Crashing the party
Pro Gun Progressive crashes a Brady press conference:
What struck me most–there was nobody there. Nobody. The NRA person, the Washington Post reporter covering it, and myself were the only non-Brady staffers there. No ABC. No CBS. No NBC. No local affiliates…nobody. Was a time ten years ago when every time Sarah Brady spoke, the cameras lined the room and somebody like me wouldn’t have been able to get a word in edgewise. There weren’t scads of local reporters, Rosapepe volunteers and campaign workers, etc. Just me, the NRA, the Post, Sarah Brady and her assistants, Casey Anderson, and Jim Rosapepe. An unlikely lot, no?
Heh. And, by the way, the enemy is correct:
Peter Hamm [the Brady Campaign’s Communications Director – Ed.] agreed with me that the worst thing the gun rights movement can do is allow the stereotype that gun owners and gun rights activists are exclusively rural redneck types with beards and beer bellies chasing deer around the woods with AK47s. You know and I know that’s a silly stereotype, but unfortunately it exists, and he made no bones about the fact that the perpetuation of that stereotype only helps their cause. Newsflash for those High Road, FiringLine, etc. type gun rights communities—if you doubt me when I say the worst thing the gun rights community can do is continue to divide ourselves, bicker, infight, and discriminate against the non-Republican members of the movement, you heard it here straight from the Brady Campaign horse’s mouth. The fact of the matter is simple—they agree that nothing works against the gun rights movement more, and helps them do their job better, than the continuation of the idea that gun rights is exclusively a right wing philosophical domain. The more you disagree with me on this front, the more you’re helping the Brady Campaign. It’s that simple.
Indeed. I hate when I see the pro-gun boards bashing the Pink Pistols or other pro-gun groups because they disagree with them on other things. You should accept that any pr0-gun demographic is good for you to hold on to. Do not run them off.
Update: Here’s the presser, that leaves off some details
August 30th, 2006 at 9:00 am
One key thing the Brady’s forgot–Senator Giannetti is endorsed by the MD State FOP. Yeah, right, he’s not working for law enforcement…
The MD State Police–ordinarily quite anti-gun–didn’t even support the AWB here in MD. Unreal…the degree to which the Brady’s are willing to lie should scare anyone.
I sent in my yearly dues to the NRA last night.
August 30th, 2006 at 10:35 am
The High Road is pretty good. I’ve never seen them bash anyone, pink pistols are welcome. There might be the odd idiot who writes something stupid, but they are usually taken to task in an instant.
August 30th, 2006 at 11:20 am
Weird… how did my handle get stuck on that post? The prior Sebastian is clearly an imposter 🙂
August 30th, 2006 at 12:45 pm
I lurk at The High Road and Calguns.net, and the worst bashing I’ve seen there has been 1) Gunkid, 2) Glock/1911/.45/9mm vs., and 3) voting from the rooftops (usually along the lines of “we don’t do that here! get lost, troll!”).
Pink Pistol-bashing? Pink rifle-jeering, maybe.
August 30th, 2006 at 9:01 pm
I, too, have never seen any sort of discrimination about the Pink Pistols.
In fact, I’ve seen several who say they are far more comfortable informing shooting friends of their orientation than they are discussion gun ownership/shooting amonst their friends of similar orientation(s). This jibes pretty well with what I’ve observed at local ranges, and around my workplaces.
August 30th, 2006 at 9:02 pm
ack.
/s/discussion/discussing.
Long. Day.