Maybe this is something we can replicate here.

[Dtrain323i]

http://igold.isra.org/

That is the link for the Illinois Gun Owners Lobbying Day. It is an annual event where Illinois Gun Owners rally at the State Capitol and directly lobby their own representatives on gun issues. Last year, they were able to stop some pretty nasty anti-gun bills in their tracks. It could be beneficial for us as well.

[iiranger]

Are the "elected" going to listen to a bunch of citizens, gun owners, etc. that show up once a year, much... OR are they going to "go to the highest bidder" like say the Brady Bunch with their money and friends. CF former governor Boogervich of IL. This is like putting militia up against Waffen SS... If the SS is lazy, drunk, no orders, etc... maybe... Otherwise, "good-bye."

[Jay]

I know who they are NOT going to listen to...

...those that chose to say nothing because they think it will do no good.

They don't have to listen to me if they don't want, but they are least going to hear me whether they like it or not.

[ranger04]

You can email, write you reps all you want, but untill we get 500 gun owners on the steps of the capitol demanding our rights as dictated by the U.S. Constitution, the State of Nebraska Constitution and our GOD given right to self defense they it seems like it is just a bunch of people pissing in their wheaties. Could you imagine the press coverage? I don't think we need billy bob redneck out there spitting tobacco juice all over the steps but if we had people that knew what they were talking about, I beleive we could get some more people come around to our way of thinking and that is getting our rights and country back from the politcians. I beleive this is just more than gun rights, look how other rights are being affected. But without our gun rights and us supporting  the 2nd Amendment, the rest are just words on paper. My 2 cents.

[Rich B]

It's not a bad idea.

Hopefully we can get a strong showing when LB 430 is heard in committee this year.

[Rule#.308]

The sqeaky wheel gets the grease.  Just look at smoking. In 1972 there was a big ashtray at the end of every end cap at the grocery store.  then someone said "It sure would be nice if they had a non smoking section in the restaraunts".  Smokers didn't gripe so it happened.  The non smokers continued to complain and as a result, today I visited a company in Eagle Grove Iowa and was shown the designated smoking area, it was a tree a block and a half away. 

You bet marches work, the secret is to keep them orderly and respectful.  Don't go all dressed up in your "Camos" or carrying signs that say "F**k You".  If you do those will the only pictures the media will run, which will further convince others, especially those on the fence that we are a bunch of inbred latent homicidal maniacs who are just waiting for our chance at 15 minutes of fame. 

[iiranger]

After the fiasco with former IL governor Boogervich, someone thinks that politics can be major influenced with 500 people one time?  Or 5,000?  NONSENSE. It takes involvement and some money. 500 people hauling people to vote for the right candidiate... that would be noticed and REPAID! Otherwise it is giving the tons of bucks that buys the pizza and pop (beer later in the day) for those walking precincts, pounding yard signs, or hauling people to the voting booth...

The newpaper coverage I remember of Paul Powell, IL, he died unexpectedly... he was Sect. of State for the state of IL AND Sect. of Democratic party... When he didn't come to work no one asked, HE WAS de' BOSS! When they broke into his home after a week or so he was a "bit ripe..." you might say. In his closet they found shoe boxes to the ceiling. No, no shoes. When they finished counting, 2.7 MILLION dollars...LOOSE in a clothes closet in the 1950s... 1950s!

No if this had been in the Chicago area, I doubt it would have gotten in the papers, but down in farm country around Springfield things are not as tightly controlled... (ha, ha).

A letter to a rep or the newspaper... almost meaningless... Now LEAA had a great idea. Mad at Time Warner. They had members dropping all the postage paid reply cards out of TW magazines and dropping them into the mail blank. They cost around $0.50 EACH. Took about 3 weeks for TW to shut up MUCH,... but then gunnies just don't have that kind of organization/leadership... oh welllllll

[Jay]

500 people banding together will do no good? You're right, everybody quit calling and e-mailing your representatives right now. We are all just wasting our time. Heck, we might as well just take down this site, nothing good can come from it.

Not.

We should be encouraging people to get involved, not discouraging them. The whole reason more people don't get involved already is because of the thought process above. When people think their efforts are meaningless because not everyone is doing it, or because they don't have enough money to throw at it, then guess what? No one does it. That'll really get us far.  Several cities across our state have changed their ccw ordinances over the last year primarily because small groups of local residents stepped up to the plate and made their voices heard. Remember the lb958 fiasco? I sure do, and it got shot down despite Ashford's slide of hand maneuvers and the NRA dropping the ball, in large part because small groups of us here, and at ccwne.com, and especially because of folks over at joe's crabby shack that banded together to get the word out to blitz their Senators with calls and e-mails. WE MADE IT HAPPEN. By we I mean us as individual gun owners spread out all across the state. Every single solitary call, e-mail, snail mail, letter to the editor of the local paper, whatever, makes a difference. EVERY SINGLE ONE.

Now, would we get better results if every single gun owner in the state personally wrote big checks and hand delivered them to their state representative? Of course. Will that ever happen? Of course not. There will always be just a fraction of us that take the time and the effort to speak up. We can't let the rest of us who choose not to because they think they are wasting their time keep us from doing what we need to do.

500 people on the front steps of the Capital is not nearly as good as 50,000, but it's a whole hell of a lot better than zero.

You stay home if you want. I will be there.

[LJUnaTIC]

I remember the LB958 effort. I don't remember seeing  iiranger around greasing the wheels

[Rule#.308]

Wow!!!  Jay, you said a mouthful and a half and of course you are 100% right.    You know, sometimes things work out if you have some kind of gimmic, and one that comes to mind, if literally everyone who attended the march dressed like Stephen Colbert.  I say this somewhat tongue in cheek but think about it.  If people showed up in suits and ties they would attract attention.  If 50% of those who showed up were female that would be fantastic.  Keep the faith baby, hell I may try to make it myself.

[Aldo]

Jay: excellent post!  Well said! Ditto! +1. Etc.

Against all odds, the founding fathers, mothers, and children did what they believed in and what they had to do in order to stand for their rights and the rights of this great nation, despite knowing that it was going to cost them big time. When ya think about how that relatively small band of folks stood up to the British...a country, an empire, a behemoth...and held their ground, it is awe-inspiring.

Never give up. Never. Never. Never.

Count me in as well.

[Dtrain323i]

Look at it like this. Think about how much more effective it will be when you can look the anti-gun legislators in the eye and tell them how you feel. Imagine standing face to face with someone like Brenda Council and asking her why she feels the need to infringe on your rights. To make a difference, we need to get the legislators out of their comfort zone. Look at what has happened with LB430. We email and write and what do we get? Form letters and non-commital emails. We have to get them out of their comfort zone and to do that, we may have to get out of ours. A form letter doesn't work when your constituent is sitting at your desk

[ranger04]

When do we put people on the steps of the capitol and in the offices of our state represenatives? Do we do this when the judicary committee decides on LB430 or when it gets to the floor of the legislature? We need to be able to act quickly. I think we need to get people to testify at the judicary hearing as stated before "look them in the eye and ask them why" I also think we need to put people on the steps of the capitol when the bill get s to the floor, it would be hard to ignore people on the steps.

[Dtrain323i]

I think we get some of our people in to testify at the Judiciary Committee hearing, then show up in large numbers when they vote on the bill. Send the Legislators a message of "Were gun owners, were voters, and were watching what you do"