A Win in Virginia - Citizens Properly Support Gun Rights

[RicInOR]

http://vcdl.org/Photo-Albums

source:
http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/233610/

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[PiratePast40]

Outstanding. We need to use this as motivation for us to get stronger here in the PNW.

 

[Caveman Jim]

It is amazing that people who support gun rights & the 2A on the East coast aren't afraid to voice their opinions to legislators or other high position holders. What is wrong with the people HERE on the West coast?
1) Gun owners are afraid of being singled out by family members and those at their place of employment for even having a gun.
2) Gun owners are too complacent (lazy) to get off the couch & figure someone else will do it all for them.
3) Left leaning so called pro-gun & pro-2A voters keep electing the very anti gun politicians that erode our Constitutional rights.

 

[etrain16]

It is amazing that people who support gun rights & the 2A on the East coast aren't afraid to voice their opinions to legislators or other high position holders. What is wrong with the people HERE on the West coast?
1) Gun owners are afraid of being singled out by family members and those at their place of employment for even having a gun.
2) Gun owners are too complacent (lazy) to get off the couch & figure someone else will do it all for them.
3) Left leaning so called pro-gun & pro-2A voters keep electing the very anti gun politicians that erode our Constitutional rights.

I still think part of the problem is that gun owners in this state, as in others, are fractured, much like the Republican party has shown in the primaries. They care about their particular interest group, but often ignore the bigger picture of gun ownership in general. You seem to have distinct groups of gun owners that only get riled up when their particular interest in guns is challenged. Some of the groups I would identify:

* Hunter only gun owner - care deeply about lead bans, but could give a rip about concealed carry, magazine capacity or private sales. Only pop up when a lead ban is discussed. If it's not related to .30-06, 7mm, .243, etc., they probably don't even want to talk about it.

* Single gun, at home only owner - care deeply about the right to have one gun, in their home, locked away, unloaded with ammo stored separately, for supposed self defense. Also doesn't care about concealed carry, magazine capacity or private sales, or lead ammo bans. Only pop up, well probably don't bother to pop up as some of these types wouldn't be all that put out if you took their guns away - these are the types that couldn't wait to line up in CT when it was time to register your guns for the guvment. This group would also include folks, like many politicians, that claim to be 'gun owners' and have that single 90-year-old .22 rifle their great-grandpappy left to them years ago. May not even know how to load it.

* Gun owners that won't vote pro-gun - care deeply about everything but gun rights (though they may say they do) and won't vote based on gun rights. Like the one above, probably wouldn't be all that put out if they had to turn their guns in. Even when time and time again they see who is attacking their liberty, they will vote for the same people based on some other concerns, thus empowering them to attack them over and over again. The obvious solution is in front of them, but they won't take it. BTW, before anyone attacks a particular party, I have met Democrats ,Republicans, Independents, etc. that think this way.

* Backwoods Shoot-em-up Types - own a couple AR's, maybe shotguns, etc., for the express purpose of going out to the woods and shooting anything and everything, from trees to water jugs to NWFA posters. Only care that they can buy ammo and make a huge mess. Don't care about politics and would only get interested if the government was on their doorstep to take their guns. Otherwise, just don't bother them.

* Serious gun owners - care about all gun rights, regardless of their personal preferences. Care about bans, restrictions or any assault on the 2nd. Get involved, vote, write letters, make calls, try to recruit others to do the same. Would fight for the rights of the other groups, even if they aren't part of them, because it's the right thing to do. These are the people that show up at meetings and rallies, that share their concerns with everyone they can. They are also a minority compared to the other groups, and so, have little power to hold over the overseers that make the laws. Would be substantially more effective if the other groups cared as deeply about their rights as they do.

On top of that, I don't believe (and I know some folks will greatly disagree with me), that we have an effective pro-gun group here in Oregon that can wield any real legislative power in Oregon. Not enough people belong (I do) and not enough people care, so they are left to only share information rather than proactively change things in the legislature. Too bad we don't have some big $$ donors in Oregon that cared about gun rights to fight the Bloomberg funded anti-gun machine in Salem. Come November, if pro-gun voters don't get their butts in gear, 2017 will be a bad year for us all.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Thanks for expounding on my post, I'm a Caveman of few words.

 

[etrain16]

Thanks for expounding on my post, I'm a Caveman of few words.

Yeah, if you haven't noticed, I have a tendency to get a bit wordy at times....

 

[Caveman Jim]

Hadn't noticed....

 

[etrain16]

Oh, I forgot one 'group'. There is the group of uninformed gun owners. Those who happily own and shoot guns, but are largely ignorant of the existence of the gun 'community' or of what the legislators across the country are doing to their rights. They don't pay attention to the lawmakers or what they're doing, so they're never informed enough to adjust their voting to protect their rights or to get involved and try to change the lawmaker's directions.

I used to be one of these myself. That is, until I happened across another gun owner that woke me up to reality. The rest, as they say, is history.

Never assume a gun owner knows what's going on or what's at stake. Take every opportunity you can to get every single gun owner involved in the political process, to vote and to write. Better too if they contribute to pro-gun organizations.

 

[leadischeap]

Arlington, VA has had a pawn shop that sells Guns for over 40 years, so the lib uptoar over a new shop was embarrassing. Arlington is across 2 bridges from D.C. and is choked with illegals, non-english speakers and metro-sexuals. It was good that vcdl was able to get the turnout at the meeting. Common sense finally got a win.

We are currently suffering through a governor who was the former DNC chairman under Hillary. He's illegally restoring blanket voting rights to 200,000 felons in order to throw the election to Hillary this fall.
Get out and vote, encourage your co-workers to vote and pray that we are freed from these executive action dictators. Sic semper tyrannis

 

[PiratePast40]

Oh, I forgot one 'group'. There is the group of uninformed gun owners. Those who happily own and shoot guns, but are largely ignorant of the existence of the gun 'community' or of what the legislators across the country are doing to their rights. They don't pay attention to the lawmakers or what they're doing, so they're never informed enough to adjust their voting to protect their rights or to get involved and try to change the lawmaker's directions.

I used to be one of these myself. That is, until I happened across another gun owner that woke me up to reality. The rest, as they say, is history.

Never assume a gun owner knows what's going on or what's at stake. Take every opportunity you can to get every single gun owner involved in the political process, to vote and to write. Better too if they contribute to pro-gun organizations.

I've been surprised by the number of gun owners that are completely oblivious to the changes in the laws, and don't even care. Some even have the big brother conspiracy attitude and think it's a waste of time to vote.

There have been some posters here asking, what seem like, questions intended to pick a fight, when it may be a case of being naive. I myself have been pretty harsh on those people sometimes, but now realize that they may actually just be waking up to reality. Yes, we need to keep beating the drum and soliciting support.