Tom Gresham's GunTalk podcast 3/3/13 - Dan Baum Guest

[extremist]

I don't know how many of you listened to the 2nd hour of GunTalk on Sunday but Tom had on Dan Baum as a guest. He's written a new book called "Gun Guys - A Roadtrip" http://www.danbaum.com/Nine_Lives/About_Gun_Guys.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So I'm listening to the interview (It's all about Dan being this LIBERAL DEMOCRAT Gun Owner and how he's so great ) and about 13 minutes into the hour Dan starts talking trash about the NRA. I'll let you listen. Wayne LaPierre was on directly afterwards and Tom sounded like a different guy. Here's my letter I wrote to Tom on his interview:

Tom, I was surprised you let some of Dan's comments in your interview with him go by unchallenged.

@ around 12:30 minutes into it, "(The NRA puts on this )angry Conservative White Old Face on Gun Guys", (is) not reaching out to young people, (or) people of color, (its) outreach to women has not been effective, etc."
and you responded:
"I agree with you completely"

Really?!?! You agree with him?

Any time a conservative organization puts forth a person of color or a women, the liberals tear them up calling them "Uncle Toms" or "Shills for the Republicans", "they are not really black", etc.

We'll see how the left portrays Colion Noir ( http://www.nrablog.com/post/2013/03/03/ ... -team.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ) now that he has joined the NRA team.

Not reaching out to young people? http://www.nrainsights.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Not reaching out to women? http://women.nra.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Where's Tom the fighting guy?

> In your emails, the staffer who reads them won't get past the first line or two, so I like Jeff's bullet points. Use these.
> * No New Gun Laws.
> * No universal background checks.
> * No gun bans.
> * No limits on magazines.
> * If you vote in favor of the president's anti-rights agenda, I will work to defeat you in your next election.
> * You can't keep guns away from criminals. You must keep the criminals away from guns.
> *Locking up guns doesn't work. Locking up criminals does.

Where's Tom "A lie repeated often enough becomes the truth"?

Why didn't you let Wayne LaPierre respond to Mr. Baum's slanderous comments about his speech at the National Meeting and his comments about the NRA membership not reaching out to people of color, young people and women?

Love most of what you do, but this was a FAIL in my opinion.

Regards,
James

If you agree with me, please write to Tom at tom@guntalk.com. Otherwise, tell me where I'm wrong please.

James

[pcgizzmo]

What station is this broadcast on? Can you get it in the DFW area? I used to hear it on a AM station but no longer. Thanks..

[G.A. Heath]

you can go to http://guntalk.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and follow the links to get the podcast (where you can listen to the portion that the OP is concerned about) or find the nearest station. Additionally you can find where it's at on SiriusXM (Not available on the old Sirius only radios)

[extremist]

What station is this broadcast on? Can you get it in the DFW area? I used to hear it on a AM station but no longer. Thanks..

I listen on podcasts

James

[punkndisorderly]

I heard the interview and found much more that I agree with than disagree with.

The main point in the interview was, gun owners and 2nd supporters are a diverse group. They postulated that we can't afford to alienate any of them if we want to win on this issue. Baum felt that the NRA has focused on the conservative republican demographic to the exclusion of pro-2nd democrats, women, minorities, etc.

You could argue that some of this is forced on the NRA because of the democratic parties general embrace of gun control. I think that has some merit.

However, when you look at the website for the upcoming NRA meeting in Houston, you see some indication that he's right. Everything screams old, white, male, Republican. Not that there's anything wrong with old, white, male, Republicans. I'm 3 for 4, rapidly approaching 4 for 4. But if that's the overwhelming majority, it signals a problem. Heck, it doesn't even appeal to me.

Picures of the banquet: old white males with a few wives thrown in. The big shindig: Oliver North, Rick Perry, Sarah Palin. Country Concert, and (if I remember right) Christian prayer session. Something wrong when I'm huge gun guy and finding it hard to justify going when the 2nd biggest gun event behind Shot show is right in my back yard.

[extremist]

punkndisorderly (You don't sign your name so I can't address you by your real name):

- How do you know the "white" people in the website pictures for the NRA National Meetings are Republicans or Democrats
- So the message to give to the photographers at the NRA Meetings is to make sure you take pictures of any Blacks/Democrats/Women(hmm thought they took a lot of pictures of women, but maybe not, make sure they take pictures of black women) and post them for the 2013 Houston meeting. Make sure to throw in some Asians too since we're down in Houston

Seriously, does the NRA restrict who can go to an NRA National Meeting? (No)

As I told Tom in the letter, the NRA IS Catering To Women and ANYONE that wants to be an active 2nd Amendment supporter.

The last time I looked, on the NRA membership form, there was no check box for "Democrat", "Black", "Female", "Asian", or any other demographic?

I don't have any answers other than to tell the NRA to be more diversified in the choice of photos they put on their website and promotions, but I don't agree with Baum that the NRA doesn't reach out to Women and Minorities. Do you think the NRA would be welcome at the NAACP national meeting? (no, probably not). Did the press cover this press conference where Black leaders praised the NRA?

http://youtu.be/9RABZq5IoaQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

No, they didn't.

Regards,
James

[ske1eter]

My letter...........

Hi Tom,

I just listened to the 2nd hour of this past weekend's podcast. As you are the one who always tells us to never let a lie go unchallenged, I was very disappointed that you let Dan Baum get away with his lying characterization of the NRA membership as old, white, angry men. This mantra is straight from the Democrat talking points. He claims that the NRA isn't do enough to get women or kids involved. We know that the NRA does indeed work to get those groups. Let's compare......we tell women to get gun to protect themselves from rapists; Dan's folks tell women to vomit and urinate on themselves. We have the Eddie Eagle program to teach kids about gun safety, Dan's folks expel kids from school for shaping their poptarts into a gun-like figure. Who is really reaching out and educating?

The reason that I can not understand liberal Democrat "gun guys" like Dan is that to him it's about the guns and gun people. To people like me, it's not about "guns" but much more: the 2nd Amendment, The Constitution, and Freedom! We aren't even on the same page because the thinking isn't the same. Liberals are liberals first and if they believe that they could gain some form of big government utopia by giving up their guns, they would.

If after all of his travels, Dan still has his opinion of the NRA, he didn't really go into it with an open mind. No doubt he met many shooters and "gun people" who were NRA members and weren't white, old, male or angry. With 5 million of NRA members out there, he's painting with a very broad brush. Given the impression that he left on me, I will not be buying his book.

Again, I'm surprised you let Mr. Baum implicate our membership especially with Wayne LaPierre to follow on the program.

[extremist]

Thanks great letter.

Regards,
James