Comment Of The Week: So Few Do The Heavy Lifting For Gun Rights
BY Herschel Smith
7 years, 7 months ago
Wouldn’t surprise me if the “didn’t know” was true – but averting one’s eyes to avoid learning the truth in this political climate is BS.
However, I truly wonder how many of the people now bitching at various gun friendly websites about RRA & SA don’t do crap for gun rights, other than maybe being an NRA member – if that.
Here in AZ, the Arizona Citizens Defense League has only around 2000 members, and yet, AZCDL and its handful of members are responsible for most of the pro-rights laws passed the last few years in AZ. http://www.azcdl.org/html/accomplishments.html
So few do the heavy lifting. Sorry folks, but “activism” like not buying a RRA product is just keyboard commando posing horsecrap.
I see posts often on various websites from state-run gun rights organizations asking for help. How many of the “activists” who now won’t buy that new SA gun can’t even be bothered to follow a link and send the pre-prepared letters for their own state – much less join?
How many Illinois gun owners didn’t do squat about this issue, and are now bitching because some scumbag lobbyist also took “no position?”
I spend an awful lot of time perusing articles, watching the forum posts, sending letters my readers never see, and writing for you to take the information and act on it. I hope you do that rather than just read my posts. Sending these links around pushes traffic and empowers the whole community. But this takes a powerful lot of time. I’m not complaining, it’s a labor of love. But everyone has to do their part.
I’ll would certainly buy again from Rock River Arms. There’s a sweet 6.5 Creedmoor rifle they have up on their web site I’d like to have. It’s a bit too pricey for me right now, but after a couple of years of bonuses from work, perhaps it will be my next purchase.
I encourage you to make your feelings known to Springfield Armory and Rock River Arms. They’ve given you the avenue to do that. If they didn’t want to hear from you they wouldn’t have given you the chance to tell them what’s on your mind.
As to perfection in the gun rights community, let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Consider Ned’s questions.
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On May 8, 2017 at 8:55 am, Renov8 said:
Its usually not the act that people have issue with or brings an entity down, but how they respond to said act and the deliberate attempt to obfuscate and distance oneself from being part of said act…come clean with your audience and seek forgiveness.
On May 8, 2017 at 2:14 pm, Col. Douglas Mortimer said:
Oh please, spare us with the broad brush. As a person who used to live in Gulag Illinois, I can’t tell you how many emails, checks I’ve written, witness slips I’ve filled out, and irate phone calls I’ve made to people like Dan Kotowski and his ilk. And now that I live elsewhere, I am still in it. I’ve been fighting the fight for years, so set aside the elitism. This entire issue has been a textbook 101 on how not to handle a corporate crisis. They made their bed, they can lie in it. I’m outta here.
On May 9, 2017 at 1:06 pm, ExpatNJ said:
Never argue with a Colonel!
I escaped from Nazi Jerzey. I did all the Colonel did, and then some: fought ‘One-Term-Florio’, side-by-side with Coalition of NJ Sportsmen (CNJS), and others. Burn out? THAT is VERY real, and affects us all at different times and degrees. The names and faces and places change; but, the fight does not.
Today, I live in a ‘gun-friendly’ state; yet, I am still fighting – except now it is against county Sheriffs who don’t want to give up their permit system that provides their meal ticket (you know what state I am in …).
As for businesses that make a ‘mistake’, and go against my G*D-given Rights? The Colonel speaks eloquently again: those companies lost my business … unless and until they completely reverse the damage they caused. No quarter will be given. G*D forgives; I don’t!
On May 9, 2017 at 1:24 pm, Herschel Smith said:
@ ExpatNJ: No one is arguing with him. I drop things like this out there for comment and feedback. A lot of folks feel the way y’all do, some don’t. That’s what the gun community does – we talk this sort of thing out and then act on our conscience.
Take note, though, that there are a lot of keyboard pounders who swear up and down all sorts of things, and then never lift a finger to help. I think Ned is talking to them. If this doesn’t hit the target with you, then so much the better. We need more folks like you and Col.
On May 9, 2017 at 4:42 pm, Col. Douglas Mortimer said:
I’m still here. Sorry, but I dislike Ned’s broad-brushing. I fully acknowledge that if there are 100 million gun owners in the country, only a fraction are actually politically involved in actively working for their rights. The rest, meh, but some of us do our part and then some. But a few of us will never quit.
On May 10, 2017 at 9:19 pm, Ned said:
I just had to re-read my comment that Herschel graciously posted above, since I also got flamed elsewhere.
I’m a bit surprised by the Colonel’s comments here though, especially in light of his own history of activism.
One wonders how many others stepped up to the plate with Col. Mortimer and did activism like he did when he was trying to fight politically against people in Illinois who probably just need killin. Would it have mattered if 50% of all gun owners in Illinois instead of a fraction of a percent raised the type of hell that that Col. Douglas Mortimer did to try to make a difference? Perhaps not – who knows? But if Col. Mortimer is suggesting that people give up political action because of residing in a Prozi hellhole – then we are surely at odds, which is fine. I likely don’t agree with every comment posted at Captains’ Journal either.
It should go without saying that most of the people who read Captain’s Journal, WOG, etc. are activists who pull their own weight and are informed on the issues. Else they wouldn’t be here. So the screw you people, I’m outta here attitude is odd.
I also lived for a decade in a Prozi hellhole – The People’s Republic of California – and perhaps writing to the commies there was a waste of time. However, friends who live in CA are still active – supporting candidates in other state races that are a close call, etc. They didn’t and haven’t given up. Check out Carlos Perdue posts on War on Guns and Twitter, for example. Or just the Russ Howard posts on WOG. Californians? Yup. Given up? Nope.
But broad brush? I gave one specific example of local activism. 2000 members and the operators at AZCDL truly do the heavy lifting in Arizona for millions of gun owners here. As do members of GAO and other organizations, and other local organizations in many of the states. I don’t recall NRA helping much when AZ became a constitutional carry state. They did, however, take the credit. Per usual.
Arizona also has its share of assholes. Heard of John McCain, or his butt-boy in training, Jeff Flake? Should AZCDL pack the tent because they have so few members and its senators are corrupt deep-state sellouts?
There are AZCDL volunteers at almost every gun show in the state – certainly all the big ones at the Phoenix fairgrounds. Guys wheeling out hand trucks full of ammo and thousand dollar rifles can’t be bothered to spend the money for a couple boxes of that ammo and sign up with AZCDL to become a member. Just easier to let others do the heavy lifting on gun rights. Besides, many -or most – get to reap the benefits by buying and shooting guns, and not doing squat else.
I heartily support people using their pocketbooks to not support people who are trying to hurt our cause. I routinely use the NRA database on anti-gun businesses to avoid doing business with them if at all possible. But if someone buys a Daniel Defense rifle instead of a RRA rifle, and that is the full on extent of their activism – and they think that’s helping the gun rights cause, they are full of crap.
I discovered back in the early 80’s that people I knew weren’t doing their part. I had an actual conversation with another gun owner that went something like this regarding a gun rights issue I can’t specifically recall back when NRA was one of the few acts in town that I was a Life Member of:
Him: I see the NRA lost another one (yuk yuk.)
Me (pissed): Why should you care, or even have an opinion? You can’t be bothered to even join NRA, much less actually do something to support the cause.
Meanwhile, he was happy to shoot his Mac 10 and AR 180’s and let other spend their money and time on trying to maintain his eroding rights. Screw him and others with that attitude. If that’s you, and you wear boycotting RRA on your sleeve as your selfless act of helping the cause, while you never do anything else, little wonder you might be butthurt by the comment. If that’s no you, and you are butthurt anyway, you can’t be helped. Nevertheless, if someone shows me where I painted with a broad brush everyone who decides to boycott RRA or SA as a no good grandstanding SOB, I will be grateful.
On May 11, 2017 at 10:16 am, Col. Douglas Moritmer said:
Ned,
I don’t know where you thought I ever suggest stopping the activism train, that is not the case at all. In my situation, there was an opportunity to move to a much more gun friendly state (WY) from the gulag of Illinois due to work placement, so I jumped on it. I needed the job anyway. But I have not stopped pushing. If anything, I am even more involved here. I am fairly active politically at the state level and have the opportunity to directly engage with our state’s gun rights groups as well as certain folks who teach NRA classes and also at the country sheriff’s office.
I do wish more gun owners would be more politically active. I don’t think that will ever change though, most gun owners, like most people in general are ignorant of the machinations of politics.
I get your point that people who call for a boycott of SA and RRA and then they do nothing else are missing it though.
On May 11, 2017 at 10:27 am, Herschel Smith said:
I think it’s a judgment call. I still buy S&W, but they are out of chances. They can’t participate any more with the gun controllers. I also buy Ruger in spite of Bill Ruger’s advocacy of a high-cap magazine ban.
I will still buy RRA, and I see this as potentially rehabilitative for them. They will (hopefully) become even more savvy in local and state politics.
As for how many of us are out there, I suspect there are 80-100 million gun owners (I could be over-estimating that), half of them are Fudds or ashamed they own a gun and wish they didn’t have to, as if there could be some sort of heaven-on-earth where bad people didn’t exist, and of the rest of them, maybe a 0.5% are actually active in politics.
And I could even be over-estimating that. People tend towards laziness.
On May 11, 2017 at 10:44 am, Col. Douglas Moritmer said:
In S&W’s case, they practically folded and had to essentially become a new company with new owners. They are not the same company they were. Bill Ruger has been gone for years, and the Ruger of today is different when Bill the protectionist was running things. He’d roll over in his grave if he knew Ruger was making 25 and 50 round magazines for the 10-22. Sadly they all have to learn the hard way that when you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.
You are correct about the fudds though, they are some of the worst offenders I think. I know a particular person fairly well that is the textbook definition of a fudd. Loves him some useless gun control, and is all about the hunting aspect of firearms. Loves his 308 bolt action but by the same token looks down his nose at me and others like me who own multiple ARs and AKs and anything semi-automatic and/or black with 1913 rails. He wouldn’t lift a finger to put forth any pro-gun advocacy or anything of the sort. What he doesn’t get and will never get is that if a group has the power to take my guns, then they have the power to take his.
On May 11, 2017 at 7:38 pm, Ned said:
I was pretty sure we were on the same page, Col. Mortimer. And yeah – the fudds are a cancer. Trying to appease the people out to destroy them. Can’t figure that position out. The term cuck comes to mind.