Shall Issue being hijacked. YOU MUST ACT NOW!‏‏

[Maryland Hunter]

Kinda pisses me off that they waste my membership dues on this crap.

MH

 

[teratos]

Some good guestions raised about the NRA.
What have they actualy done for us here in Md?
Granted I'm a member but starting to question what if any good they have done for us here.
Granted they have a strong campain and ad's of how they fight to protect 2A rights,but when it comes down to it what did they do to help us?
What am I missing?

You didn't miss anything.

The NRA can be a valuable ally, it would be nice if we could get them to recognize the red-headed step-child that is MD.

 

[rseymorejr]

I think they tend to write us off as a lost cause. Hopefully the tide is turning and they may start to participate with us more.

 

[Mr H]

You didn't miss anything.

The NRA can be a valuable ally, it would be nice if we could get them to recognize the red-headed step-child that is MD.

Personally??

I keep going back to the fact that "Rifle" is their middle name........

 

[MDFF2008]

I think we are going to see a change in the NRA.

Like any organization, they have limited resources. They can't fight all of our battles, and with the general apathy of the Maryland gun owner, I would question using resources here myself.

Now that passion is at an all time high, we might seem them invest some resources in us.

 

[Glaug-Eldare]

The Civil Rights movement took the fight to the Deep South, and confronted it head on. People traveled hundreds, even thousands of miles out of the "free states" to go and challenge unjust laws. Regardless of how good or bad their own home was, nobody said, "Lol, dumb coloreds, it's the South! Give up and move to Pennsylvania." Well, well, well, look who won that fight. We're not exactly marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, here, but NRA should at least be marching across the College Creek Bridge with us. If they did (or ever do), I'd become a member again in a heartbeat.

 

[MikeTF]

A special word of thanks to the following MSI Executive Members for all their help and assistance with HB 579:

Gprimr1, Boondock saint, Patrick, esqappellate, Boxcab, Threeband, and the other members that I have forgotten. Everyone stand up and applaud!

Thank you very much for your efforts and tireless hard work!

 

[safecracker]

 

[tdt91]

And I just sent in my dues yesterday? I should have added that to the MSI dues.

 

[gmhowell]

If this isn't enough of a wake up call of how they operate, and will continue to operate, then I don't know what else to say.

And, unfortunately, it is a message to Frosh and the gang that we are watching them. The next fight won't be this easy. Next time, we have to be ready to step up the game. People at rallies and so forth.

The other thing is let's not be but so happy slapping each other's backs. I know he isn't the favorite founding father (esp. around here) but Jefferson said it right: "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." Which means no matter what they say about the special session, don't sleep on it or ignore it.

The ptb in this state have been snubbed. First by 'an activist judge', second by the common rabble. They will come back sneakier and meaner than before. Be prepared to meet them.

All that said, kudos to those who caught it and raised more ruckus than I did.

 

[BigCity]

The NRA is starting to tick me off. Along with their other faults now they are acting like the old record (okay CD) clubs. I got a DVD in the mail that I did not ask for and in reading the letter it turns out that I have to send it back or be charged. I hate their marketing approach and am becoming less thrilled with their legislative activities. SAF and MSI are better organizations to support in my humble opinon for the nuts and bolts issues. NRA's national clout is about all that they have going for them.

WGS

Agreed. That is why I dropped the NRA and support MSI and SAF with my dollars.

 

[hvymax]

And, unfortunately, it is a message to Frosh and the gang that we are watching them. The next fight won't be this easy. Next time, we have to be ready to step up the game. People at rallies and so forth.

The other thing is let's not be but so happy slapping each other's backs. I know he isn't the favorite founding father (esp. around here) but Jefferson said it right: "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." Which means no matter what they say about the special session, don't sleep on it or ignore it.

The ptb in this state have been snubbed. First by 'an activist judge', second by the common rabble. They will come back sneakier and meaner than before. Be prepared to meet them.

All that said, kudos to those who caught it and raised more ruckus than I did.

Is ptb short for Domestic Enemies of the Constitution?

 

[Kilroy]

Rick Santorum suspends presidential campaign. I have not checked any of them out yet but I heard that he was pro 2A. Who else is pro 2A?

Well, Romney is very anti-gun, so we're kinda screwed either way in November.

 

[MikeTF]

Well, Romney is very anti-gun, so we're kinda screwed either way in November.

More so than Obama? Please remember that if the President is dealt a conservative hand in the House of Representatives and the Senate, he's pretty much a eunuch (and very unlikely to win the Miss Euniverse Pageant).

 

[gmhowell]

Is ptb short for Domestic Enemies of the Constitution?

PTB=Powers That Be

So, in Maryland, yeah, Domestic Enemies of the Constitution could work.

 

[Patrick]

The AGC's e-mail tool was so overloaded, I mostly used MSI's e-mailer instead. I sent a bunch that weren't counted by the AGC.

Our tools held up pretty well but there were some lessons learned. We're going to apply some soon, but the big changes are modifying the alert email system to be more integrated with our Facebook, Twitter and website elements. Also, we seemed to get complaint that we were not issuing updates quick enough, but we didn't want to overwhelm your inboxes.

So I think we are going to split the emails into several categories: an "alert" system that is an all-call for everyone. It goes to all and is sent only when absolutely required to deliver good or bad news immediately. Then another group interested in frequent (weekly/bi-monthly) updates even if no action is required. Then I can foresee several possible subscription lists: federal case actions watch-list; self-defense in action; recipe of the week; etc.

People should be able to update their preferences to receive information dynamically. We seriously were worried over the weekend about spamming inboxes - I get more than 150 emails a day that I just toss as junk, and this is after my work server dumps 7,000 a week as obvious spam.

The new email alert tool was tested last night internally and so was our new MSI mail server. List maintenance is still under work.

Also website updates...

So it's been busy. Greg (gprimr1) is the wizard behind the curtain on this stuff. As active as he is out here, he is equally busy behind the scenes getting all the bits and bytes to line up.

Anyway, we'll post more detail later. Right now just wanted to give him credit for some subtle-but-big changes in the backend of this enterprise.

 

[Maverick0313]

I think we are going to see a change in the NRA.

Like any organization, they have limited resources. They can't fight all of our battles, and with the general apathy of the Maryland gun owner, I would question using resources here myself.

Now that passion is at an all time high, we might seem them invest some resources in us.

Agreed.

 

[Patrick]

thanks, so that brings it down to 2,000 mailings or if everybody just sent two rounds that a thousand people who send messages and some have certainly sent more than two rounds of mails. Honestly, I believe it is still just a few hundred who are actually active - in Frosh's eyes the conspiracy bunch ....

There were far more than 2,000 individuals involved. Far more.

We're still counting, but it was a big number. There were many people involved this last weekend who have never posted a word here or registered an account; never joined the NRA or SAF; or even heard of MSI before last week. That's why counting is tough: some of these folks have never interacted with MSI, AGC or the legislature before.

In short, this was much bigger than a bunch of gun nuts. That's why I say we turned a corner, and that is why the legislature didn't pass this thing. It wasn't "gun nuts" that held the line - it was much broader group, some of whom we may never meet.

But they are now aware, alert and watching...

 

[Patrick]

Well that kinda disturbs me, I didn't think I would be one of the top few hundred gun-lobbyists in the state....

Oh well, stand up for what is right even if you stand alone.

I am disappointed in my friends, however.

If there were only a few hundred of us we'd be whining about the unfairness of it all and talking about how many guns we can buy before the new draconian training regulations go into effect.

This was real.

 

[LCPIWB]

I am disappointed in my friends, however.

I can second that. Let down for Open Holster Rally.
And let down in getting them to realize they need to put down the Doritos for 5mins and make a few damn phones calls and emails.
It is times like these you can quickly discern who walks the walk and who talks the talk.