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Begging politicians?
Defender
Member Posts: 1,772 ✭✭✭✭✭
I've seen the posts scoffing at the idea of asking politicians for their vote for our rights and needs. These posters are dead wrong. Visits, phone calls and letters DO work.
When I lobbied for concealed weapons and other bills in Arizona I know that I won lots of votes by educating legislators about these issues. Most American politicians are simply ignorant about liberty rather than hostile to freedom. They are elected and take office without ever really understanding the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
There was an Arizona Senate Judiciary committee Chairman who was a young and bright lawyer. He was the fair-haired boy of the Democratic Party. He consistently voted against gun rights. I spent some time with him explaining my position on the legislation I wanted him to vote for. He told me guns were only meant for killing and quoted that bogus study that claimed a gun in the home was more likely to be involved in the death of an innocent person.
I asked him if he ever fired a gun and he said, "Of course not, we never had guns!" I told him he needs to know exactly what he's voting about and needed to get some minimal firearm instruction. I invited him to come down to a 1-hour safety class to be followed with firing a .22 revolver, a .38 revolver and then a semi-automatic .40 cal. He agreed to do this within that very busy week.
Our senator was so nervous and pale. The sweat came out of his hands as he fired my 6" Cold Diamondback .22. He was all over the place and I calmed him down and then he started getting hits in the black. He started really enjoying himself and did well with the .38 & .40 too.
After that he never voted for a gun control bill again. He voted for concealed weapons and strengthened the pre-emption law. He's also a gun owner today.
The bad news was he left public office. The good news was he took a friend shooting and that other fellow is on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. I'm waiting to see how that judge who is now also a friend of mine too, votes on the next gun case on his docket.
None of us started out as gun rights advocates. Some positive people influenced us in our lives. That also goes for the other side of this debate. We win our battle by influencing one person at a time. We need to be the positive influence on the others.
This is the bio of that former State Senator who sits on a Governor's panel in Arizona today:
Charles A. Blanchard
At Large Council member - term expires January 19, 2007
Charles Blanchard is a partner at Brown & Bain, where his practice primarily involves litigation for high-tech companies. Mr. Blanchard, who received his law degree from the Harvard Law School, clerked for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and served as Associate Independent Counsel for the Office of Independent Counsel James McKay. His government service includes two consecutive terms in the Arizona Senate, where he chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee and was Vice Chairman of the Senate Environment Committee. In 1992, he was selected as the top-rated Senator in a survey by the Arizona Republic. From 1997 to 1999, he served as Chief Counsel for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. In 1999, Mr. Blanchard was nominated by President Clinton and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate as General Counsel of the Army, where he was responsible for the overall supervision of the Army's 2,000 lawyers. In 2003, he served as the Interim Director of the Arizona Office of Homeland Security
To put this in simple terms we can all understand, even our founding fathers had mentors that influenced them. If we wre gun rights advocates as we claim we ALL need to start advocating.
Defender
Private investigator licensed in AZ & CA that specializes in self defense cases.
When I lobbied for concealed weapons and other bills in Arizona I know that I won lots of votes by educating legislators about these issues. Most American politicians are simply ignorant about liberty rather than hostile to freedom. They are elected and take office without ever really understanding the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
There was an Arizona Senate Judiciary committee Chairman who was a young and bright lawyer. He was the fair-haired boy of the Democratic Party. He consistently voted against gun rights. I spent some time with him explaining my position on the legislation I wanted him to vote for. He told me guns were only meant for killing and quoted that bogus study that claimed a gun in the home was more likely to be involved in the death of an innocent person.
I asked him if he ever fired a gun and he said, "Of course not, we never had guns!" I told him he needs to know exactly what he's voting about and needed to get some minimal firearm instruction. I invited him to come down to a 1-hour safety class to be followed with firing a .22 revolver, a .38 revolver and then a semi-automatic .40 cal. He agreed to do this within that very busy week.
Our senator was so nervous and pale. The sweat came out of his hands as he fired my 6" Cold Diamondback .22. He was all over the place and I calmed him down and then he started getting hits in the black. He started really enjoying himself and did well with the .38 & .40 too.
After that he never voted for a gun control bill again. He voted for concealed weapons and strengthened the pre-emption law. He's also a gun owner today.
The bad news was he left public office. The good news was he took a friend shooting and that other fellow is on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. I'm waiting to see how that judge who is now also a friend of mine too, votes on the next gun case on his docket.
None of us started out as gun rights advocates. Some positive people influenced us in our lives. That also goes for the other side of this debate. We win our battle by influencing one person at a time. We need to be the positive influence on the others.
This is the bio of that former State Senator who sits on a Governor's panel in Arizona today:
Charles A. Blanchard
At Large Council member - term expires January 19, 2007
Charles Blanchard is a partner at Brown & Bain, where his practice primarily involves litigation for high-tech companies. Mr. Blanchard, who received his law degree from the Harvard Law School, clerked for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and served as Associate Independent Counsel for the Office of Independent Counsel James McKay. His government service includes two consecutive terms in the Arizona Senate, where he chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee and was Vice Chairman of the Senate Environment Committee. In 1992, he was selected as the top-rated Senator in a survey by the Arizona Republic. From 1997 to 1999, he served as Chief Counsel for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. In 1999, Mr. Blanchard was nominated by President Clinton and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate as General Counsel of the Army, where he was responsible for the overall supervision of the Army's 2,000 lawyers. In 2003, he served as the Interim Director of the Arizona Office of Homeland Security
To put this in simple terms we can all understand, even our founding fathers had mentors that influenced them. If we wre gun rights advocates as we claim we ALL need to start advocating.
Defender
Private investigator licensed in AZ & CA that specializes in self defense cases.
Comments
Lets see, now...bush junior has a ranch...I am sure he has been shooting before.
"Send me an assualt weapon bill...I WILL sign it..."
I am sure he is just ignorant about the Second Amendment...
Lets see, now...bush junior has a ranch...I am sure he has been shooting before.
Oh sure he has. Didnt ya see all the photos of him, swagging around with a cowboy hat and a shotgun before the 2000 election?
2004 was the real gem. Read an interview he gave in field and stream, the writer kept trying to get him to answer questions about guns- whats ya favorite rifle?, whaddya like to hunt?, real softball poop. He kept switching the topic, kept saying stuff like hunting is OK but Im really into fishin'..... He kept switching the gun topics to how much he loves fishing.
"Waiting tables is what you know, making cheese is what I know-lets stick with what we know!"
-Jimmy the cheese man
You start with a politician rolling back bad gun laws, their replacement will never get the opportunity to change directions, because there ain't no stopping that train they're on.
A politico who does nothing on gun issues sets the stage for an anti to decide on a direction, because to an anti, no commitment from that politico means opportunity for them.
Was it a good thing when Bush, who said he would reauthorize the Klinton Viktim Disarmament Bill just to let it lapse? Not at all. He's trying to play both sides, and as was stated, you're either with us or against us. No man can serve two masters.
Death to Tyrants!!!
Lev 26:14-39
Those who would offer any interpretation that would relegate Amendment II to "relic" status of a bygone era are blatantly stating that the remainder of the Bill of Rights isn't worth a damn, either.
Luke 22:36.
"Mirror Mirror on the wall. Who's the ugliest one of all?"
-Janet Reno, the Butcher of Waco.
See, they way these elites operate is to push as far as they can in a certain direction..(away from freedom)..then turn the reins over to the 'loyal oposition' to destroy freedom from ANOTHER direction...
Always the direction is AWAY from freedom and rights...and towards tyranny.
MOLON LABE
The Second Amendment begins when the First Amendment ends.
Self defence is an ablsolute and natural right. Keep your powder dry! J. Rau, Alaska