How much would it cost to sponsor an Oregon HR Representative?

Peak_oil · Nov 14, 2015

There are certain politicians who are in the pocket of certain industries. Wouldn't it be nice to have a politician in the pocket of firearms enthusiasts? For some reason, $150K is ringing a bell. That was for a United States Congress HR Representative, though. For the State version I would imagine it's less. I just think it would be worth it to have a bill coming through every couple of months that would advance the cause of personal liberty with regards to the 2nd amendment. It would certainly help to frame the debate with the Brady Bunch on one side, and internet firearms enthusiasts on the other side (rather than Bill Ruger).

I know there's the NRA, but the NRA is fighting a losing battle. They can only respond to legislative and court challenges, they can't write the legislation that would shift the baseline of the discussion in our favor. The end state of a defensive action is surrender. You cannot win without taking the offensive position. You cannot move the ball forward IN DEFENSE.

PiratePast40 · Nov 14, 2015

I think you're a little off base with talk of buying a legislator, but you are right about the fact that it costs money to run any sort of campaign. That is what others are talking about when it comes to donating or volunteering to groups like OFF that can organize letter writing, phone call, and demonstration campaigns.

The upcoming session is a short one and the party in power makes the decisions as to which bills are heard on the floor. That makes it difficult to flood the docket since the speaker will simply table any bills not within the party line. You also need to remember that each legislator is limited to 2 bills and 2A rights are not on the top of everyones' priorities.

I believe it's better to work toward influencing the liberals and their constituents. Let the libs know that we see through the smoke screen. Keep pointing out how they threw Clem under the bus last session. The control issue has nothing to do with reducing or preventing crime, it's become a simple matter of power and control. Let them know that we know what they're up to.

Now, if you have the money to buy yourself some politicians like Bloomberg is doing, go right ahead. But for the rest of us mere mortals, we can only work in the trenches.

Stomper · Nov 14, 2015

Even if any legislation is not "shelved", it'll unfortunately either die in committee, or get morphed into some perversion by the likes of Prozanskie, or Burkick...

Maybe it'll come down to them worrying about being drug out into the streets and getting "dealt with" to get them to back off.

etrain16 · Nov 14, 2015

Unfortunately one legislator won't do it. We need to get a majority, preferably a super majority. It's the only way we can hope to get pro-gun legislation not just proposed, but actually pushed through. For some years, we've maintained just enough pro-gun votes to block the attempts by the anti's, effectively maintaining a stalemate position in Oregon. In 2014, we gave up that balance, in part due to dirty tactics and big money from Bloomberg, and in part by Oregon voters that didn't think voting pro-gun was important enough to either turn out and vote or voted for anti-gun folks, knowing full well they would attack our rights.

In 2016, we're all going to have to make a promise to fight hard in our local races to get the anti's pushed out of office. Some of the races in 2014 were very close, such as the Senate race in Washington county. Every single vote matters, and apathy will cost us.

PiratePast40 · Nov 14, 2015

The races are critical, but for the next session, we need to pull out all the stops. We only need a few more to kill the newest anti citizen bills that are sure to be introduced. Buying them isn't going to work unless some of the constitution supporters are flush with cash. But I don't see it happening. We need to keep up with the phone calls. And those of you acting like the world is coming to an end, write your democratic legislators anyway.

The alternative is to just give up and I'm not prepared to do that.

Peak_oil · Nov 14, 2015

I'm thinking more long term. Find a guy who would like Biden's seat when he retires, and bankroll his campaign. He would have to commit to taking our 2nd amendment rights forward with Texas style laws that allow for defense of property and to allow for the recovery of property by shooting thieves in flight.

Take the lead and push further liberty instead of compromising with the opposition (surrender being the end state of that strategy).

That costs money. I wonder what 500 guys with $500 each could pull off. That would be $250k. If it took 2-3 years to put that kind of a coalition that would be an interesting road to take.