tangent4ronpaul
03-16-2008, 05:39 AM
posted to mdshooters.com - it applies to us too!
I also ran across the website of a group that are our natural allies - please visit it!
http://www.omalleywatch.com/
-n
fwd:
I was thinking and did some searching. I hadn't heard if this had already been tried, but what about petitioning the State Board of Elections for a referendum vote. *Clicking the quote will take you to the web page.
The wording in the CCW law is an "Act of the General Assembly" and we could petition to have the evil part of the law repealed. If we could get the signatures, we could force the issue out in the open and bypass King Vallario. No waiting on the Assembly vote and no risk of O'Mouthy's Veto. Let the people decide. :mdpatriot
Of course, if this has already been done, thought of or already in the works, you can just ignore that I said anything. :D
This is a quite interesting idea. Yes, 51,185 signatures is a lot - but not really... My impression is that there are at least 50 locations that are either ranges, gun shops or sell ammunition in the state of Maryland so that's 1,000 signatures per location. That suddenly sounds a lot more doable. Add to that an online petition with a simple to remember URL that could be mentioned every time someone calls into a radio show or writes a letter to the editor and ask people to sign it.
That's really a gripe I have with the current LTE/Call in program people here have been pursuing. You educate, motivating a FEW to look into the issue further, but for the most part people forget what they read in the paper or heard on the radio within 2 days. Advertising theory says it takes at least 3 repetitions for something to sink in, and then you get a 1-2% follow through - but advertising does something you fail to - REQUEST ACTION! It should be simple to do, and only take a minute. If you require too much effort, it will not happen. Action can be asking people to sign a petition, call the offending delegates office or write a e-mail. We were quite successful in bringing major media outlets and the GOP to their knees with well coordinated call in and e-mail campaigns. They literally could not get anything done because of the call and e-mail volume.
You get much better compliance and follow through if people are already thinking about something when presented with the information and action request. Examples would be a petition at a gun store or handing someone a anti-tax flier at a mail box on April 15th.
Pressure can be applied indirectly by reaching out nationally - a letter writing campaign, for example: "Dear director of tourism / Governor or whoever... My family and I were considering a vacation to your state, but because of your CCW laws we didn't feel safe doing so and will be vacationing in X state, who will honor my home state CCW permit instead...". If enough of those come in someone is going to realize the state is loosing major bucks because of this law and see what they can do about it within the state government.
I'm sure everyone is familiar with the phrase: "United we stand, divided we fall" - yet people here suffer from mycopia. You are single issue voters - that means dooming yourself to a small tent. If you want to unseat this delegate, you need a big tent - find out who else he's pissed off via his voting record and then reach out for allies. Run someone against him in the next election, or better yet, for most public positions there are procedures for impeachment. Starting such a campaign would get his full attention FAST!
Likewise, finding a law firm that would place an ad, looking for people that were either seriously injured or the survivors of those that were murdered because this person denied then their right to defend themselves via the 2nd amendment and violated their right to life via the 4th amendment and looking to hold him PERSONALLY liable for this... Victims or surviving family members make very strong witnesses and are much better than potential victims withing to protect themselves in getting things pushed through.
I'm not sure how the state legislature works, but in Congress special interest legislation is often slipped into "must pass" bills like approving budgets as a trailer...
Maryland falls back on the US Constitution, and within the first amendment is a right to petition the government for redress of grievances...
As to raising public awareness, SAS and JPFO have come out with some excellent graphics. Advertising on public buses is not that expensive, or for a really low budget approach silent agitators can be used. That is printing several to a page of Avery sticker paper and placing them in public, high traffic areas. They cost about 20-25 cents each printed 4-5 to a sheet. The legality of this depends on where they are placed... a variation is smaller versions printed like business cards and left in phone booths, magazine stands or bus shelters on a one or two per location basis. Keep some with you at all times and play Johny Appleseed during your daily rounds.
The left has been pretty successful with the use of "flash mobs" - that is dispatching people via pager or just monitoring the news to show up with signs and get behind whoever is being interviewed on TV. One can also work the crowd. This works a bit better if spreading yourselves throughout the oppositions crowd at rallies, but only if it's being covered by the press. Do not clump up or you are easy to edit out.
Making a habit of wearing issue oriented T-Shirts can be very effective, just be sure to always carry literature with you because you will be asked about the message.
As to other issues - the recent tax hike is a good one, Real ID, eminent domain, and so on are good places to find allies. If you can get people united over a whole range of issues, they will often join a "big tent" even if they don't agree with everything. One good question to ask is what other issues gets people to show up at hearings and see if you can find some common ground.
Being pro-active and not reactive is important. Finding out his voting record and what else he's held up in his "desk drawer" will provide good ammunition for trying to replace him and running an attack ad campaign.
Just some thoughts on different things to try...
-n
I also ran across the website of a group that are our natural allies - please visit it!
http://www.omalleywatch.com/
-n
fwd:
I was thinking and did some searching. I hadn't heard if this had already been tried, but what about petitioning the State Board of Elections for a referendum vote. *Clicking the quote will take you to the web page.
The wording in the CCW law is an "Act of the General Assembly" and we could petition to have the evil part of the law repealed. If we could get the signatures, we could force the issue out in the open and bypass King Vallario. No waiting on the Assembly vote and no risk of O'Mouthy's Veto. Let the people decide. :mdpatriot
Of course, if this has already been done, thought of or already in the works, you can just ignore that I said anything. :D
This is a quite interesting idea. Yes, 51,185 signatures is a lot - but not really... My impression is that there are at least 50 locations that are either ranges, gun shops or sell ammunition in the state of Maryland so that's 1,000 signatures per location. That suddenly sounds a lot more doable. Add to that an online petition with a simple to remember URL that could be mentioned every time someone calls into a radio show or writes a letter to the editor and ask people to sign it.
That's really a gripe I have with the current LTE/Call in program people here have been pursuing. You educate, motivating a FEW to look into the issue further, but for the most part people forget what they read in the paper or heard on the radio within 2 days. Advertising theory says it takes at least 3 repetitions for something to sink in, and then you get a 1-2% follow through - but advertising does something you fail to - REQUEST ACTION! It should be simple to do, and only take a minute. If you require too much effort, it will not happen. Action can be asking people to sign a petition, call the offending delegates office or write a e-mail. We were quite successful in bringing major media outlets and the GOP to their knees with well coordinated call in and e-mail campaigns. They literally could not get anything done because of the call and e-mail volume.
You get much better compliance and follow through if people are already thinking about something when presented with the information and action request. Examples would be a petition at a gun store or handing someone a anti-tax flier at a mail box on April 15th.
Pressure can be applied indirectly by reaching out nationally - a letter writing campaign, for example: "Dear director of tourism / Governor or whoever... My family and I were considering a vacation to your state, but because of your CCW laws we didn't feel safe doing so and will be vacationing in X state, who will honor my home state CCW permit instead...". If enough of those come in someone is going to realize the state is loosing major bucks because of this law and see what they can do about it within the state government.
I'm sure everyone is familiar with the phrase: "United we stand, divided we fall" - yet people here suffer from mycopia. You are single issue voters - that means dooming yourself to a small tent. If you want to unseat this delegate, you need a big tent - find out who else he's pissed off via his voting record and then reach out for allies. Run someone against him in the next election, or better yet, for most public positions there are procedures for impeachment. Starting such a campaign would get his full attention FAST!
Likewise, finding a law firm that would place an ad, looking for people that were either seriously injured or the survivors of those that were murdered because this person denied then their right to defend themselves via the 2nd amendment and violated their right to life via the 4th amendment and looking to hold him PERSONALLY liable for this... Victims or surviving family members make very strong witnesses and are much better than potential victims withing to protect themselves in getting things pushed through.
I'm not sure how the state legislature works, but in Congress special interest legislation is often slipped into "must pass" bills like approving budgets as a trailer...
Maryland falls back on the US Constitution, and within the first amendment is a right to petition the government for redress of grievances...
As to raising public awareness, SAS and JPFO have come out with some excellent graphics. Advertising on public buses is not that expensive, or for a really low budget approach silent agitators can be used. That is printing several to a page of Avery sticker paper and placing them in public, high traffic areas. They cost about 20-25 cents each printed 4-5 to a sheet. The legality of this depends on where they are placed... a variation is smaller versions printed like business cards and left in phone booths, magazine stands or bus shelters on a one or two per location basis. Keep some with you at all times and play Johny Appleseed during your daily rounds.
The left has been pretty successful with the use of "flash mobs" - that is dispatching people via pager or just monitoring the news to show up with signs and get behind whoever is being interviewed on TV. One can also work the crowd. This works a bit better if spreading yourselves throughout the oppositions crowd at rallies, but only if it's being covered by the press. Do not clump up or you are easy to edit out.
Making a habit of wearing issue oriented T-Shirts can be very effective, just be sure to always carry literature with you because you will be asked about the message.
As to other issues - the recent tax hike is a good one, Real ID, eminent domain, and so on are good places to find allies. If you can get people united over a whole range of issues, they will often join a "big tent" even if they don't agree with everything. One good question to ask is what other issues gets people to show up at hearings and see if you can find some common ground.
Being pro-active and not reactive is important. Finding out his voting record and what else he's held up in his "desk drawer" will provide good ammunition for trying to replace him and running an attack ad campaign.
Just some thoughts on different things to try...
-n