Town Hall Meeting with District 42 Sen Brochin tomorrow

[Mobile]

We need a real Daniel Webster type if we are to have a prayer. Who here is good at public speaking.

 

[-Z/28-]

I have to disagree with you on this. There were a lot of people there, maybe 75 or so? And they did represent very diverse interests and backgrounds. But I only saw ONE person who was not white (Caucasian).

I know there are a ton of non-white shooters out there. It would help our cause to show up at these things or generally make yourself more visible as a shooter or member of the shooting community.

There were a lot of really good speakers today. I was happy and proud to be part of the group.

7A38

Point taken. I wasn't so much meaning racial diversity as socio-economic diversity. A fair number of women too, many of whom spoke up.

I'm uneasy, but confident after today. What the Senator had to say worried me a bit, but our numbers and our voices were uplifting. If we can turn up almost 100 people from just a small area of the state on 24hrs notice, Annapolis should be packed on the 6th.

 

[occbrian]

I was disappointed though not surprised by that comment. He did stress the need to pressure the judicial committee before it got out to the senate.

He implied Frosh was reasonable and would listen to other viewpoints. I'm not sure how he come to that conclusion.

I counted 75+ (it was hard to see down that hallway and into the lobby entrance). I overheard his aide say they were expecting 20 people. I was glad to see I wasn't the only person from the new northern part of his district. When one person mentioned assumed support from the (democratic) teachers union, Brochin clearly stated while he might be a Democrat over 60% of his campaign money came from Republicans.

I hope February 6th has a strong showing too.

I'm 6'4" and was able to get a pretty good head count. 82, not including those packed into the front door area.

 

[R81]

Most people left happy, though Senator Brochin will eventually vote for this legislation. I guess that's how you make a career in politics.

 

[manderson]

I don't like the sound of this at all. " it's going to happen" a "fey de compli"?

Hmmm.....

I've been keeping my comments out of this, because the whole thing burns me up, and I am one who believes we still have the power to revolt, and prove this constant outcry in support of the 2nd Amendment is more than just rhetoric. Although I respect everyone's interest in the legal and moral pursuit, the sad fact is, you don't stand a chance. You are dealing with a majority of criminal and immoral politicains in Annapolis. I don't care how many people show up on the 6th, these people are going to do whatever they want, because they really do not care about you. Ensuing law suits and the growing sentiment as a nation may have some impact down the road, but that's a dice throw at best. In the short term, a proper form of civil disobedience (and I don't mean violence) or boycotts is the only thing that will force a change in Maryland's government. We need to hit them where it will really hurt - money. There is a lot more at stake in this state than just gun control, and there are not enough people who are willing to stand up and fight.

I personally plan on leaving Maryland as soon as possible.

 

[Hotrod Diesel]

I'm 6'4" and was able to get a pretty good head count. 82, not including those packed into the front door area.

Were you the tall guy against the wall near the guy with the camera?

 

[Norton]

We need a real Daniel Webster type if we are to have a prayer. Who here is good at public speaking.

Daniel Webster good at public speaking? Are you kidding me?

He's the equivalent of a legislative Rain Man when anyone actually asks him any questions.

 

[Kashmir1008]

I've been keeping my comments out of this, because the whole thing burns me up, and I am one who believes we still have the power to revolt, and prove this constant outcry in support of the 2nd Amendment is more than just rhetoric. Although I respect everyone's interest in the legal and moral pursuit, the sad fact is, you don't stand a chance. You are dealing with a majority of criminal and immoral politicains in Annapolis. I don't care how many people show up on the 6th, these people are going to do whatever they want, because they really do not care about you. Ensuing law suits and the growing sentiment as a nation may have some impact down the road, but that's a dice throw at best. In the short term, a proper form of civil disobedience (and I don't mean violence) or boycotts is the only thing that will force a change in Maryland's government. We need to hit them where it will really hurt - money. There is a lot more at stake in this state than just gun control, and there are not enough people who are willing to stand up and fight.

I personally plan on leaving Maryland as soon as possible.

Great....thanks. Glad to see you are doing your part.

 

[drblast33]

I have to disagree with you on this. There were a lot of people there, maybe 75 or so? And they did represent very diverse interests and backgrounds. But I only saw ONE person who was not white (Caucasian).

I know there are a ton of non-white shooters out there. It would help our cause to show up at these things or generally make yourself more visible as a shooter or member of the shooting community.

There were a lot of really good speakers today. I was happy and proud to be part of the group.

7A38

Well, I hope more females and non caucasians show up to show diversity. As a young Black/Puerto Rican guy (yes, I get to check all those boxes on applications), I can say I definitely will be in Annapolis...

 

[Minuteman]

Great to hear guys, and thanks for doing your part! We had an equally good showing out in Bowie this morning; flip over to that thread and read our after-action reports, good stuff.

A couple notes after reading your thread here:
- although there was about 6 different issues discussed at the Bowie Town Hall, everything from 'smart meters' to invasive plants, OVERWHELMINGLY our 'big effing deal' gun issue dominated. Well over 50% of the people and 50% of the time was spent talking about various aspects of this ridiculous and sinister gun bill, and gun rights in general.

- but don't get complacent; behind me sat some anti's, I could over hear them say things like:
1) When a veteran mentioned where he had served and when, I could hear them gasping and hissing; as if it didn't matter, it was disgusting.
2) When a very articulate pro-gun explained that if this was what Maryland was coming too, he and his family would leave and Maryland would loose hundreds of thousands in tax revenue; I could hear them behind me giggling that he should leave.
3) When Hvymax said gun rails were good for lights so a home owner could identify their target and not shoot the wrong person, it was for 'safety'; one of them said: "it's not safety, its murder". I restrained myself, you should be proud.

- When we have more than a couple folks at any speaking engagement;
1) someone, anyone quickly take charge. Ask all our folks who plans to speak and what will be their central theme.
2) Keep your 1-3 minute speech to just 1-3 key points.
3) Spread the topics around, there is a lot for us to say; someone talk about their military heritage, and history; another talk about their families hunting tradition; another about how victims need guns equal to or better than the bad guys; a specific aspect of the law, like retractable stocks are helpful for people with shorter arms; Constitutional aspects, etc.
4) Introduce yourself, relate your credentials (hunter, police, military, sports shooter, regular citizen, victim, expert of anything, etc.) then get to your point quickly.
5) Always start or finish with a clear, unequivocal I am 'for' or 'against' this bill. Or I am for gun rights in general, but don't be wishy-washy; leave no doubt where you stand.
6) If you can bring a graph, it will really help; people like to see props (don't bring a gun or even an empty 30 round AR mag )
7) Dress sharp. A few of us wore suits and MSI lapel pins, most wore business casual, a few in tasteful jeans; they are in part judging you by what you wear.
8) Stay calm, stay professional, don't ramble.

A few of us got a chance to speak with our reps after the Town Hall, they seemed interested and willing to consider facts. We gave them MSI brochures and asked for private meetings. Afterward a few of us went together and had lunch, some of the points that came up I captured here in this post.

We continued on to 'Free State' gun shop and range, where we spoke with the the President and Vice-President and several of their employees and customers. We were greeted with jubilation and appreciation. What a great place and great people; HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Randy (President of FreeState) mentioned that someone from MSI had stopped by recently and asked to use his store for meetings, or training or something; and that he was all for that and just waiting to hear from them again. Randy gave me his business card and personal cell phone number and asked 'us' (MSI EM) to call him. Randy has a large sign with a information about SB-281, and a plea for people to attend the Feb 6 hearing.

I expressed my appreciation to Randy, gave him a stack of MSI Brochures, a few bumper stickers, and 'we' bought a gun. What the hell, at least today that's still legal.

 

[Minuteman]

double post.

 

[MotoJ]

What are you guys writing to him regarding the discussion? He asked for specific suggestions for things he could maybe get changed in committee.

I wrote an email essentially asking him to oppose the whole bill as written, but try to get rid of the licensing, registration, and fees if he could do anything at all. OMalley and Frosh are bound and determined to pass something. We're doing damage control at best.

 

[-Z/28-]

Great to hear guys, and thanks for doing your part! We had an equally good showing out in Bowie this morning; flip over to that thread and read our after-action reports, good stuff.

A couple notes after reading your thread here:
- although there was about 6 different issues discussed at the Bowie Town Hall, everything from 'smart meters' to invasive plants, OVERWHELMINGLY our 'big effing deal' gun issue dominated. Well over 50% of the people and 50% of the time was spent talking about various aspects of this ridiculous and sinister gun bill, and gun rights in general.

- but don't get complacent; behind me sat some anti's, I could over hear them say things like:
1) When a veteran mentioned where he had served and when, I could hear them gasping and hissing; as if it didn't matter, it was disgusting.
2) When a very articulate pro-gun explained that if this was what Maryland was coming too, he and his family would leave and Maryland would loose hundreds of thousands in tax revenue; I could hear them behind me giggling that he should leave.
3) When Hvymax said gun rails were good for lights so a home owner could identify their target and not shoot the wrong person, it was for 'safety'; one of them said: "it's not safety, its murder". I restrained myself, you should be proud.

- When we have more than a couple folks at any speaking engagement;
1) someone, anyone quickly take charge. Ask all our folks who plans to speak and what will be their central theme.
2) Keep your 1-3 minute speech to just 1-3 key points.
3) Spread the topics around, there is a lot for us to say; someone talk about their military heritage, and history; another talk about their families hunting tradition; another about how victims need guns equal to or better than the bad guys; a specific aspect of the law, like retractable stocks are helpful for people with shorter arms; Constitutional aspects, etc.
4) Introduce yourself, relate your credentials (hunter, police, military, sports shooter, regular citizen, victim, expert of anything, etc.) then get to your point quickly.
5) Always start or finish with a clear, unequivocal I am 'for' or 'against' this bill. Or I am for gun rights in general, but don't be wishy-washy; leave no doubt where you stand.
6) If you can bring a graph, it will really help; people like to see props (don't bring a gun or even an empty 30 round AR mag )
7) Dress sharp. A few of us wore suits and MSI lapel pins, most wore business casual, a few in tasteful jeans; they are in part judging you by what you wear.
8) Stay calm, stay professional, don't ramble.

A few of us got a chance to speak with our reps after the Town Hall, they seemed interested and willing to consider facts. We gave them MSI brochures and asked for private meetings. Afterward a few of us went together and had lunch, some of the points that came up I captured here in this post.

We continued on to 'Free State' gun shop and range, where we spoke with the the President and Vice-President and several of their employees and customers. We were greeted with jubilation and appreciation. What a great place and great people; HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Randy (President of FreeState) mentioned that someone from MSI had stopped by recently and asked to use his store for meetings, or training or something; and that he was all for that and just waiting to hear from them again. Randy gave me his business card and personal cell phone number and asked 'us' (MSI EM) to call him. Randy has a large sign with a information about SB-281, and a plea for people to attend the Feb 6 hearing.

I expressed my appreciation to Randy, gave him a stack of MSI Brochures, a few bumper stickers, and 'we' bought a gun. What the hell, at least today that's still legal.

Excellent list of speaking tips, maybe copy those and get them stickied or in one of the Feb 6th threads. I will say in Towson today the topics were spread around and every issue was adequately touched on in an orderly fashion.

I was also at Freestate this afternoon, and not only were they packed, people were reading the big sign and I heard folks were talking about the legislation.

 

[-Z/28-]

What are you guys writing to him regarding the discussion? He asked for specific suggestions for things he could maybe get changed in committee.

I wrote an email essentially asking him to oppose the whole bill as written, but try to get rid of the licensing, registration, and fees if he could do anything at all. OMalley and Frosh are bound and determined to pass something. We're doing damage control at best.

Based on what I heard today, here's what I'd suggest:

-Ditch the licensing/fingerprinting and fees

-Take away the classifications based on arbitrary features like rails, flash hiders, collapsing stocks, pistol grips, etc...

-Figure out the transportation clause and clean up the language so it's not open to interpretation

-Reconsider his position on mag size limits. One person said it best, "we're splitting hairs going from 20 to 10" it won't solve anything, folks can reload fast with practice, and the old mags are still out there. It just hurts the homeowner's ability to defend themselves under stress.

-Introduce provisions for shall issue as a compromise of sorts.

 

[MotoJ]

-Introduce provisions for shall issue as a compromise of sorts.

This!
It would almost make the rest bearable.

Just reading on my community Facebook page about I-Phone robberies up the street- two youths, one jumps out with a "semi-automatic handgun" (according to the report), robs the victim, jumps back in the car and they drive away. No doubt the car is stolen too.

They want to make it so difficult to arm ourselves that citizens will just give up and resign themselves to being victims, like in the UK.

 

[Abacab]

Compromising all our rifles for shall issue is foolish. They would probably strip the language anyway.

 

[-Z/28-]

Compromising all our rifles for shall issue is foolish. They would probably strip the language anyway.

I agree, but Brochin seemed quite certain that this bill will pass in some form. It would at least minimize the damage.

 

[Beemerguy]

I attended the meeting and spoke. I was very pleased at the attendance, and at Senator Brochin's open-mindedness.

Those who were there will recall that when he opened the meeting, he said that at the end of the meeting we would be happy with some of what he had to say, and not happy with with some of what he had to say. Yet, by the end of the meeting, he had said nothing concrete that I would take issue with.

I think the reason for that is we gave him much food for thought. Several of us explained that we target shoot, and compete in matches, with rifles covered under this bill. We pointed out that the bill will not address the sources of crime in Maryland. We explained that the bill violates the Fifth Amendment's "takings clause", by denying us the use of our lawfully-owned property. (That last point, btw, caught him by surprise; he hadn't thought of the issue in those terms.)

During the meeting, he stated unequivocally he would vote against any bill that contained a licensing provision. He also pledged to get the fees removed, and the transportation issue resolved. While he initially seemed to support the magazine capacity limits, he listened attentively to our arguments and didn't say anything more about that issue toward the end of the meeting. Overall, I think we might just have made such a strong impression on him that he might be inclined to vote against the whole thing. At least I hope he feels that way.

Senator Brochin is a black sheep among Democrats. He alluded to his poor relationship with Miller when he mentioned that there is a reason he sits in the back of the chamber, and that he will never be a committee chairman. So he is clearly not afraid of his party leaders. He will support or oppose this bill based on arguments alone, and we presented him with very good arguments today.

One last thought: As I was leaving, I gave Senator Brochin's aide a copy of a recent newspaper column by Dr. Thomas Sowell addressing this whole subject. The young man smiled and told me he is very well-acquainted with Dr. Sowell's writings, as he too is a Libertarian. That's a good sign for us!

Turnout was fantastic, speakers were eloquent and on point, and Senator Brochin was attentive and friendly. We done good!

 

[Patrick]

Awesome. Seriously great stuff all around.

A few responses to things I have read in the last few pages:

- They always had the votes. That was a given on day one. What we have been doing is chipping away at the bill by pointing out its many, many fatal flaws.

- Seeing Brochin say he would not vote for the bill as it stands is a big deal. It means the easy pass/easy walk is not going to happen.

- You will see good alternatives this week. Timing is important. These are things that all sides will want to sign onto. There will be proposals this week that address the real issues, and these are not being fronted for propaganda. They are designed to get support and pass.

- The House side of this bill just got put on slow-walk. The bill now gets heard by both judiciary and health and govt operations. On top of that, they also created a meta-committee that includes ways and means and MSP. That is pretty odd. The makeup is 3 ways and means, 5 judiciary, 5 from health and government affairs and 2 from MSP. It is a non-voting committee to talk the issues. I have no idea if ways and means are going to eventually get a vote, as well. The use of more than one committee could help us, or it could be a way to avoid the fact judiciary would tank this bill as-is. It could also all be a ruse for the time to re-bend arms that we have straightened out. In any case, I cannot think of a scenario where this is something they would do if they had the votes.

They were supposed to walk this over the finish line. All evidence is suggesting they are meeting a little resistance. We have not won. They are really pushing this. But they made a huge mess and a number of lawmakers appear poised to use the errors as a way to say no. That also means they get to push their amendments, and we may not like all the "fixes".

We are having an effect. Their unstoppable bill is suddenly getting stalled in some small ways. From their point of view, this was not supposed to happen. We are still nowhere close to winning this. But we haven't quite hit them with the full response yet, either.

Everyone we talk to is telling us the hearings are critical. I believe them.

 

[Hotrod Diesel]

I wanted to make a point, I dislike when people say that with practice you can change a mag in 2 seconds. I believe this is taking the wrong way, that it seems that there is no need for high cap mags. I want to ask if they believe police officers should only be limited to 10 rounds, when they answer No, you ask why? When they respond, you explain, how are law abiding citizens different?

Again nothing in this bill will prevent criminals from getting guns. None of it is actually going to help gun violence in Baltimore. We understand this, we need to explain how it will cause more bad than good. We need a woman to testify that they use an AR 15 for home defense because it has more energy than a handgun and the recoil is more manageable than a shotgun, it also has a higher capacity than handguns.