Attention Utahns

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localFFL

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I just had a disturbing email correspondence with the head of the "Utah Shooting Sports Council" (that name makes me :barf: because the 2nd amendment has NOTHING to do with sports, but that's another story). I challenged this individual to counter my suspicions that ussc is just a front for a local gun show promoter and also asked what on earth their agenda was for this year's tax/spend/regulate legislative session (since it's nowhere on their website). Instead of telling me their agenda, he proceeds to insult me and go on and on about how I must not be doing anything for gun rights because I'm "complaining." :cuss: That kind of crap really ticks me off but it didn't end there. He included as ussc's "agenda" for this year, "stopping anti gun bills." Gee, I had never thought of that :rolleyes: .

He wrote me an email that was exceedingly long, and did admit that the local gun show promoter is their 2nd largest contributor.

Almost the only time I ever get emails from ussc is to promote gun shows. This group doesn't seem to DO anything else, based on my years of watching them. He of course, took credit for all sorts of pro gun bills, bills that his organization per se had ZIP to do with.

Utah needs a good, organized pro gun lobby in the worst way. We need one that is INDEPENDENT, actually seeks members (the only thing ussc does), and will articulate a clear agenda.

There's a new forum just for utah gun owners that I found. http://z6.invisionfree.com/UTAH_gun_owners/index.php? There sure is not much is utah that's gun related, that's very well organized. We've got to change that.
 
Just when I thought it couldn't get worse, here's a utah story where utah legislators moan about how "stressed" they are, and how they want the session to be easy and relaxed this year :barf: which means we're gonna get screwed. Nothing pro 2nd amendment will pass if this doesn't change and spending will skyrocket as usual. As I said, since we don't have a viable gun lobby in utah, there's no coherent agenda to help restore the 2nd amendment here.

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=812288
 
If you want people to join your forum, you might want to make it visible without registering.:)

Unfortunatley, the "enlightened" liberals in SLCounty are soon to be the ones making all the rules.
 
I didn't find registering to be all that difficult. If people aren't committed enough to make a few clicks, then what good are they? We've got millions of spectators. What utah needs are people who are tired of being bleating spectators. Trying to convert those who want to stay that way is a waste of time and effort. I know because I've tried. :banghead: The more you pander to the lazy, the lazier they get. The more effort you put out to make things EASIER for the lazy, the more they think YOU'VE "got it under control." I think it's time for an attitude of "if you want to just be a spectator then go away." Those people who will actually help defend their/our rights don't HAVE to be nagged to do something as quick and simple as spending a few clicks to register.
 
If the Utah Shooting Sports Council is an NSSF affiliate, then it isn't a gun rights group its a trade group, hence he interest in gun shows.
 
localFFL, dude, relax before you blow an artery. Politics suck. Don't let it eat you up.

I've been involved in Utah gun politics a bit. I go to many of the committee meetings, and have argued up there. I'm on tap to testify this year as a CCW instructor for a specific pro-gun bill if it makes it that far.

There are pro-gun forces at work up there. Could there be more? Heck yeah. Could they do a better job? Sure. But Utahns aren't as stupid and apathetic as you make them out to be.

As it stands right now, there are a few extremely pro-gun legislators, like Kurt Oda for example. There are many good lobbyists up there too. Clark Aphosian does a good job as well.

I really liked the UTGOA, but the lady in charge got fed up and burned out. She did awesome work.

The single most valuable thing you could possibly do is get to personally know your local legislators. Most Utahns are stunned when they learn just how important their lone voice is. Utah has a unpaid/part time legislature, so the majority of the time, these people are just regular folks that live and work in your neighborhood.

Meet them. Get to know them. Then when an issue arises, you aren't some angry unknown on the internet, you're a neighbor with a concern. I call mine every time any gun issue arises, and they always know that I'll give them a reasoned explanation. My rep is not gun saavy, but he's a smart guy, and I've managed to educate him on the ramifications of a few laws.

Other states have it worse, but Utah is relatively small. So your individual voice does actually matter. So don't freak out about the liberals from Salt Lake. They are in the minority. Do what you can with your rep.

As for the USSC, I can say that they do show up, argue at all the committee meetings, and they do lobby. I have no idea how effective they are.

The main thing we could use here would be a better notification system of pending legislation. There isn't much good available right now, which is the main reason I miss the UTGOA.
 
I signed up for the USSC newsletter at a gun show some time ago, and I have to say, I actually appreciate it. It does a good job of following the current status of legislation, and has links and addresses for corrospondence.

And why is promoting gun shows with it a BAD thing? To me, it looks like effective targeting of an interest group.
 
And why is promoting gun shows with it a BAD thing? To me, it looks like effective targeting of an interest group.
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Gun shows USED to be a good place to organize, but crossroads of the west has raised the entrance fee and the fee for a table to the point of ridiculousness, and to the point that regular people just can't afford a table without losing their shirts. Not only that, but the salt lake show has become the "beanie baby, crystal, and beef jerky expo" instead of a gun show (because only established businesses can afford a table).

Furthermore, it's the WAY ussc promotes gun shows. They rarely if ever email people on their list (which I am on) unless there is an affiliated gun show in a couple of days. Why is this bad? Because recently, there was some information about a gun related public meeting with a certain congressman, and since ussc only emails us when a gun show is within a few days, the information about this meeting wasn't disseminated until the VERY AFTERNOON of the meeting, even though I know ussc HAD the information many days in advance. If it weren't for the fact that a gun show was coming up, I probably would not have even heard of this meeting, but I still received it too late to attend. This event really highlighted ussc's true priorities. I emailed them and asked WHY they didn't email us sooner and I got a response essentially telling me that it was a well known meeting that I should have already known about. Basically they admitted that THEIR email was just a "reminder.":rolleyes: I took that as an admission that ussc is utterly useless.
The main thing we could use here would be a better notification system of pending legislation. There isn't much good available right now, which is the main reason I miss the UTGOA.
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Correia, UTGOA is still around and issuing HELPFUL alerts. They're just not a large group like they should be. In fact, utgoa was issuing alerts about two really bad anti gun bills that ussc STILL REFUSES TO LIST on their website.:eek: I found that to be totally outrageous and asked them why they don't list those two anti gun bills, and I got no response on that particular subject in personal emails from ussc :scrutiny:

http://www.goutahorg.org/archive/index.html
 
Incredible, the "utah shooting sports :barf: council" (our lame excuse for a gun lobby) STILL refuses to post the two anti gun bills that are in the legislature. I've written ussc and they won't respond to me concerning these two anti gun bills (HB 70 and HB 28), only about other things.

I think owen is right on about this:
If the Utah Shooting Sports Council is an NSSF affiliate, then it isn't a gun rights group its a trade group, hence he interest in gun shows.
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Utahns need to get off the couch and expose ussc for what they are.

Every utah gun owner needs to tell their legislator to oppose HB 70 and HB 28 and email that useless "utah shooting sports council" and ask them WHY they won't post these anti gun bills on their website AT ALL. utah shooting "sports" council
 
Well I don't believe it, I finally got a response

I finally got a response from the "utah shooting sports:barf: council" as to why on earth they refuse to list two back door anti gun bills on their website (HB70 & HB28).

Sir- Thanks for contacting Utah Shooting Sports Council.

Neither of these is directly a "gun bill" and the indirect relationship
is not such that USSC wants to focus on either one of these, although we
have done some behind the scenes work against them.

Carried to an illogical extreme, any bill which could be result in a felony
conviction could be considered a "gun bill" because a person convicted
of a violation would lose gun rights.

USSC tries to focus on the bills that are directly gun related, and to
limit our alerts to cases where action is critical.

If not a USSC Member, we invite you to join to help defend safe and
legal
gun ownership and use in Utah. The threats are numerous, and real, and
getting worse. Print out the membership application at:
http://utahshootingsports.com/usscMembApp.htm
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I wrote him back telling him what I thought of calling it an "illogical extreme" to stop bills that create NEW FELONIES, but I have yet to get a response. He spoke out of both sides of his mouth on this one. He understands that felonies cause gun bans, but calls it "extreme" (how DARE we be "extreme") to stop legislators from creating new felonies and new types of "restraining" orders which would ban all of our guns person by person (government has shown this to be it's new tactic of taking our guns).
 
Would you mind updating us when you are interested in doing something positive regarding 2A in Utah, instead of just trying to start a crusade against a gun group you don't care for or simply trying to increase the member count of your forum? Thanks!

By the way, I did sign up for your forum. It really wasn't worth the time.
 
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