tangent4ronpaul
02-09-2013, 03:52 PM
"I've Never Seen Anything Like It" MSI Update
"I will tell you that I have never seen anything like this. Not even during the 60s,” says an elder Democratic Senator.
Ladies and gentlemen...we were heard.
The Maryland Department of General Services estimates our attendance at 4,000. As of last count, more than 1,770 of you signed up to testify. The number may reach 2,200, according to a senior Senate Democrat.
You literally broke the process. They have never seen so many people sign up to testify - most rallies end with people getting back on a bus and going home.
We demanded to be heard. We stood in line for hours to get our name down. We did not back down. The look of astonishment was real, as Senators found hundreds of people still waiting to testify at 9 PM. Their staffers rushed to the hallways with video cameras, because this has never happened.
pics here: http://marylandshallissue.org/senate-hearings-2-6-13/?utm_source=Main+Membership+List&utm_campaign=8184b87e89-Gun_Day_Recap2_9_2013&utm_medium=email
"These people are serious."
Gun Control Advocates are doing their best to spin your involvement - they get friendly media to downplay our numbers, and then went so far as to get on the floor of the Senate and claim the NRA made you do it via some kind of "robo-call.” They have the Baltimore Sun editorializing that this was just a bunch of "angry white men" trying to keep their guns. Did they see our crowds? Did they not see our diversity, our good nature and our respectful appearance?
They did. They are just doing anything they can to publicly minimize your role. Privately, they acknowledge that they woke a sleeping tiger. Gun Control will not be a cake walk in the 2013 General Assembly.
Your Effect
Your determination and stamina had a profound impact. Lawmakers in both chambers were knocked back on their heels, and the education we provided in written and verbal testimony not only highlighted significant failings in the text of the Governor's proposals, but also called into question the entire premise of his plan.
Yesterday, the Governor decried to a national newspaper about how we are "drowning out Gun Control in Maryland.” Yes, sir, that is exactly what we aim to accomplish.
These proposals will not stop a Newtown in Maryland. They do nothing to address serious deficiencies in the identification, evaluation and treatment of people with dangerous mental health issues. They do nothing about the "catch and release" judicial system that places violent gun offenders back on the street within days of their arrest. Even Baltimore Mayor Rawlings-Blake has made clear that without a forceful effort to keep violent people locked up, the violence will continue. Sadly, the Governor's entire strategy addresses none of this, but ironically looks to convert lawful gun owners into criminals who will face prison time and the confiscation of all of their firearms under federal law for the mere act of owning a gun that Maryland once told them was legal. While the Governor brazenly denies that his bill would affect hunters, in fact, it would ban hunting by any person under the age of 21 by banning the possession of any type of ammunition by such young hunters unless they were "under the supervision" of someone 21 and older. The Governor apparently doesn't realize that the lawfully owned long gun is useless for hunting without ammunition.
You had an impact. The Senate will not move on the Governor's bill absent a major change. They are playing hot potato and asking the House to go first. They wish to bring into the Senate a House version of the bill that allows them claim “momentum.”
The House cannot move these proposals out of their Judiciary Committee, so they are stacking the deck. The Governor's Gun Control proposals are going to be heard in a special committee stocked with hand-picked acolytes of the Governor. This is more than merely gaming the system - it is tearing up the rules and cheating democracy until they get the outcome they desire. This is not representative democracy, and we cannot let them succeed.
Next Steps
We must do this again. A number of bills have already been submitted in both the House and the Senate that breaks apart the various provisions of SB 281 into smaller pieces, in theory allowing them to pass as much as they can without a single politically costly provision killing an entire omnibus bill. They aren’t stopping. Neither will we.
More than just rally, we are going to testify. More than testify, we are going to go into their offices and tell them what we expect them to do. And when we are done knocking on their comfortable office doors, we will go into their home districts and educate any and all about the Governor's "2013 Public Criminal Conversion Act.”
They think we do not have the stamina. They think we had our fun and will walk away.
They are wrong.
-t
"I will tell you that I have never seen anything like this. Not even during the 60s,” says an elder Democratic Senator.
Ladies and gentlemen...we were heard.
The Maryland Department of General Services estimates our attendance at 4,000. As of last count, more than 1,770 of you signed up to testify. The number may reach 2,200, according to a senior Senate Democrat.
You literally broke the process. They have never seen so many people sign up to testify - most rallies end with people getting back on a bus and going home.
We demanded to be heard. We stood in line for hours to get our name down. We did not back down. The look of astonishment was real, as Senators found hundreds of people still waiting to testify at 9 PM. Their staffers rushed to the hallways with video cameras, because this has never happened.
pics here: http://marylandshallissue.org/senate-hearings-2-6-13/?utm_source=Main+Membership+List&utm_campaign=8184b87e89-Gun_Day_Recap2_9_2013&utm_medium=email
"These people are serious."
Gun Control Advocates are doing their best to spin your involvement - they get friendly media to downplay our numbers, and then went so far as to get on the floor of the Senate and claim the NRA made you do it via some kind of "robo-call.” They have the Baltimore Sun editorializing that this was just a bunch of "angry white men" trying to keep their guns. Did they see our crowds? Did they not see our diversity, our good nature and our respectful appearance?
They did. They are just doing anything they can to publicly minimize your role. Privately, they acknowledge that they woke a sleeping tiger. Gun Control will not be a cake walk in the 2013 General Assembly.
Your Effect
Your determination and stamina had a profound impact. Lawmakers in both chambers were knocked back on their heels, and the education we provided in written and verbal testimony not only highlighted significant failings in the text of the Governor's proposals, but also called into question the entire premise of his plan.
Yesterday, the Governor decried to a national newspaper about how we are "drowning out Gun Control in Maryland.” Yes, sir, that is exactly what we aim to accomplish.
These proposals will not stop a Newtown in Maryland. They do nothing to address serious deficiencies in the identification, evaluation and treatment of people with dangerous mental health issues. They do nothing about the "catch and release" judicial system that places violent gun offenders back on the street within days of their arrest. Even Baltimore Mayor Rawlings-Blake has made clear that without a forceful effort to keep violent people locked up, the violence will continue. Sadly, the Governor's entire strategy addresses none of this, but ironically looks to convert lawful gun owners into criminals who will face prison time and the confiscation of all of their firearms under federal law for the mere act of owning a gun that Maryland once told them was legal. While the Governor brazenly denies that his bill would affect hunters, in fact, it would ban hunting by any person under the age of 21 by banning the possession of any type of ammunition by such young hunters unless they were "under the supervision" of someone 21 and older. The Governor apparently doesn't realize that the lawfully owned long gun is useless for hunting without ammunition.
You had an impact. The Senate will not move on the Governor's bill absent a major change. They are playing hot potato and asking the House to go first. They wish to bring into the Senate a House version of the bill that allows them claim “momentum.”
The House cannot move these proposals out of their Judiciary Committee, so they are stacking the deck. The Governor's Gun Control proposals are going to be heard in a special committee stocked with hand-picked acolytes of the Governor. This is more than merely gaming the system - it is tearing up the rules and cheating democracy until they get the outcome they desire. This is not representative democracy, and we cannot let them succeed.
Next Steps
We must do this again. A number of bills have already been submitted in both the House and the Senate that breaks apart the various provisions of SB 281 into smaller pieces, in theory allowing them to pass as much as they can without a single politically costly provision killing an entire omnibus bill. They aren’t stopping. Neither will we.
More than just rally, we are going to testify. More than testify, we are going to go into their offices and tell them what we expect them to do. And when we are done knocking on their comfortable office doors, we will go into their home districts and educate any and all about the Governor's "2013 Public Criminal Conversion Act.”
They think we do not have the stamina. They think we had our fun and will walk away.
They are wrong.
-t