If you haven’t already cast your v*te for The Zelman Partisans, please do.
And if you have a blog, a FB page, a Twitter feed, or neighbors who can be arm-twisted into v*ting for TZP, spread the word.
We’ve fallen a bit in the rankings. We were in the middle-ish of the pack, but gratifyingly above both those legislative compromisers CCRKBA and NSSF. As of Sunday morning, though, we were sandwiched between them.
Ugh! How’d you like to be tightly stuck between those two?
V*ting continues through August 1, so TZP has lots of time to catch up! All we need right now is to keep momentum going.
Claire,
Just voted for TZP. Yeah, the results are BS, yet, I think this should be expected mainly because what most of the gun rights orgs do, from what I can tell, is lobbying.
Speaking of which, isn’t lobbying just a form of legalized bribery? More to the point, isn’t grassroots lobbying just a way of begging those men who imagine themselves to be our rulers to please be nicer to us?
Kyle — Thank you.
And yes, lobbying is (or has become) all that you say. But it’s not necessarily what gun-rights organizations do.
Wow. TSRA is rocking. (No, I voted with the one that brung me.) Unfortunately I think the Brady payoff will be little and late.
[soapbox]
More to the point, isn’t grassroots lobbying just a way of begging those men who imagine themselves to be our rulers to please be nicer to us?
Depends on how you work it. At the end of the day the key to lobbying is how many votes you bring to the table. Both active, committed grassroots partisans and the voters bought with astroturf advertising count, but the first kind hold their value much better. Of course you have to have the organization, leadership, and philosophy to run the effort.
Down here in Texas, the TSRA and the TCHA have the voting power, have dedicated people to speak in gun-rights hearings, and are represented by a petite red-headed firebrand named Alice Tripp. Before each session begins she assembles a list of bills we want passed, and the elected representatives line up to see who’ll get to sponsor them. That’s because they know TSRA helps their constituents are watch them like hawks.
This year, out of the 122 gun bills I tracked, we got sixteen of those we wanted passed, and none of the anti-gun bills even got through one house.
what most of the gun rights orgs do, from what I can tell, is lobbying
The NRA-ILA does its share of lobbying, and that’s what the MSM talks about.
The other NRA, the Foundation, trains and supports 100,000 or so instructors teaching new folks to shoot. It also runs programs like Women on Target and Refuse to be a Victim, as well as various national shooting competitions. Their Friends of NRA banquets raise funds for non-legislative grants to organizations like Boy Scouts, ROTC, 4-H, collegiate shooting teams, and on and on.
NSSF runs a lot of good programs for the businesses that supply our guns, ammo, and accessories.
Most of the state and territorial NRA affiliates, like TSRA, also have lobbying sides (TSRA-PVF) as well as organized support for the shooting community.
Gun-rights lobbying helps us win a lot more battles than we’re losing. But we’re winning the gun-rights war because more and more people are learning to shoot. Regardless of how cynical we get with the political side, we need to support the education effort.
[/soapbox] [apologies, Claire]
Vote cast, and the call for support re-blogged.
Brad — Thank you! You and Wendy have a powerful blog that reaches an audience that goes well beyond what LF and TZP reach on their own. That’s great.
LarryA — Aww, thanks for sticking with the one what brung ya even when your own home group is in the running (and TZP aims to beat them 😉 )
“Unfortunately I think the Brady payoff will be little and late.”
Wouldn’t surprise me one bit if there was no payoff at all. OTOH, if it happens, what a delight it would be to see gun groups get it (especially with so many of the smaller or state groups in contention). And for TZP, even if there’s NO $$ payoff, this is a great chance to get noticed in the gun-rights world.
That’s why my one BIG wish is for TZP to get enough votes to make it onto the pie chart. Long shot? Maybe. But just staying on the list in a respectable position says, “Hey guys, we’re here!”
Vote early & vote often ? HOW OFTEN ?
Dan
“Vote early & vote often ? HOW OFTEN ?”
Dan, that is a very good question. And I’m not even going to try to answer it. Not touching that one …
The system allows only one v*te per person (and it seems “person” means IP address, which could make it hard for family members sharing a connection to v*te). So one v*te per location must be what LG considers often enough. 😉 I wouldn’t urge anybody to game that. LG is doing the gun-rights world a great deed; wouldn’t want to abuse their generosity.
However, home and business systems, or home and library systems, or home and a neighbor’s computer may count as different persons.
Just wished to thank you for your great work! The book you coauthored with Zelman, The State vs the People is brilliant and a classic. He was a great man.
Fritz Knese — Thank you. Aaron was absolutely a great man — and perhaps the most creative person I’ve ever met.
It’s nice to hear good words about SvP. Even though it was doomed to become obsolete because it was based so much on contemporary (as of early 2000s) events, it was my most favorite book of all that I’ve worked on.
PBS gun ownership/legislation poll:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/poll-support-connecticut-gun-law-state/