Multifaceted anti-gun push

[Charles L. Cotton]

In our recent TSRA Legislative Committee meeting, we discussed a huge influx of money to several anti-gun and anti-hunting organizations. For the first time in years we are seeing bold new initiatives by the likes of the Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence, PETA, the Humane Society of the United States (not the "old" Humane Society we've all known for years), and others. The mid-term elections last November has undoubtedly been a morale booster for these anti-gun zealots.

Note the new term the Brady Campaign has given gun dealers, and presumably gun owners that make a private sale - "gun pushers." This is an obvious play on the term "drug-pusher" and is in keeping with their purely emotional and factually deficient arguments. I understand there will be an anti-gun rally in Austin on February 12th designed to support the two bills by Davis (one-gun-a-month & gun shows) and any other anti-gun, anti-hunting bills filed at that time. I will provide more information soon, but it will be a good idea to time a "few" phone calls to our elected officials on Feb. 12th.

It comes as no surprise that the Brady Campaign is vigorously opposing both the “employer parking lot� and “castle doctrine� bills currently pending in the Texas Legislature. In yet another dishonest attempt to evoke emotion over truth, Brady and her ilk have labeled our “Castle Doctrine� Bill a “Shoot First� law. In so doing, she utterly ignores the requirements of using deadly force in Texas and implies anyone can kill anyone else without meeting the standards and requirements of the Texas Penal Code. Her purported statistics on workplace violence ignores the fact that CHL’s are not responsible for those shootings. She also ignores the fact that few, if any, of the murderers pulled a gun they were carrying, or went to their car to get a gun, before murdering anyone. Rather, they went home, got the gun, then returned to the workplace, sometimes days or weeks later. Thus, such events have no relevance to a CHL parking lot bill whatsoever. In my experience as an attorney, people who rely solely on lies, purely emotional arguments, or a combination of both, do so because the facts simply do not support their position.

On another issue, anti-gun NYC Mayor has recruited four mayors from Texas to join his deceptively labeled anti-gun "Mayors Against Illegal Guns." They are the Mayors of Austin, Dallas, Houston and Hurst. I have read that one mayor from Texas resigned when he learned the true agenda was not targeting only "illegal" guns, but all guns, so the Mayor of Hurst, Texas may no longer be a member. It's also possible that he is and that the resigning member's name no longer appears on the list. A few calls to these mayors' offices to politely register your opposition to lending the name of their offices to this political agenda might be in order. These folks need to understand that they are not merely joining as individuals, they are lending the power and prestige of their offices to a deceptive political agenda.

The new Humane Society of the United States is believed to have over $100 million for its legislative agenda. Among other lunatic fringe issues, they have vowed to end hunting on a state-by-state basis. Here is their website on hunting. Look also at their other issues by clicking on the "Campaigns & Programs" button in the menu on the left of the page.

As I have noted in other posts, timing is everything when it comes to making contact with elected officials concerning pending bills. Equally important is developing a telephone and/or email tree to add to our effectiveness. To the extent you can, please make a list of people you can call or email to advise them of an issue and the need to make contact with certain people. Sometimes this will be only committee members, sometimes the Speaker of the House, while at other times we will need to contact everyone. You can always refer them to TexasCHLforum for a description of the bill/issue, if you don't have time to discuss it with everyone you call. Obviously, this problem is relieved if you send an email.

As noted earlier, the first opportunity we are going to have to use a telephone/email tree will be in response to the Feb. 12th anti-gun rally in Austin.


Thanks,
Chas.

[nitrogen]

Might it be a good idea to stage an "anti-anti gun rally?"

[stevie_d_64]

Might be kinda hard to find them (anti's) since they probably won't get but about 15-20 people to attend...If they get more than that, it'll be because somebody bussed them in...

I would say let them have their rallies...I'll still have my firearms come hell or high water...

[gigag04]

I would say let them have their rallies...I'll still have my firearms come hell or high water...

+1

[jrosto]

Even if only 10 or 15 people attend the rally, the Austin papers will make it out to be a major protest.

[Lodge2004]

Even if only 10 or 15 people attend the rally, the Austin papers will make it out to be a major protest.

Reminds me of the NRA Convention in Houston. There were 2-3 ladies with signs in front of the convention center during the event and they seemed to always have a line of reporters waiting to interview them. I assume it was portrayed differently in the press.

[stroo]

Did they end up having any kind of rally?

[stevie_d_64]

Did they end up having any kind of rally?

We'll see tomorrow...

Maybe one of our folks will give us a report if they see anything about this...

I wish we knew where and when it was going to be...

Might find out where on the "Brady" website...

[stevie_d_64]

I checked the Brady website, MMM, VPC, the local Dallas MMM website...

And nothing was said about an event in Austin...So take that for what its worth...

Guess we'll see how much a splash they make...