Olympia 2nd Amendment Rally January 19th, 2014

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I've found that putting someone on the "ignore" list is very effective for getting rid of bothersome posts.


Deen
NRA Life Member, Benefactor Level
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"Having a gun is like a parachute, if you need one and don't have it you may never need it again"

 

[Caveman Jim]

I wasn't even aware there were rallies until I saw a Yankee Marshal/Playboy Penguin youtube video about it just earlier. Maybe I would've gone, couldn't care less about sports to be honest, but I did go to the range with a friend, his son (who was delighted with shooting an AR for the first time) and my friend's girlfriend who's somewhat of a liberal, but is warming up to it quite well. So maybe I helped the cause indirectly by planting the seed with a teenager and getting a liberal a little more comfortable about it.


How uhhh.... "focused" was the message? Was it 2A-only, or did the "Well, we offend most liberals already, so let's bring up abortion, religion, common core and politics in general as well" urge kick in?

I went and am hearing impaired but from what others were saying it was nothing like the one in Oregon. Good luck to all of our 2A supporters even though they chose to do something else, one day we will need you and hopefully you will fall in line and we can win this fight for our rights to bear arms.

 

[JackThompson]

No, it was a great message.

It was almost purely 2A, and there was some great information shared. They shared a lot about the political process, things you can do at the Capitol, in your own district, who you can call, and how much even a single phone call to a legislator can turn the tide of a vote.

Part of the message(s) that really stuck with me were this.

- "In a republic you should have views from opposite sides of the spectrum pleading their case. When you have this, you have a functional republic. When one voice is silenced, that is when you begin to worry."

- Read your local laws. Find where there are unconstitutional regulations and start fighting to turn those around. (Good examples of this was the turn around on the ban of firearms in public parks, or a fight to remove the governors power to suspend all firearms and ammunition sales during a declared emergency in Washington State.) Sometimes even our elected officials aren't aware of these obscure laws.

- "Each side (Pro and Anti-Gun) uses a common stance that they believe gives them the high moral ground" - "They claim to be pacifists and peaceful"

Being a pacifist is the wrong way to lead the life of a free person. The act of doing "Something" is often avoided by people that don't want to deal with the consequences of action. An example given was "If I see my neighbors daughter being brutally raped next door, I will go defend her life, this is not passive, this is active, and right."

- Each person that chooses to carry their firearm is taking on the responsibility of being a hero. They are taking an active part in our free society.

 

[mancat]

So much so that I started alienating my own family without really realizing it.

My wife and mom actually cornered me one day and asked why I was so angry all the time and had noticed a change in me. So I started probing my friends and putting them on the spot, after they didn't go to the rally...pointed questions like can I really depend on you to have my back when this all goes down .

I will admit that last year, up until around mid-April when we soundly defeated the majority of anti-2A bills on a federal and state basis, I was a very angry person. I was consumed with doing everything I could to fight what I believed was coming, and with the exception of a few good friends, I felt like very few of the people I knew really gave two bubblegums about doing anything about it.

I remember how angry I got with my own dad, who is a very pro-2A guy, who after Obama's post-Newtown speech, said to me "every one of those bills are probably going to pass. The tragedy was too great, and most people don't care about guns." My dad wrote letters to our reps that I helped him prepare, but other than that, he was more or less resigned to the fact that new laws would be shoved through on the blood of those dead kids.

I remember how angry I was to hear people who I thought were good friends, telling me that I "cared more about the rights of NRA child murderers" or some such, and still haven't talked to me nearly a year later. People that I always treated well and extended a helping hand to, seem to have cast me away because of something that the news media and politicians said about "people like me" - i.e. politically-active gun owners. It's like they believe the words of strangers more than they believed in the goodness of character that I thought they recognized in me.

I'm glad that we beat the big push of 2013, and I'm certainly relieved and a lot less angry this year, but I see a lot more terrible things coming our way in the near future - and not necessarily all 2A-related. For example, seeing Obama's "hey guys, come on, our NSA stuff is pretty cool" speech the other day just left me astounded.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

On that note we had a few antis there, one screaming from his car that we were "baby murderers"...

Antis are some very twisted people

As to alienating people and anger, I'm not as much angry at flat out disgusted. My mom gave me a bookmark when I was 5, it gave me the proper perspective on who to befriend

Books, like friends, should be few and well chosen

Here are a few words from another disgusted man

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."
― Samuel Adams

 

[EMNofSeattle]

People can only be bashed for so long and not speak up,

I'm a catholic, if I went to a gun rally and the speakers were all saying "the pope is an instrument of the NWO, they're all coming to get us, catholics are banished from our movement" I would promptly leave. out of concern for my safety.

We need to be careful, gun rights IS a winning issue. most americans either don't care enough to affect the issue, or support gun rights. look in Washington, the only gun related law passed last year was to register people who already committed violent crimes with guns, the AWB, the hi-cap mags, the universal gun registration background checks failed. and we're a state with many more democrats then republicans, and more democrats in the legislature, even the legislators who did advocate for gun control were only willing to voice support for the background check, ol' Ed "The cops can search your assault weapons without a warrant" Murray was standing pretty alone, even Frank Chopp didn't want his name on accompanying house legislation.

long story short, our gun rights are safe as long as we don't alienate supporters. As another patriot said, we must all hang together, or most assuredly we'll all hang separately....

 

[Blitzkrieg]

EMN, nice to meet you there.. but if they are true 2nd amendment supporters then watching a ball game is no excuse. I do believe we should stick to the specific 2nd amendment issues at these rallies and not get sidetracked

 

[JackThompson]

I have a feeling (I don't know for sure) that Samuel Adams wrote those words in response to people turning a blind eye to their neighbors being flogged, raped, murdered, robbed, persecuted and tortured by the British "Rulers" we had back then.

I doubt at this early stage of the revolution he would be full tilt "You're with us or against us!" quite yet.

That time will definitely come though, unless we fight the good political fight.

It takes all of us.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

I have a feeling (I don't know for sure) that Samuel Adams wrote those words in response to people turning a blind eye to their neighbors being flogged, raped, murdered, robbed, persecuted and tortured by the British "Rulers" we had back then.

I doubt at this early stage of the revolution he would be full tilt "You're with us or against us!" quite yet.

That time will definitely come though, unless we fight the good political fight.

It takes all of us.

Maybe I am better informed than most but Ruby Ridge, Waco and 100 other terrorism attacks by the feds in the last 20 years are enough for me

And no, it takes those of us who are worth a damn, not all of us

 

[JackThompson]

Maybe I am better informed than most but Ruby Ridge, Waco and 100 other terrorism attacks by the feds in the last 20 years are enough for me

And no, it takes those of us who are worth a damn, not all of us

That's real hard to argue with...

I can't even think about Waco and Ruby Ridge without needing some cool-off time...

 

[humdrum]

All we need to do as stewards of our great shooting-sports, and Right to keep and carry arms is fight the daily fight to educate those around us. Whether it be a few words to correct a co-worker, or a written letter to a State Rep, we all have a part to play in keeping our 2nd Amendment alive. Some people just choose to be more outgoing than others in how they support the 2A.
If every gun-owner spoke up on the issue, this country's "leaders" would have no choice but to listen to the voice of the people. That, I feel, is the toughest part of the process - getting shooters to support each other. Apparently some think victory will be handed to them without having to do any leg-work, and that lack of unity will lead to defeat. We need to stay on top of it and keep everyone involved; I know I try, but it really is a small number of gun-owners that are actually being pro-active. Thanks for fighting the good fight, gentleman. You guys are the ones making the difference for everybody!

Ray

 

[Blitzkrieg]

That's real hard to argue with...

I can't even think about Waco and Ruby Ridge without needing some cool-off time...

We all want to forget, but those with honor never can

 

[U201491]

Where are the pics from the Olympia rally ???????

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Here is a pic and video. BTW my wits finally activated.. one of us should have yelled back at the heckler "DRUNK DRIVER!"

 

[JackThompson]

Dernit! I still can't find any pictures of me there! I'm the only one that was wearing a black cowboy hat.. how could this happen?!?!

 

[Kable]

I would have gone but I was in Washington DC for work. however, I made it a point to head to the capitol building for the rally but sadly there was only tourist. No one there for rally I'm so glad to be back though I felt so naked and defenseless not being able to carry