Dark45, Welcome to Nebraska and the NFOA. I appreciate the diversity you bring to this group. I have lived a considerable portion of my life in Pennsylvania and NY. Knowledge and understanding of what goes on in other states can only help our struggles in Nebraska.
Only by truly understanding "Why things are the way they are" can we chart the course for the most effective plan of action. The OCer's in CA. failed to follow one of the basic gun rules. Know what is beyond your target before you fire. They refused to recognize any collateral damage their actions may bring. One of the most difficult things we have to overcome is the perception that gun rights people are irrational extremists who encourage aggressive behavior. We need to calmly get those "in the middle",that agree you should be allowed to defend yourself,yet are not firearm owners,on our side. The place is in the courts and legislature. I'm sure the frustration level in CA is tremendous. The OC display was a mistake.
The above is just my opinion-feel free to disagree.
Anyway,welcome Dark45. RJ
thank you for the welcome,
they had good intentions but as you say failed to look beyond their target goal, to see the repercussions of what they where doing to reach that goal. as much as i did agree we should open carry at times and at certain events, it should not be taken on by the every day person and done out side of groups. i myself never open carried even in events as i myself did not want the notoriety when going and speaking as i have. being the guy with the gun while trying to calmly explain my cause is not the first impression i want. all the time they where getting on the local news stories and the news of course ran them after a shooting story. "death in the streets of the ave's" 15 minutes later "next up the cause that claims to protect against gun violence. more people with more guns, dose it mean more safety?"
i completely agree with looking outside the the state we reside to how we affect others and others affect us. California being the main place i see laws moving outward to other states. newyork follows suit then new jersey tries to one up newyorks laws. it is the easiest to see the correlation. mostly because newyork doesn't hide the fact, most of the time they outwardly state California is the reason why they are passing the law. the 10 round limit and the named list of "assault weapons". i hear they even want to create the holy grail of it all. "the safe handgun roster"
it is because even the community is divided on how to go about the UOC, and they fell into the palm of the news so many times
news "so what is the point of carrying a unloaded weapon?"
UOCer "oh i have the ammo for it right here"
news "how long would it take to load and be ready to fire at someone"
UOCer"about 2 seconds"
and we all see this on tv along with the general public. how would you feel as someone in the middle knowing now there is a random guy able to load up in 2 seconds and fire at "SOMEONE" = ANYONE, walking around. yes frustration is high there. as i have said before i believe California to be the main battle ground on these issues, and newyork is building up along with new jersey. i would encourage everyone to look at how laws are getting passed, read the laws to understand the exact wording being used, how it is convincing people of signing, and passing then along through the hierarchy of the local government.
example: Schwarzenegger was to sign a ammo bill that would ban sales of ammunition on the internet to California. it was pointed out this included blanks, guess who is the highest user of blank ammunition? that is right his friends in Hollywood. so the bill to be slammed through was postponed. we worked on it when the new rewritten bill came through it wasn't shot down but in the end was worked on to be taken off. same with micro stamping ammunition.