MSI - Action Alert - 1/14/09

Norton · Jan 14, 2009

Action Alert - Opening of the 2009 General Assembly
Time to get that first batch of letters out!

How good would it feel to have your first letters of the 2009 General Assembly Session be working FOR something rather than fighting AGAINST something?

Here's your chance.

Delegate Dan Riley (D - 34A, Cecil and Harford Counties) will be the lead sponsor on our shall issue bill that will make equitable the system with which Maryland residents will be permitted to exercise their right to self-defense.

While the bill has not yet been submitted, rest assured that it will be. In the meantime, our job is to gather as many co-sponsors as possible in order to advance the bill.

MSI has sent letters to each of the following members of the House of Delegates asking for their co-sponsorship of the bill. Please take the time to contact each one and ask that they sign on to the bill. Delegate Riley's staff has been in contact with every member of the House of Delegates, so they'll know what you're talking about.

Our friends at MDShooters.com have set up a wonderful resourceso that you can publish customized letters and labels for each Delegate with a minimal amount of fuss. All you have to do is print the labels and do the letter merge and you have a professional looking set of 50 letters done in less than an hour.

For those that prefer email, links to each of the Delegates is included below.

What: Contact the following members of the House of Delegates and respectfully request that they sign on to Delegate Dan Riley's bill
When: Immediately. The session starts today and there's no better way to do so than to let our representatives know that Maryland citizens demand to be treated as those in other states are with respect to the right to self-defense.

Susan L.M. Aumann
Joseph R. Bartlett
Gail H. Bates
Pamela G. Beidle
Wendell R. Beitzel (will co-sponsor)
Joseph C. Boteler (will co-sponsor)
Eric M. Bromwell
Galen R. Clagett
Robert A. Costa
Steven DeBoy (will co-sponsor)
Don Dwyer (will co-sponsor)
Donald B. Elliott
D. Page Elmore
William J. Frank (will co-sponsor)
Ronald A. George (will co-sponsor)
Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio
Richard K. Impallaria
Mary-Dulany James (will co-sponsor)
J.B. Jennings (will co-sponsor)
A. Wade Kach
Kevin Kelly (will co-sponsor)
James J. King (will co-sponsor)
Nicholaus R Kipke (will co-sponsor)
Susan W. Krebs (will co-sponsor)
James N. Mathias
Susan K. McComas (will co-sponsor)
Tony McConkey
Patrick L. McDonough (will co-sponsor)
Warren E. Miller (will co-sponsor)
Joseph J. Minnick
LeRoy E. Myers
H. Wayne Norman
Anthony J. O'Donnell (will co-sponsor)
John A. Olszewski
Kirill Reznik
B. Daniel Riley (lead sponsor) send him a thank you message
Steven R. Schuh (will co-sponsor)
Todd L. Schuler
Andrew A. Serafini
Christopher B. Shank
Tanya Thorton Shewell
Micheal D. Smigiel
Theodore J. Sophocleus
Richard A. Sossi (will co-sponsor)
Donna Stifler (will co-sponsor)
Nancy R. Stocksdale (will co-sponsor)
Paul S. Stull
Mary Roe Walkup
Michael H. Weir
Richard B. Weldon (will co-sponsor)
John F. Wood

joppaj · Jan 14, 2009

Norton, any idea how that list was compiled?

Norton · Jan 14, 2009

joppaj said:
Norton, any idea how that list was compiled?

yes....since I compiled it

It is all of the Democrats that Delegate Riley requested that we contact along with every Republican in the House.

Norton · Jan 14, 2009

That being said, you'll notice that I deliberately left off party affiliations. For me, it's not a party issue to the extent that we work with both sides of the aisle.

The Democrat portion of that list was done based on our meeting with the sponsor. There's a certain amount of pragmatism in paring the list down to avoid those that aren't going to be swayed no matter what.

Remember folks, this round is about co-sponsorship, not votes. It's a different level of commitment to sponsor versus simply vote for it.

When we get this thing filed and co-sponsors signed on, we can start working the House as a whole for support.

joppaj · Jan 14, 2009

Ok, so for effective lobbying, we should hit this folks up as co-sponsers right now and hold off a bit on the others to ask for votes later? Sorry, I'm new to this activisim thing.

Norton · Jan 14, 2009

joppaj said:
Ok, so for effective lobbying, we should hit this folks up as co-sponsers right now and hold off a bit on the others to ask for votes later? Sorry, I'm new to this activisim thing.

That's what we're focusing on. Now, of course, by getting more co-sponsors, we are effectively getting more votes.

The way I see it, the more co-sponsors the bill has, the harder it is to ignore.

joppaj · Jan 14, 2009

Norton said:
That's what we're focusing on. Now, of course, by getting more co-sponsors, we are effectively getting more votes.

The way I see it, the more co-sponsors the bill has, the harder it is to ignore.

Copy direct. My delegate is on the list anyway, but I want to lobby effectivly.

vette97 · Jan 14, 2009

ChrisR/T · Jan 14, 2009

Should we send a mass email to all of them, or just those delegates in your area? I've got Stifler and Norman in HarCo.

Norton · Jan 14, 2009

thanks, vette. That will help a lot of people, I'm sure.

I'm usually a letter writer when we have the luxury of time like right now because I think the visual impact of all of those letters rolling in makes statement.

However, when time is of the essence, I'll email like a fiend as well.

Norton · Jan 14, 2009

ChrisR/T said:
Should we send a mass email to all of them, or just those delegates in your area? I've got Stifler and Norman in HarCo.

No harm in letting these people hear from the masses. Since this is a targeted group, we can presume that they are at least friendly to our cause.

It's a different parameter when deal with those opposed to us.....they usually only want to hear from constituents.

vette97 · Jan 14, 2009

Drmsparks · Jan 14, 2009

I'll send off paper letters this weekend, it always makes a much better impression than electronic.

Does the bill have a name?

vette97 · Jan 14, 2009

Positive response in record time!

Mr. vette97,

Delegate Kipke will support Delegate Riley on this bill.

Thank you,
Jeannie Williams
Assistant to State Delegate Nic Kipke

Drmsparks · Jan 14, 2009

Awesome!

joppaj · Jan 14, 2009

vette97 said:
Positive response in record time!

Nice!

vette97 · Jan 14, 2009

Nicer!

Thanks for the email. I do support shall issue in Maryland, as I always have. I will co-sign Delegate Riley's bill again this year and it will get a favorable vote from me, should it be allowed to come to a vote. You may contact Delegate Riley 410-841-3280 if you are interested in appearing before Judiciary Committee to testify in support of the bill.
You may also put some pressure on Delegate Joe Vallario 410-841-3488 who is the Chair of the Judiciary Committee to allow the bill to come to a committe vote- rather than allow the bill to "die in committee" without being voted on as he has done in past years.
Thanks again for writing me, please feel free to contact me at anytime.

Constitutionally Yours,

Del. Don Dwyer, Jr.
Anne Arundel County

ChrisR/T · Jan 14, 2009

Sent to my locals, will send to others later. Anyone have a good version of a letter they'd like to share?

Norton · Jan 14, 2009

I've updated the list above based on the above correspondence.

We'll continue to do so as they roll in.

vette97 · Jan 14, 2009

I sent this:

Subject: In support of Delegate Dan Riley’s Shall Issue bill

It has come to my attention that Delegate Dan Riley (D – 34A, Cecil and Harford Counties) will be the lead sponsor on a Shall Issue bill, which will make equitable the system with which Maryland residents will be permitted to exercise their right to self-defense. I understand the bill has not been submitted yet. However, I want to thank Delegate Riley and Delegate Weldon for sponsoring/co-sponsoring a bill which will allow my right to defend myself and ask that all other delegates please co-sponsor this bill.

Those against Shall Issue have argued that it is not necessary, as police are responsible for protecting the public, or that it does more harm than good. However, other states have implemented Shall Issue and I have used this right afforded to me by other states to defend myself. Now that I live in the state of Maryland, with a increase in crime, I want the legislators to please allow me to exhibit this right in the state of Maryland as well.

In order to provide more evidence to support Shall Issue, I’m including statistics that House Representative Roscoe Bartlett (R – MD) provided in his bill to the US House, H. R. 17 – To protect the right to obtain firearms for security, and to use firearms in defense of self, family, or home…

Police cannot protect, and are not legally liable for failing to protect, individual citizens, as evidenced by the following: The courts have consistently ruled that the police do not have an obligation to protect individuals, only the public in general. For example, in Warren v. District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department, 444 A.2d 1 (D.C. App. 1981), the court stated: ``[C]ourts have without exception concluded that when a municipality or other governmental entity undertakes to furnish police services, it assumes a duty only to the public at large and not to individual members of the community.''. The United States Department of Justice found that there were 168,881 crimes of violence for which police had not responded within 1 hour. (1998)

Citizens frequently must use firearms to defend themselves, as evidenced by the following: Every year, more than 2,400,000 people in the United States use a gun to defend themselves against criminals--or more than 6,500 people a day. This means that, each year, firearms are used 60 times more often to protect the lives of honest citizens than to take lives. Of the 2,400,000 self-defense cases, more than 192,000 are by women defending themselves against sexual abuse. Of the 2,400,000 times citizens use their guns to defend themselves every year, 92 percent merely brandish their gun or fire a warning shot to scare off their attackers. Less than 8 percent of the time, does a citizen kill or wound his or her attacker.

Again, please support for the residents of Maryland who support Shall Issue in the interest of allowing citizens to defend themselves.

MSI - Action Alert - 1/14/09

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