New 2A Bill Scanner

Hello brothers and sisters,
I am brand spanking new to the forum. As fellow gun enthusiasts and activist, I'm hoping some of the members here can give me some feedback on a new 2A Bill Scanner I developed which allows you to scan your state using the keyword "gun".

The scan will:
-Return its findings.

-Provide you with a link to the bill.

-Tell you what the last action on the bill was.

-Tell you which politicians are sponsoring the bill.

-Tell you all the voting outcomes of the bill process.

-Inform you of relevant calendar events regarding the bill.

-Allow you to comment on the bill.

-Allow you to easily share the information on Facebook and Twitter.

The service is 100% free and its operations rely on purchases like apparel. Please check it out and let me know what you think. It's currently in beta (which means its live but I'm still tweaking it). If the site starts drawing revenue, I intend on significantly enhancing it as well as create a mobile app and donating a percentage to other Activist groups.

My hope is that the site will help increase awareness of what's going on at a state level while paying for itself from affiliate links and apparel sales.

I invite your feed back and hope that you find it useful. In the times that we live in, staying informed and on the front lines is mission critical. I hope that my efforts prove useful.

The site is:
Http://utreadudead.com

Good or bad. If you took the time to take a look at it, please let me know what you think.

BTW- the site works best in chrome.

God Bless.

hso said:

Where is your state information coming from to go in your webpage?

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Thanks for your interest.

I pull the data from legiscan, data.gov, a scrapping web crawler tool I use to seed a database in real time, and a few other sources. Legiscan typically has all bills archived there so I try and use their apis when I can. All the information is out there... but most people don't know how to find it and where to dive into it on the state and federal sites. My scanner basically makes multiple API calls and ties them together in the results. Are you a developer? or just curious?

I have a ton more I want to release and tie in from opensecrets, followthemoney, and another web crawler I designed that basically crawls all publicly accessible government sites (including anything the ATF might have) but its a lot to maintain and fund independently if the traffic low. Hoping I can sell a few tshirts or get a couple of sales through brownell's affiliate program to help offset my costs because I am NOT going to spam everyone with ads... a couple maybe at most if I have too.

SKILCZ said:

I think such a web site would be a useful tool.

That said, I would probably alter the name as we (law-abiding gun owners) are often accused of being equivalent to violent criminals and blamed for what said violent criminals do. Having the "u dead" in there only fans those flames and will be used against us.

Another suggestion would be to allow the use of other words besides "gun," such as "firearm" as some bills use that instead of "gun." The ability to change the search word to check each possibility might be helpful.

Click to expand...

Thanks for taking a look.

You can type any keyword in the search box after selecting your state and click the search button the scan other keywords.


As far as the name goes, I plan on keeping it. But, to your point and others, I will be releasing another iteration of the site called BillScan.org.

In all honesty, if I named it cutepuppy2Achecker.com triggered folks will find a way to demonize the name... I've tried this with other similar projects which is why I gave up caring and went all in on the name.

I appreciate the time you took in reviewing the site. I hope BillScan.org addresses the concern.

Thanks!

Elkins45 said:

I think you need a new domain name but the tool is great.

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Thanks!

As I mentioned in other replies, I'm keep the name because in other experiences with similar projects, it made no difference. If you're pro 2A, trigger folks are going to attack it regardless.

But I will be releasing another iteration called BillScan.org. Same site, but neutral user interface and little to no propaganda.

Thanks for the review and feedback. Much appreciated.

To clear up why I chose Utreadudead.com...

The original sites name was 2ABillScanner.org when I initially started to market it, people basically showed up with pitch forks. So, I figured, move to the extreme and let them.

But, as I've mentioned in the replies, I will be releasing another iteration called BillScan.org which will hopefully appeal to those who find the name utreadudead.com too extreme. BillScan.org sounds more official and credible... but save for a few ads and a donate button, won't help me fund it. Utreadudead.com has resonated with several other gun groups and constitutionalists who are willing to help support it by buying some of the merch as well as donations needed to fund and maintain both sites.

I hope BillScan.org will resonate with those who think the name is too extreme. I've personally just stop caring what triggered folks think and say as, in my experiences, it wont matter to some folks who just hate gun owners.

BillScan.org will be the exact the same site with a neutral user interface. I'll also be offering the api's I built and a template to anyone who wants build out their own version for free.

Skil CZ and Hondo 60,

Thanks a ton for checking it out and thank you for your feedback.

Skill CZ (I'm a hardcore CZ enthusiast too btw) - I hope BillScan.org addresses the concern. I stand my my comment that anything 2A is going to be demonized by the radical folks... which will in turn impact the undecideds perception of the site... I've experienced this personally multiple times its almost mathematical. I do wholeheartedly agree we need to connect with the undecided. But the name has been addressed multiple times already and I am not sure what else to say about it. Hopefully BillScan.org resonates as an unbiased official sounding source of truth where people like you can share your findings on the site to your social media sites and dialogue with the undecided without them feeling like they are speaking to a radical.

Hondo 60 - You're the first person to mention that to me but in all honesty... it makes total sense. I do have other apparel in the works that focus on patriotic symbols. I'll be posting more information about this and other updates in my next post. Also, there are several other options outside of the apparel on the site through Brownell and Amazon as I have an affiliate status with them.
.

Big update...
So UTreadUDead has gotten a TON of positive feedback (albeit not so much here) on several other forums and survey campaigns. Last night, I was approached by a small group of sponsors with pretty deep pockets who want to help me out. I am also working with a tactical gear company and a body armor company for some private labeling. Both US based, of course. The funds and support from these folks will help me bring a lot more functionality to the site as well as allow me to personally fund BillScan.org which is currently outside of the deal.

Here is what I am planning to release... hopefully by this summer.

• The ability to see what private sector entities are funding each politician.
• The ability to share on all social media platforms. (Currently you can only share on facebook and twitter.)
• Source documentation from Havard, Pew Research, and many others that the media uses and spins to meet their own agenda. (My crawlers have found about 30 of these so far and I intend on personally pointing out the bullets of each while providing a user to the documented original study.
• ATF updates and events.
• The ability for citizens and FFL holders to report infringements and misconducts.

Also, I will be creating an SDK (software developers kit) for other folks who want to the put the scanner on their site which will allow them to brand it however they wish.

Let me know what you think.

George P said:

And add "weapon" to that search criteria as well

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It has a search function. You can search for whatever you want. Gun is just the default search.

hso said:

Agreed

Remember that "preaching to the choir" is a problem all advocates have and you want to bring people into the fold that aren't already enthusiasts. Using any language that can be perceived as threatening turns a lot of people off.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your interest.I've addressed the name many times on this thread with BillScan.org so I'm not really sure what else to say about it. But I hope your concern is addressed.

That said, I'm not trying to bring people into the fold with my site. I'm simply providing transparency to anyone who wants it. A bill scanning site in it of itself can't sell someone on being against anti 2A laws. People like you can. An undecided person isnt going te see that bill and think "Well there's an infringement on my rights". They're undecided because the dont have facts, or context, or simply dont care. Its up to us, the people that understand, to point out infringements and what impacts they've had historically and their potential impacts in today's political and social climate. If I could write an algorithm that uses AI to read the bill and source what outcomes similar legislation has had world wide I think there would be an argument to keep it as neutral and bipartisan as possible... and if I do you can be assured that I would go that route. But in all honesty, I do hope the chior uses this tool vs the radical left. The tool doesn't preach. It's only a window and a means to broadcast. "We the people" "We the informed" are the preachers. Not BillScan.org or UTreadUDead.com.

I really do think the name is appropriate as it sends the appropriate message in the sense that if you tread on our rights... we're coming for you. I think people who want to take away rights should fear violent repercussions from the oppressed. Not necessarily as a threat but simply because that it is the historic and present day outcome of oppressers. Plus donttreadonme.com was already taken .

larryh1108 said:

Before I click the link and check it out, what type of tracking and collecting of info does your site gather from us? It seems that you are savvy enough to harvest info to sell to others. That is a real irritating thing..... looking for something online and then getting ads for months of that product and/or similar items. Very irritating and invasive. It should be illegal, IMO, but this is 2020.

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Thank you for your interest. No I dont want your data.

The service is free. I ask for an email if you comment, but your email is not required for it. I'm not harvesting your data and reselling- I am ethically against it. The email field is there for a future function that will allow the service to send updates on each bill you comment on. Not unlike this site.

I harvest the data from public web services, a proprietary web crawler I designed, and a few federal archives which have I have built and tied together to simplify how public and federal data is accessed for everyday citizens. For the new functions I added, that you can review a few posts up, I designed both a web crawler that finds data that I run through a fairly complicated algorithm.

If your still worried about me harvesting your data, consider this, and i dont want this to come out the wrong way, but if I wanted your data I could get it without the use of a data collection site. If I can design a crawler that seeds a database and an algorithm that connects that's data to other data, pull 90% of all the US politicians public contact info, and crawl sites looking for source documentation... harvesting your data is something I could do on my lunch break.

Hey, if anyone is interested about how it currently works and how I designed everything for the future release, I wanted to let folks know that I will also be creating a free SDK that will allow for anyone to build out this service on their own. I will also have an API where you can copy and paste a very small code snippet on your site and offer the same service. Not sure when it will be ready but I am hoping to have it all out by this summer. My endpoint will require Id vefication before I grant you an access key due to the fact that I do not want it to be used in a nefarious manner.