)...either which way the facts I gave them certainly were not false in anyway. For example the 1.7% stat I gave...I couldn't remember whether it was 1.6% or 1.8%...so I went with the middle figure, etc... So...here I present the contents of the letter for all you to review...and either praise or criticize at your own discretion!

First of all, I would like to know what your true agenda really is. Do you want gun control, or do you inevitably want to reduce crime? I would hope you choose the latter, as they can't co-exist based on FACTS. Hundreds of studies and crime stats straight from the FBI show time and time again that when gun control increases, so does violent crime. HOWEVER, when gun control laws become more relaxed, crime goes down, based on the very simple and easy to understand concept that criminals will think twice before performing a violent act if they fear being confronted by a legally armed citizen! (Let that sink in for a second, I know it's difficult for you to comprehend!)

Upon interviewing students after the horrible Virginia Tech incident, more than a few claimed that they wish students were allowed to carry a firearm on campus, as they could have helped to eliminate the threat of the shooter before they took more innocent lives. In addition, there has been another recent incident on a college campus where students retrieved firearms from their vehicles after hearing shots fired, and helped detain the shooter until police arrived to take him into custody!

2.5 million crimes are PREVENTED every year by law abiding citizens with firearms, and only a very small percentage of that results in an actual shooting. Most are prevented just by DISPLAYING the firearm!

So once again I ask...where is your logic? What is your real agenda? Based on your current involvement with Starbucks, I am even more appalled. You try to paint the image of law abiding citizens with guns as second class citizens who are just time-bombs waiting to explode. Sorry, but once again, facts show that only 1.7% are ever involved in an unlawful shooting. This statistic is lower than any other population on the planet.

This is a second amendment RIGHT, and it "shall not be infringed," which is exactly what you are trying to do! I am a law abiding citizen with a license to carry firearms, does that make me a criminal? A potential threat to the people I drink coffee with every morning? How about all the motor vehicles that take hundreds of thousands of more lives each year than firearms...would you like to take my driver's license too?

The "statistics" on your website are horribly inaccurate, and it is well known that you include a child as meaning anybody under 21 years of age. You make me sick, because unlike you people who run on nothing but pure emotions, I speak for the rest of the law abiding community that we run on FACTS!

Take your socialist agenda to Europe. Actually England comes to mind...their crime has SKYROCKETED since implementing a full-fledged ban on firearms. Your agenda will do nothing but increase crime in America. You're clearly against the Constitution, and therefore anti-American

 

[jcliff]

I tried to give you positive rep points but it didn't come out right. Let me know what I can do to fix it.

 

[bhmax16]

I tried to give you rep points but it didn't come out right. Let me know what I can do to fix it.

I'm actually not even too familiar with how all that works myself. I'm looking into it right now but you may either want to try again or contact Derek or another moderator as it may have something to do with the problems the site has had over the past 24 hours. Either which way I appreciate it, been trying to get my rep up for awhile now!

 

[drumenigma]

I did the same thing a while ago. Granted it probably doesn't have any effect on their agenda and they probably get a lot worse from some people but it does feel good to just let it out once in a while.

 

[bhmax16]

I did the same thing a while ago. Granted it probably doesn't have any effect on their agenda and they probably get a lot worse from some people but it does feel good to just let it out once in a while.

agreed, and as small of a voice we may be compared to the sings and praises they likely receive on a daily basis as well, it's good to at least be one of those few voices that let them know they can't fool everybody and there are enough of us here who will NOT back down. I'm also in the crowd of folks who won't give my liberties up for anybody. Government officials could be here on my door step demanding my guns, and though they would just be doing "their job" and I'd certainly flee first prior to using deadly force, I'll take some lead in my chest before submitting. The men who fought for our freedoms didn't back down, so I see it to be my duty as an American to do the same to preserve those liberties we enjoy everyday. If I must give my life to ensure my future children and grandchildren can enjoy all the freedoms we have grown up with, then so be it

 

[Knuckle Dragger]

I'll give you an A for futile and wasted effort. What's the point? The Brady Campaign has become all but irrelevant and carry about as much influence in Washington as Dick Cheney's firearm safety instructor.

They don't matter and except for Carolyn McCarthy, no one on Capitol Hill will touch them with a ten foot pole. They are a paper tiger with no supporters and no teeth, who shot themselves in the head with the AWB and have been bleeding ever since. They're nothing now but an ineffectual lobbying group interested only in their own ability to keep themselves employed and have accomplished nothing of note except for giving the President and 'F' and getting bitch slapped by Starbucks. They don't matter. As gun owners we are more aligned with mainstream American than is the Brady Campaign.

The following quote is something I wish I'd said because it's exactly they way I've felt for a long time.

Gun Control supporters are in the grips of a long term voter backlash that shows no sign of abating anytime soon, the gun control gains made in the early 1990's planted the seeds, and those seeds, having grown into trees, are bearing fruit now. Every time a politician even mentions any kind of gun control, email servers melt, mail bags multiply, phone lines get red hot, and politicians get the message very quickly.

As long as gun owners perceive a threat, their activism will continue, after all, it is much better to be on the offensive, than the defensive. They are reminded of the threat, regularly, like the push to ban assault rifles in Washington state...Eric Holders comments.."talk" of closing the gun show loophole. Even Brady giving Obama an "F" reminds us, that their are people out there, who are plotting and scheming against the US Bill of Rights.

The talking heads on the news, that talk about "meaningful gun control" and complain about "lack of movement" on it, don't realize that all they are doing is reminding, millions of TV viewers in "rest of the nation", that "they are still trying to ban guns"...They elites just don't get it, so they keep talking, and the people, keep listening, and seeing the threat..

The Brady Campaign's and VPC's successes, almost 20 years ago, has come back to bite them, they kept "poking" the sleeping giant that is several million, peaceful, law abiding, reliably voting, solid block of gun owners... The politicians where quick to learn that gun control did not bring near the votes, Sara and her ilk promised, instead it costed them dearly, when their first votes on Gun Control, became among their very last votes.

Now those gun owners have reached the political strength, to not only stop, most gun control proposals before they even get to the floor for a vote, they have the ability to form their own legislation, and get it passed into law, and that is what we are seeing now...

15 years, of constant, steady political gains, has made it so..

Brady and the VPC should have quit, when they where ahead in 1993....The Hated AW ban of 1994, was the legislation that enraged millions, and most of them are still pissed about it.

If they would have stopped then, gun rights would not have moved so far today, but when they started banning guns, because of cosmetic features, gun owners woke up and said this is pure political BS, and "not one step more".

In a way, Brady, MMM, and the VPC, are their own worst enamy...We are a creation of them, now they can feel our wrath, its not our fault that we outnumber them by 10 to 1 at every meeting, lobby day, or public event..

The sad truth is, if they really want the gun right movement to go away, all they need to do is SHUT THE HELL UP about gun control, and in a few years, many strong gun rights supporters would stop pushing the legislators....BUT, Sara Brady, Paul Helmke, Micheal Blomberg, all republicans, cannot shut their traps that long to let the issue die down...

They keep the wound raw, so we, the great mass that is the Gun Rights movement, will march on...to victory...

Of course, MA is an exception because we're more re[STRIKE]pro[/STRIKE]gressive then the rest of the US.

 

[bhmax16]

I was unaware they have had a falling out amongst the majority of the public eye. I thought with their recent publicity with Starbucks it indicated they still had quite a loyal following. But thanks for that info it's much appreciated (though I do feel like a tool now for creating this thread). However, it still felt good to go off on a rant to them today, so even if it did no good except to give myself some own personal satisfaction then I guess I still did myself a favor by getting things off my chest.

And +1 MA certainly is more reprogressive then the rest of the US

 

[Knuckle Dragger]

Dude. Don't feel like a tool. But don't give into the the woe-is-me, henny penny the-sky-is-falling-in I'm a gun owner and the world hates me crap either. Not everyone feels the way I do. But I do stand by my assessment of these guys.

I feel strongly that gun owners and gun rights are ascendant and that those who wish to grossly limit or eliminate those rights are in retreat. However, there are still many gun owner who like to play the part of the aggrieved minority and lament all the wrongs that have been done them.

If you're a relatively new gun owner, I'm willing to bet that the Brady Campaign, VPC and others have a lot to do with the way you feel about your guns and your rights. I'm an BFS instructor and these guys are great for business. With every class I thank them for the AWB and all they've done to energize the people. Hell, if it weren't for these guys most of the US would probably still be 'may issue' if that and Heller wouldn't have ever gotten to the Supreme Court.

Be out, Be Proud.

 

[bhmax16]

Well-spoken words there sir. You hit the nail on the head I am relatively new to the gun-owner scene (almost 2 years now). I learn something new on NES shooters everyday, and at the same time do my best to share whatever knowledge I may have gathered along the way. I guess I get suckered into the whole minority thing because I come from a rather anti-gun family (I've always been the black sheep of our family in a way, being rather different from everybody else)...my uncle and I are the only two firearm owners so we get pushed off to the side, neglected, and snickered at on a regular basis. I've learned to deal with it by now and have accepted if that's the way they're going to be, then fine. With that aside we have California and Massachusetts to thank for everything else

 

[groundscrapers]

I think its funny how the brady group gets all huffy when we start invading their turf @ starbucks. They had like 10 posts about it on their facebook page lol.Starbucks is probably loving the publicity.

 

[SecondAmdFirst]

My feeling is one of two things happened at the Brady Bunch office.....1) They ignored it....2) Some heads exploded! Reason isn't part of their agenda.

 

[dagwag77]

I sent the brady campaign an email once when they managed to really piss me off. Sent them a whole long email about how they sucked and their priorities were wrong. You know what they did?

They put my email address on their e-newsletter and ignored me e-mail completely.