Highlights of the Agenda, below: "Manufacturer Protection" passes the Senate; NRA boycott, to support gun owners persecuted at the workplace; farcical Eleanor Holmes Norton "town meeting" (report from Paula Miller); Ricardo Royal (CAFE) raises idea of hosting another town-hall meeting in DC; National Capitol Trap and Skeet Club continues their court fight; Table at Takoma Park Folk Festival; gun shows, travel notes from Bob Culver, Women On Target event
MCSM -- Montgomery Citizens for a Safer Maryland -- www.mcsm.org
Greetings - We hope you will attend the next meeting of MCSM!
MEETING AGENDA
---> Tuesday, August 9th, 2005 <---
7:00 - 9:00 PM AMERICAN LEGION POST # 268
11225 FERN ST. WHEATON, MD 20902
1) Welcome and Pledge of Allegiance.
2) Introduction of any new guests or prospective members (brief).
3) "Manufacturer Protection" passes the Senate - House to vote in September. Activism: letters to legislators and other outreach may help to put an end, at last, to frivolous lawsuits against gun manufacturers!
4) NRA boycott, to support gun owners persecuted at the workplace. What ConocoPhillips products or subsidiaries are in the DC area?
5) Shortly after July's MCSM meeting, July's guest speaker, Paula Miller, along with members of CAFE, attended a kangaroo-court of a "town meeting" on DC's gun laws, hosted by Eleanor Holmes Norton. Paula's summary of that evening is below. A quote: "... the meeting facilitators passed out 'question' cards on which everyone could write a question or statement and submit it to be addressed during the meeting. However, it was Eleanor herself who openly perused each question card and selected the ones that appeared to support continuation of the gun ban. So, we only heard from repeal advocates if they worded their questions on the cards in such a way that Eleanor was unable to determine their repeal position."
Ricardo Royal, of CAFE, has raised the idea of hosting another town-hall meeting in DC, one in which repeal advocates will not be muzzled. A great volunteer opportunity!
6) National Capitol Trap and Skeet Club continues their court fight.
7) Table at Takoma Park Folk Festival.
8) Gun Show September 17-18, Howard County.
Women On Target: Pistol Shooting Instructional Clinic, August 21 2005
Monumental Rifle and Pistol Club, Marriottsville, MD
$20.00
Preregistration deadline: August 12, 2005
Contact: Roxanne Byczkowski
evenings till 9PM (410) 875-0664 or
sureshottraining@aol.com
Also from Bob Culver:
Wyoming Home-on-the-Range, some pistol competitions and some photos
We hope to see you at the meeting, Tuesday, August 9th!
www.mcsm.org PO Box 2563, Silver Spring MD 20915-2563
Gun-rights information web sites of note:
www.nraila.org www.myguns.net www.mcrkba.org
www.2asisters.org www.silveradogunshow.com www.gunsaint.com
www.blackmanwithagun.com www.secure-skies.org
*+*+* Paula Miller, DC SAS Coordinator, summarizes July 26th "town hall meeting" on guns in DC
DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton's Gun Ban Town Meeting was a farce - RIGGED. There were quite a few repeal advocates attending - I'd guess they were close to a 50-50 position split, but there MAY have been more pro-ban advocates.
I say the meeting was rigged because the meeting facilitators passed out "question" cards on which everyone could write a question or statement and submit it to be addressed during the meeting. However, it was Eleanor herself who openly perused each question card and selected the ones that appeared to support continuation of the gun ban.
So, we only heard from repeal advocates IF they worded their questions on the cards in such a way that Eleanor was unable to determine their repeal position. For example, some cards merely said the person had been a victim of a gun crime and that they wanted to tell their story, but when they got up in front of Eleanor, Chief Ramsey and Mayor Williams, they told their story and then asked why they could not own or carry a gun to protect themselves, and did they not have a Constitutional right to protect themselves?
Hence, Eleanor's question card selection strategy backfired on her a few times. But that was the ONLY way we got to hear the repeal advocates' side of the issue. Lesson learned: when filling out question cards at public hearings, DON'T be obvious about what your position is.
Be stealthy. Be ambiguous. Make the other side THINK you support their position initially and then turn on them. In this case, it was the only way to get our side heard.
Interestingly, Channel 5(FOX) and Channel 9 (CBS) appeared to adopt this strategy during their evening news broadcasts on the Town Meeting - the beginning of the stories were a generally neutral presentation of the issue, and then the last few seconds of the broadcasts had a pro-repeal twist. Channel 9 (CBS) closed their segment with a close up shot of Ricardo Royal (National President, Community Association of Firearms Educators) holding up his blinding orange "Repeal the Ban" sign which he craftily passed out to as many people as possible at the beginning of the meeting.
Also, Norton and Ramsey left themselves a "back out" position by saying that if the DC City Council chose to repeal the ban, they'd both fully support the move. Well, of course. If the people have spoken - so be it. So, now we must SPEAK and write to the Council. The campaign continues. I urge every DC resident supporting the repeal to write and/or call ALL of the Council members to let them know you support the repeal of the ban.
*+*+* NRA billboard campaign unveiled: "ConocoPhillips is No Friend of the Second Amendment"
Vowing to "spare no effort or expense," NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre launched an aggressive billboard advertising and national boycott campaign against energy giant ConocoPhillips, in response to the corporation's anti-gun policy and actions.
"Across the country, we're going to make ConocoPhillips the example of what happens when a corporation takes away your Second Amendment rights," LaPierre said at a rally of hundreds of supporters. "If you are a corporation that's anti-gun, anti-gun owner, or anti-Second Amendment, we will spare no effort or expense to work against you, to protect the rights of your law-abiding employees. Their rights are worth more than your money!"
LaPierre spoke at a rally to support Idabel employees fired by Weyerhaeuser because they kept legally owned firearms safely stored in their locked vehicles in a public access company parking lot. Since the firings, the Oklahoma Legislature passed a bill to prevent such terminations, but ConocoPhillips filed a federal lawsuit to block the protective measure.
At the rally, LaPierre unveiled a new billboard advertising campaign to target Conoco and Phillips 66 gas stations. The billboard reads, "ConocoPhillips is No Friend of the Second Amendment."
LaPierre called on all gun owners and consumers to boycott all Conoco and Phillips 66 products, and asked Conoco and Phillips 66 retailers to urge their corporate brass to get on the right side of freedom and withdraw from the federal lawsuit.
MCSM -- Montgomery Citizens for a Safer Maryland -- www.mcsm.org
Greetings - We hope you will attend the next meeting of MCSM!
MEETING AGENDA
---> Tuesday, August 9th, 2005 <---
7:00 - 9:00 PM AMERICAN LEGION POST # 268
11225 FERN ST. WHEATON, MD 20902
1) Welcome and Pledge of Allegiance.
2) Introduction of any new guests or prospective members (brief).
3) "Manufacturer Protection" passes the Senate - House to vote in September. Activism: letters to legislators and other outreach may help to put an end, at last, to frivolous lawsuits against gun manufacturers!
4) NRA boycott, to support gun owners persecuted at the workplace. What ConocoPhillips products or subsidiaries are in the DC area?
5) Shortly after July's MCSM meeting, July's guest speaker, Paula Miller, along with members of CAFE, attended a kangaroo-court of a "town meeting" on DC's gun laws, hosted by Eleanor Holmes Norton. Paula's summary of that evening is below. A quote: "... the meeting facilitators passed out 'question' cards on which everyone could write a question or statement and submit it to be addressed during the meeting. However, it was Eleanor herself who openly perused each question card and selected the ones that appeared to support continuation of the gun ban. So, we only heard from repeal advocates if they worded their questions on the cards in such a way that Eleanor was unable to determine their repeal position."
Ricardo Royal, of CAFE, has raised the idea of hosting another town-hall meeting in DC, one in which repeal advocates will not be muzzled. A great volunteer opportunity!
6) National Capitol Trap and Skeet Club continues their court fight.
7) Table at Takoma Park Folk Festival.
8) Gun Show September 17-18, Howard County.
Women On Target: Pistol Shooting Instructional Clinic, August 21 2005
Monumental Rifle and Pistol Club, Marriottsville, MD
$20.00
Preregistration deadline: August 12, 2005
Contact: Roxanne Byczkowski
evenings till 9PM (410) 875-0664 or
sureshottraining@aol.com
Also from Bob Culver:
Wyoming Home-on-the-Range, some pistol competitions and some photos
We hope to see you at the meeting, Tuesday, August 9th!
www.mcsm.org PO Box 2563, Silver Spring MD 20915-2563
Gun-rights information web sites of note:
www.nraila.org www.myguns.net www.mcrkba.org
www.2asisters.org www.silveradogunshow.com www.gunsaint.com
www.blackmanwithagun.com www.secure-skies.org
*+*+* Paula Miller, DC SAS Coordinator, summarizes July 26th "town hall meeting" on guns in DC
DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton's Gun Ban Town Meeting was a farce - RIGGED. There were quite a few repeal advocates attending - I'd guess they were close to a 50-50 position split, but there MAY have been more pro-ban advocates.
I say the meeting was rigged because the meeting facilitators passed out "question" cards on which everyone could write a question or statement and submit it to be addressed during the meeting. However, it was Eleanor herself who openly perused each question card and selected the ones that appeared to support continuation of the gun ban.
So, we only heard from repeal advocates IF they worded their questions on the cards in such a way that Eleanor was unable to determine their repeal position. For example, some cards merely said the person had been a victim of a gun crime and that they wanted to tell their story, but when they got up in front of Eleanor, Chief Ramsey and Mayor Williams, they told their story and then asked why they could not own or carry a gun to protect themselves, and did they not have a Constitutional right to protect themselves?
Hence, Eleanor's question card selection strategy backfired on her a few times. But that was the ONLY way we got to hear the repeal advocates' side of the issue. Lesson learned: when filling out question cards at public hearings, DON'T be obvious about what your position is.
Be stealthy. Be ambiguous. Make the other side THINK you support their position initially and then turn on them. In this case, it was the only way to get our side heard.
Interestingly, Channel 5(FOX) and Channel 9 (CBS) appeared to adopt this strategy during their evening news broadcasts on the Town Meeting - the beginning of the stories were a generally neutral presentation of the issue, and then the last few seconds of the broadcasts had a pro-repeal twist. Channel 9 (CBS) closed their segment with a close up shot of Ricardo Royal (National President, Community Association of Firearms Educators) holding up his blinding orange "Repeal the Ban" sign which he craftily passed out to as many people as possible at the beginning of the meeting.
Also, Norton and Ramsey left themselves a "back out" position by saying that if the DC City Council chose to repeal the ban, they'd both fully support the move. Well, of course. If the people have spoken - so be it. So, now we must SPEAK and write to the Council. The campaign continues. I urge every DC resident supporting the repeal to write and/or call ALL of the Council members to let them know you support the repeal of the ban.
*+*+* NRA billboard campaign unveiled: "ConocoPhillips is No Friend of the Second Amendment"
Vowing to "spare no effort or expense," NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre launched an aggressive billboard advertising and national boycott campaign against energy giant ConocoPhillips, in response to the corporation's anti-gun policy and actions.
"Across the country, we're going to make ConocoPhillips the example of what happens when a corporation takes away your Second Amendment rights," LaPierre said at a rally of hundreds of supporters. "If you are a corporation that's anti-gun, anti-gun owner, or anti-Second Amendment, we will spare no effort or expense to work against you, to protect the rights of your law-abiding employees. Their rights are worth more than your money!"
LaPierre spoke at a rally to support Idabel employees fired by Weyerhaeuser because they kept legally owned firearms safely stored in their locked vehicles in a public access company parking lot. Since the firings, the Oklahoma Legislature passed a bill to prevent such terminations, but ConocoPhillips filed a federal lawsuit to block the protective measure.
At the rally, LaPierre unveiled a new billboard advertising campaign to target Conoco and Phillips 66 gas stations. The billboard reads, "ConocoPhillips is No Friend of the Second Amendment."
LaPierre called on all gun owners and consumers to boycott all Conoco and Phillips 66 products, and asked Conoco and Phillips 66 retailers to urge their corporate brass to get on the right side of freedom and withdraw from the federal lawsuit.
