hillbilly, I know where you're coming from, and understand that those tactics do work.
My thread "Boiling over" was just my venting at what's been going on for decades and, in particular, what's been happening here in WI during the CCW debates.
For better or worse, I'm the "head" of the Wisconsin Concealed Carry Association, and its political action committee, the Wisconsin Concealed Carry Movement.
For the past three years, it's oftentimes been a full-time job. I wanted to do it, so no whining.
However, I get all of the emails: those who want to receive updates, those with questions, those who say they want to help. During the quiet periods, there's perhaps one to five a day. When the bill is big news, the number of emails rises to maybe sixty or more, with many of those emailing asking what they can do.
When the bill gets shot down, as it did in 2002 and again this year, the number of emails from people asking "what can I do" numbers in the hundreds per day. My response, politely put, boils down to "you're too late."
After we lost the battle by just one vote, I sent out emails to those on our list asking for contributions to our political action committee, so that we could help pro-CCW candidates come the fall elections.
We have literally thousands of email addresses, and our emails spider out to perhaps as many as 30,000, 50,000 or even more others in the state.
As of this morning, the number of contributors to the PAC is less than 50, and the total amount of contributions is probably around $1500. That's enough to max out contributions to one senator and one representative. To send an effective message, we need to raise between $30,000 and $50,000 for the fall elections. That's reality.
On contributor gave $5. Another was able to give a truly incredible donation of $300. Several gave $100. But, the fact is, most of those brave souls who claim to want to change things can't even bring themselves to send just $5.
And I'm not going to say that this isn't about money. It most certainly is. $1000 can buy a candidate a lot of literature and yard signs. It can help him/her with radio and TV ads. $1000 may not put a weak candidate on top, but it can certainly help a strong one win.
In the end, many of our gun rights battles--including Wisconsin's CCW fight--won't be won by getting a few non-shooters to experience the fun of shooting. The battles will be won inside the legislators' offices, where those legislators will be reminded about just who--NRA, WCCA, or other groups--got them into office, and what price they'll pay for turning on those supporters.
Years back, when I went to the Capitol for the first time, I was like "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." The experience was an eye-opener.
In the end, it's all hardball politics. Threats, bribery and extortion are all part of the game. A fence-sitter isn't won over by arguments. He/she is won over by the number of lobbyists who promise to deliver or withhold.
He/she is won over by the threats of party leadership to strip the legislator from committee positions. That seems like an empty threat, but consider the plight of a legislator who represents a district that's heavily agricultural being transferred to a committee that deals with issues affecting large urban areas. Not much to brag about to the constituents, is there?
He/she is won over by threats from the party to withhold money for the upcoming re-election campaign. Or the promise that the party will back a challenger with money and endorsements.
He/she is won over with bribes by the governor, allowing the legislator to brag about "bringing home the bacon." It doesn't matter that such bribes are illegal: the press isn't interested, at least when it comes to gun issues.
The NRA, contrary to media spin, doesn't have a lot of money to contribute to candidates. What it has is numbers. That's what the media will never understand, or what they refuse to report. But when gun owners and NRA members put their heads in the sand, and refuse to stand up for those gun owners engaged in other shooting disciplines, we lose.
Bringing in new shooters is truly great. The larger task facing us is getting existing shooters to stand alongside their brethren. If even 50% of gun owners in this country would refuse to vote for anti-gun candidates, we'd be home free.
Let's try getting those existing gun owners to side with their own kind.
