Monkeyleg
Member.
Hi, all. Today's joint Assembly/Senate hearings on the concealed carry bill were much different from those in years past.
The most notable difference was the number of PPA supporters present. In past sessions, supporters outnumbered opponents by at least 20:1. Today, I'd say it was about even.
But not for the reasons we might think.
No, we didn't see the massive turnout of supporters that we had last legislative session. I'm sure that the disappointment over Rep. Gary Sherman's flip-flop on the veto override may have played a part in that. Conversely, there are many people who believe that an override of Doyle's veto this session is a given, and thus decided it wasn't worth their time.
Both lines of thinking are wrong. With the exit of Democrat Representatives Huber, Balow, and others last year, we have the possibility of swaying new gun-friendly Democrat legislators to our side. We also have seen Doyle's low approval numbers, which are leading some to believe that Democrats will automatically walk away from Doyle.
The 2006 elections are a year away. Even a week in politics is an eternity. What happens over the next year is impossible to predict.
There are no magic tricks, or mojo's, or prayers to the state supreme court.
There's only the hard work by those who are willing that will win our cause.
What was different at today's committee hearing was the lack of sheriffs, police chiefs and other law enforcement officals opposed to the bill. We had one police chief, although he qualified his remarks to the point where our NRA/ILA lobbyist congratulated him on points well-taken. In other words, there wasn't the massive turnout of brass that we've seen in prior years. Later in the day, another representative for the Milwaukee Police Department showed on behalf of Chief Nan Haggerty, but that was really it.
Also interesting was the presence of high-paid lobbyists for various industries, such as hospitals. They usually save their powder for the floor votes.
And everyone who spoke did so without resorting to name-calling and other tactics that we've witnessed in past legislative sessions.
In other words, there's something very different about the process this time. I wish I could nail it down, but I can only attribute it to a change in attitude. It may very well be that our opponents now realize that it's not a question of "if" we're going to get a shall-issue bill passed, but "when."
And they want their input before that "when" happens.
It's a shame that more supporters didn't make it to today's hearings, because we had some stellar witnesses for our side. The NRA flew Texas Representative Suzanna Gratia Hupp to the hearings to tell about how her mother and father were shot point-blank in front of her, while she was unarmed thanks to the no-carry laws in Texas back in 1994. She held the committee members' attention throughout her testimony, and with grace and style answered all of the members' questions. (For those unfamiliar with her story, her parents--and 21 others--were shot execution-style at the Luby's cafe in Killeen, TX).
There were other credible witnesses, including a couple from Milwaukee whose entire family was attacked by a mob, and the mob was only driven away when the father fired a single shot from his .22 pistol. The fact that his attackers are still roaming free, while he and his wife are being persecuted by the DA, only lent more credibility to our fight.
Probably one of the best-known experts on the subject of self defense--Massad Ayoob--also testified. He testified as a thirty-year police veteran, as a nationally qualified trainer for both police officers and "civlians," and also as an expert on self-defense shootings. He was able, thanks to his background, to deflect criticism of our bill by law enforcement officials.
All in all, I'd say that the testimony, the questions, and the general tenor of today's committee hearing gave the impression that our opponent's see that there's a possibility--whether it's this year or next--that we may win, and they would like to have a say in what is involved in that win.
At past committee hearings, there was always a sea of brass chair-polishers. This time, they were almost invisible.
At past committee hearings and floor votes, the top commanders from the state troopers were there. Not today. In fact, I didn't see a single one. I saw a chief from some small WI town, and spokesperson for the chief of the Milwaukee Police Department.
I've gotten a sense from many volunteers that we can't win this fight this year. Maybe you're right, or maybe you're wrong.
The fact that so many top LEO's didn't show today, though, should make you stop and think.
The fact that there weren't two dozen Million Mom Marchers should make you think.
Think about what? About the lobbyists who were there. They were from the lobbies who generally don't come in with demands until the Eleventh hour. What were they doing today?
When the Journal Sentinel and the anti-gun groups started early and often in attacking this bill, it made me wonder why.
It's because they think we can win. I've been called many things, but never an optimist.
Our enemies didn't go on the offensive early and strong because they thought we didn't have a chance.
They're afraid that we can win.
Against Doyle? You bet. But, the question is, what are you going to do about it?
Do we need your donations? Sure, but we need your time even more. We need volunteers to help people write their legislators. We need people to pass out flyers. We need--and now, more desperately than ever--people who can figure out how to weed out dead email addresses from a simple Outlook 5 email database.
If we can manage to override Governor Doyle's veto on concealed carry, it will accomplish three goals: it will weaken Doyle so badly going into the election that he will not be able to recover; it will forever remind any candidate for state office that they cannot dismiss the gun owner vote; and it will remind those Democrats from the outlying districts that their political fortunes lie with the NRA, and not the governor.
The most notable difference was the number of PPA supporters present. In past sessions, supporters outnumbered opponents by at least 20:1. Today, I'd say it was about even.
But not for the reasons we might think.
No, we didn't see the massive turnout of supporters that we had last legislative session. I'm sure that the disappointment over Rep. Gary Sherman's flip-flop on the veto override may have played a part in that. Conversely, there are many people who believe that an override of Doyle's veto this session is a given, and thus decided it wasn't worth their time.
Both lines of thinking are wrong. With the exit of Democrat Representatives Huber, Balow, and others last year, we have the possibility of swaying new gun-friendly Democrat legislators to our side. We also have seen Doyle's low approval numbers, which are leading some to believe that Democrats will automatically walk away from Doyle.
The 2006 elections are a year away. Even a week in politics is an eternity. What happens over the next year is impossible to predict.
There are no magic tricks, or mojo's, or prayers to the state supreme court.
There's only the hard work by those who are willing that will win our cause.
What was different at today's committee hearing was the lack of sheriffs, police chiefs and other law enforcement officals opposed to the bill. We had one police chief, although he qualified his remarks to the point where our NRA/ILA lobbyist congratulated him on points well-taken. In other words, there wasn't the massive turnout of brass that we've seen in prior years. Later in the day, another representative for the Milwaukee Police Department showed on behalf of Chief Nan Haggerty, but that was really it.
Also interesting was the presence of high-paid lobbyists for various industries, such as hospitals. They usually save their powder for the floor votes.
And everyone who spoke did so without resorting to name-calling and other tactics that we've witnessed in past legislative sessions.
In other words, there's something very different about the process this time. I wish I could nail it down, but I can only attribute it to a change in attitude. It may very well be that our opponents now realize that it's not a question of "if" we're going to get a shall-issue bill passed, but "when."
And they want their input before that "when" happens.
It's a shame that more supporters didn't make it to today's hearings, because we had some stellar witnesses for our side. The NRA flew Texas Representative Suzanna Gratia Hupp to the hearings to tell about how her mother and father were shot point-blank in front of her, while she was unarmed thanks to the no-carry laws in Texas back in 1994. She held the committee members' attention throughout her testimony, and with grace and style answered all of the members' questions. (For those unfamiliar with her story, her parents--and 21 others--were shot execution-style at the Luby's cafe in Killeen, TX).
There were other credible witnesses, including a couple from Milwaukee whose entire family was attacked by a mob, and the mob was only driven away when the father fired a single shot from his .22 pistol. The fact that his attackers are still roaming free, while he and his wife are being persecuted by the DA, only lent more credibility to our fight.
Probably one of the best-known experts on the subject of self defense--Massad Ayoob--also testified. He testified as a thirty-year police veteran, as a nationally qualified trainer for both police officers and "civlians," and also as an expert on self-defense shootings. He was able, thanks to his background, to deflect criticism of our bill by law enforcement officials.
All in all, I'd say that the testimony, the questions, and the general tenor of today's committee hearing gave the impression that our opponent's see that there's a possibility--whether it's this year or next--that we may win, and they would like to have a say in what is involved in that win.
At past committee hearings, there was always a sea of brass chair-polishers. This time, they were almost invisible.
At past committee hearings and floor votes, the top commanders from the state troopers were there. Not today. In fact, I didn't see a single one. I saw a chief from some small WI town, and spokesperson for the chief of the Milwaukee Police Department.
I've gotten a sense from many volunteers that we can't win this fight this year. Maybe you're right, or maybe you're wrong.
The fact that so many top LEO's didn't show today, though, should make you stop and think.
The fact that there weren't two dozen Million Mom Marchers should make you think.
Think about what? About the lobbyists who were there. They were from the lobbies who generally don't come in with demands until the Eleventh hour. What were they doing today?
When the Journal Sentinel and the anti-gun groups started early and often in attacking this bill, it made me wonder why.
It's because they think we can win. I've been called many things, but never an optimist.
Our enemies didn't go on the offensive early and strong because they thought we didn't have a chance.
They're afraid that we can win.
Against Doyle? You bet. But, the question is, what are you going to do about it?
Do we need your donations? Sure, but we need your time even more. We need volunteers to help people write their legislators. We need people to pass out flyers. We need--and now, more desperately than ever--people who can figure out how to weed out dead email addresses from a simple Outlook 5 email database.
If we can manage to override Governor Doyle's veto on concealed carry, it will accomplish three goals: it will weaken Doyle so badly going into the election that he will not be able to recover; it will forever remind any candidate for state office that they cannot dismiss the gun owner vote; and it will remind those Democrats from the outlying districts that their political fortunes lie with the NRA, and not the governor.
