Yes, defense of liberty is not a vice. In my mind Barry Goldwater's defeat is when our country went from a kick a$$ and take names to can’t we all hold hands, skip and get along?
Okay, so compare the NRA to SAF. Which group is more likely to fit the "holding hands" mold?
To be fair, the NRA wasn't intended to be an activist group. They were kind of pushed into it, and thus have never had the strong interest found in the other groups which have come up since 1968. As a SOCIAL organization of gun enthusiasts, NRA is the top of the pyramid. Likewise, for basic gunhandling and gun safety training, they can't be beat. I am 100% behind their Eddie Eagle program.
Your statement, “I’m fighting to keep people alive. If you can show me a way to do that through weakness and compromise, it would sure save me (and others) a lot of sweat and annoyance.” Thanks to you and others for the fight.
I didn't say that to get thanks. I said it so that you will understand my position.
Agreed it cannot be done through weakness, which was my my point to start with. I do not believe we are close however, it was my attempt with my first reply to say as we battle which group or process is the best for the needed results we need to be careful not let it turn into or be perceived as infighting a real sign of weakness. The mainstream media and anti gun groups would be all over that issue.
When have you ever seen this happen? I've been active in the civil-rights arena since the early 1970s, and been paying attention the entire time. I have yet to see anything other than passing mention of disagreement between the NRA and any other gun group or activist. Even when I was actively trying to get the MM to pay attention, they didn't seem to notice.
Your explanation of your interest was not needed for me. It is obvious you are compassionate for the mission and on top of your game and research. I am one of those playtime shooters and hunter doing my part for whatever it is worth to see the same result you talk about.
I am not disparaging hunters and playtime shooters, I am just trying to show what a gulf there is between my motivation and yours. You and others like you are the ones that I spend so much time trying to reach, because you are the ones who write the letters to the editor (and to our Elect Officials), you are the ones who coe out for OC days and to clean up parks, and you are the ones who talk to your neighbors about things. I'm the guy reloading your magazines and spotting your targets for you.
It is very aggravating not to be able to open carry my firearm as the 2nd amendment allows. I live 2 miles from the Commufornia line and it boggles my mind with no more than a few steps I can go from a law-abiding citizen to a felon.
Having just spent a couple of days in the People's Republic, I know exactly what you mean. I had to make sure I didn't have anything in the car which might be a problem, then spent the night in the Bay Area listening to stacked-up emergency police calls on the scanner.
By the way, you quoted Ronald Reagan. Have you ever been to the Ronald Regan library? It is an amassing place. To read some of his early writings it was obvious early on he had a real love for the USA and the American people. One can easily spend 4 hours there. It is located in Simi Valley 30 or so miles north of LA.
I met Ronald Reagan when I was a kid -- while he was campaigning for Goldwater, he held several meetings in our living room (they weren't large meetings) getting the local workers organized and enthused. He came back when he was starting his run for governor. As young as I was, I had no idea who he was, but I was used as an example of the need for a program that he started after he got to Sacto, and by then I was old enough to be impressed (and to become interested in the mechanism of politics, which has been useful since then). Later, I worked hard to get him into the White House, and to keep him there, as a member of the largest county committee in the Republican Party.
I can only dream of what this country would be if Goldwater had replaced LBJ, then 8 years later been succeeded by Ronald Reagan. We would have either avoided or won the Vietnam War, we would have avoided the race riots of the 1960s, we would have a 35-year-old colony on the Moon, we would not have the terrorist problem . . .and we would not have had the Gun Control Act of 1968 or the BATF, and wouldn't have had Nixon starting the NCBF and HCI.
However, to answer your question, I have yet to make it to Seamy Simi with time enough for the detour.