Joining Is Not Enough

5 min readNov 27, 2017

Recently I was speaking to a wise friend about how unfriendly California is to the law-abiding firearm owner. It wasn’t always that way. Slowly, bit-by-bit the state continues to erode our rights with no end in sight. With all that is coming down the road, it’s more important than ever for us to band together and fight as one. But joining isn’t enough; each of us needs to kick it up a notch.

For us in California, this seems particularly difficult. Out of an estimated 12 million legal firearm owners, last year’s Veto Gunmaggedon petition failed to get the required 365,000 signatures on any of the seven referendums to get them on the 2018 ballot and reverse the latest draconian laws. The referendum with the most signatures got a pathetic 174,128. How is that even possible?

Many of us have already joined the NRA (National Rifle Association) and the CRPA (California Rifle & Pistol Association) as well as a number of other Second Amendment groups. This is absolutely critical as organizations such as these are not only advocating against new gun control laws, they are helping to litigate to get them overturned. However I sense a bit of apathy once that membership check is in the mail. There seems to be a perception that your joining is the only thing you need to do.

We seem to expect that these organizations are going to come riding into town on their white horse and save the day whenever a new gun control scheme is dreamed up at the federal, state, county or local level. Sadly, this is not the case. They have only so much time, money and resources to go around and your issue may not be the one that is the biggest bang for the buck.

So where does that leave us? It means we have to get off our collective butts and start doing something about it. It means we have to get personally involved. We do this by writing, emailing and calling your representatives at the federal, state, county or local level and telling them what you want them to support and what you don’t want them to support. Yup, it really is that simple.

A case in point: There has been a lot of churn on social media recently about the comments California’s Senior Senator made on the October 8, 2017 episode of CBS’s Meet The Press. Why now after a month? I’m guessing not a lot of people watch Meet The Press any more and it takes a while for someone to point it out for us.

The Senator’s response to a question on the National Concealed Carry Reciprocity was:

“Well, my opinion of that bill is it’s terrible. We want every American to feel comfortable packing a concealed weapon around the country? I represent 40 million Californians, and I can say without hesitation Californians do not want concealed carry.”

The full transcript of the interview is available here: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/transcript-sen-dianne-feinstein-on-face-the-nation-oct-8-2017/

So… if you disagree, what have you done about it? Gotten on social media and posted some choice swear words? Is that the best you can do? How about contacting the Senator and let her know she does NOT represent you on this issue. Here is her contact information:

Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Phone: (202) 224–3841
Fax: (202) 228–3954
TTY/TDD: (202) 224–2501

https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me

Below is my letter to the Senator I’m sending out this morning, with a copy to California’s Junior Senator.

Do I expect California’s Congressional delegation to do an immediate about-face and begin supporting National Conceal Carry Reciprocity? Of course not, but I want her to know that not all of California supports her myopic view of the Second Amendment.

What have you done lately?

Bob

p.s. The Scotts Valley City Council is tentatively set to take the next steps on approving their latest anti lawful firearm owner measures at their next meeting on Wednesday, December 6, 2017. Save the date and see next week’s article for an update.

#oddstuffing, #SecondAmendment, #2A, #Constitution, #BillOfRights, #GunControl, #ConcealCarry, #ConcealCarryReciprocity, #JoiningIsNotEnough, #mewe, #medium, #instagram, #oddstuffing.com

November 27, 2017

Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Senator Feinstein,

On the Sunday, October 8, 2017 edition of Face The Nation, you made the following response to a question on National Conceal Carry Reciprocity.

Your statement is incorrect. I am one of many California citizens / residents that DO want concealed carry. Not only do we want concealed carry in California, we want National Conceal Carry Reciprocity.

There are a lot of Californians who want concealed carry, but are not able to because of the purely politically motivated restrictive laws in this state. These are law-abiding citizens who only want to protect their own lives and the lives of their families. They do not enjoy the advantage of having other people protect them because of their high public office or considerable personal wealth like you do. These are honest men and women who have the misfortune to live in areas of the state where their need for self-defense is not sufficient for local politicians to issue a concealed carry permit. Quite simply, these discriminatory laws show that your constituent’s lives are not worthy of the same level of protection as yours.

I respectfully remind you of two things:

1) You represent all the residents of the State of California, not just those that support your personal or political ideology.

2) That your Senate Oath of Office includes the words “support and defend the Constitution”. This includes all of the Constitution, not just the sections you agree with.

Californians do want conceal carry. As such, I request you and Senator Harris unconditionally support National Conceal Carry Reciprocity.

Robert M Rodd Jr.

cc: Senator Kamala Harris

Joining Is Not Enough

Written by Odd Stuffing