The Big Picture - 2016 and Beyond

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Charles L. Cotton
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The Big Picture - 2016 and Beyond

#1

Post by Charles L. Cotton »

Reprinted with permission from http://www.TexasFirearmsCoalition.com
The Big Picture - 2016 and Beyond wrote:I just returned from a week at NRA for committee meetings and the regular Board meeting. These trips are always a lot of work, the days are long and tiring, but they are also inspiring. I got home late Saturday night with a renewed commitment to focus on the big picture, that is the 2016 national elections and beyond. We have been fighting skirmishes during the 2015 Texas Legislative Session with open-carry being the skirmish having received the greatest attention in the public eye and so-called “campus-carry” following a very close second.

Passing open-carry (NRA-backed HB910) was a great victory for gun owners, in spite of the damage caused by poor tactics employed by a small but vocal open-carry group. As noted in the article “Unnecessary Collateral Damage,” there is work to be done to renew the confidence some in the business community have lost because of the acts of a few. However, if the methods described in that article are utilized, Texas gun owners will quickly quell the unwarranted fears created by anti-gunners. It's time to direct attention to a growing threat to the Second Amendment.
The Bloomberg Effect

It has been stated numerous times that multi-billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into a long-term anti-gun effort in the United States. His estimated net worth is between $35 billion and $45 billion so his investment in shill anti-gun organizations has amounted to a very small drop in a very large bucket. He has proven that he wants to control every aspect of Americans’ lives from the soda we can drink to the foods our children must eat in school. He is the archangel of narcissism! He wants everything his way and our wishes, the Constitution and American freedom will not get in his way. He is our enemy and we must counter his efforts.
Lobbyists and Sham Organizations

Bloomberg is hiring lobbyists in every state in the country, including Texas. He knows he cannot pass anti-gun legislation in the next session or the one after that. His plan is to be a constant anti-gun voice in the ears of Texans and his goal is to destroy Texans’ support of the Second Amendment in ten to fifteen years, if not earlier.

Every anti-gun organization from MOMs Demand Action to Everytown are nothing more than fronts for Bloomberg’s incessant anti-gun, anti-Second Amendment, anti-freedom message. The organizations are paid to send people to lie to elected officials, lie in sworn testimony given in House and Senate committee hearings, and to get in front of every TV camera they can find.

Here is an example of the extent and expense to which Bloomberg will go in an effort to defeat pro-Second Amendment candidates. In the most recent Virginia elections, Bloomberg spent over $3 million on just two state senate races in the last two weeks of the campaign. $3 million for relatively insignificant races – that is quite revealing.

When the next President moves into the White House, three current Supreme Court Justices will be 80 years old or older. Two of these voted with the majority in Heller and McDonald. This should bring home the very real possibility that the next President will appoint one or more Supreme Court justices that will overturn Heller. Hillary Clinton has expressly stated that Heller was wrongly decided and her litmus test for a Supreme Court nominee will be a commitment to overturn that most critical Second Amendment case. If this happens, not only would any and all federal gun control laws be constitutional, Americans would be bound by the anti-gun terms of future United Nations treaties ratified by the U.S. Senate. One such treaty is already awaiting Senate approval.
Make NRA 100 Million Strong

Bloomberg has money, a lot of money, but he does not have voters. This is why he cannot defeat pro-Second Amendment candidates backed by the NRA. However, we cannot rest on past successes. The battle for the Second Amendment is not a skirmish, it is a war of attrition and it will go on for a long time. The best way to bring this war to an end is to once again make “gun-control” a dirty word as it was for twenty years. We who value Second Amendment rights must let all politicians know that we are united, well-funded and relentless in our defense of gun rights.

Currently, there are five million NRA members and we are growing. Another 40 million or more gun owners align themselves with the goals of the NRA. It is well known that Americans are increasingly reluctant to answer polls and questionnaires that inquire about gun ownership. The result is the number of American gun owners is drastically underestimated at about 80 million people. Every industry marker indicates this estimate is low by a factor of two and perhaps even more. These markers include, but are not limited to, gun, ammo and firearm accessory sales, NICS background checks, handgun carry permits and attendance in firearm training and self-defense classes just to name a few.

To be perfectly candid, tens of millions of American gun owners are sitting on the sidelines and letting others carry the load when it comes to defending the Second Amendment. This cannot continue if we are to be successful in an ever-changing political and social environment. The Bloomberg Factor must be countered by growing the NRA to the point that every politician, every political and business consulting firm, every public relations and advertising agency will shun Bloomberg as a political and business pariah. Every single gun owner in this country should be a member of the NRA. No politician would even think of trying to infringe on our Second Amendment rights if they knew 150 million NRA members would put a quick end to their political careers.
Join, Recruit and Donate

Step One: If you are not a member of the National Rifle Association, click here to join now! If you have family members who are not NRA members, get them to join or sign them up yourself. Then ask every friend that you know owns a gun if they are a member of the NRA and recruit those who are not.

Step Two: Make a generous donation to the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action (NRA/ILA) to help fund our efforts to defeat anti-gun presidential candidates and put a President in the White House that respects the Constitution and our Second Amendment rights. ILA needs $100 million and it is needed now, not in September when it will be too late to have an impact on elections. So dig deep folks and make a generous donation. Donate like your ability to own and use firearms hangs in the balance, because it does!

As the clouds of World War II were gathering over Europe, Winston Churchill tried in vain to convince then-Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to rebuild Britain’s military forces to defend their country against Hitler’s Nazi Germany. His warnings fell on deaf ears and war indeed came to England. Churchill was elected Prime Minister and his country survived only because the United States provided the weapons and war material that was vital to thwarting Hitler’s plan to defeat Britain. No one is coming to the aid of our Second Amendment or American gun owners. If we do not join and recruit members to the NRA, and donate to the NRA/ILA, we could very well see the end of the Second Amendment in a matter of months. Let us not repeat Chamberlain’s catastrophic mistake and ignore the growing clouds of war.

TXBO
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Re: The Big Picture - 2016 and Beyond

#2

Post by TXBO »

Great call to action.

I believe you wrote that before the honorable Justice Scalia passed. The next President will now, with all certainty, have the power to decide if the Second Amendment lives or dies. That 5-4 vote on Heller is now 4-4.
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