Mapping Handgun Purchases in Eagan

[shooter115]

FarmerJ.......I'm curious. How many phone calls have you made? How many rallies have you attended? How many legislation hearings have you attended? Pretty easy to be an armchair quarterback.

[gunsmith]

FarmerJ.......I'm curious. How many phone calls have you made? How many rallies have you attended? How many legislation hearings have you attended? Pretty easy to be an armchair quarterback.

Are Pitchforks allowed on the Capitol Steps ???

Probably not...

Might have to find a 'prop' made out of rubber..

but I was an (armchair) spectator to this years fireworks at the Capitol. If Bloomberg comes to town to mess with Minnesota, I'll have to be a warm body in the 'Unwelcoming Committee"

[Thunder71]

And the concealed carriers throwing the open carriers...

Lots of finger pointing to be had from within the gun community itself, sadly. Would be nice if we could all hop on the same train, huh?

I'm on this train. However, we have to be smart.

No offense, but some people that open carry are doing it for the *wrong* reason. And we got that blowback from the Starbucks situation.

I agree, but no sense throwing all open carriers under the bus either because a few are 'doing it wrong', sounds kind of familiar. And just for the record, since I've obtained my 'permission slip', I've open carried maybe 5 times - and that's on the high side. The ones doing it for attention make everyone look bad, and I was against the Starbucks thing from the start saying I bet they don't want the attention, they just want to stay out of it. My opinion was unpopular at the time, now look what happened, and half those people blame Starbucks!

[farmerj]

FarmerJ.......I'm curious. How many phone calls have you made? How many rallies have you attended? How many legislation hearings have you attended? Pretty easy to be an armchair quarterback.

Not all issues are in the capitol. Nor will you see what i have worked on in the general forum.


grassroots addressing of issues also needs to occur in your home towns as well. If you think I am only am armchair quarterback you are sorely wrong.

[photogpat]

We ARE all on the same page, all fighting the same battle. The problem is that some want to open up a second front to the fight via their actions. As many others have stated previously, this isn't checkers, its chess.

The "Starbucks Appreciation Days"...checkers....

Open Carrying at the local Chuck E Cheese where all the soccer moms hang out...checkers....

Bringing a slung AR to the state capitol....checkers....

Carry Expo in Elk River on Saturday....chess....

Setting up a PAC for gun owners to donate money to candidates...chess....

Reminding local police departments of their responsibilities under the law....chess....

Just IMHO, YMMV, etc etc etc....

[farmerj]

Changing park regulations and public Building/land postings must be checkers then


Especially when public and elected officials blatantly ignore state law

[Thunder71]

Since we're playing chess, hopefully with the PAC we'll be playing in the offense sooner than later. Being on defense time and time again ages me terribly.

[photogpat]

Changing park regulations and public Building/land postings must be checkers then


Especially when public and elected officials blatantly ignore state law

Nope, depending on how its done.

Open carrying into an illegally posted building, unprepared for the legal and PR blowback....checkers.... (remember, test cases are for "other" people)

Approaching the illegally posted areas methodically and with a plan for the legal AND PR....chess....

Approaching county/city officials about illegal postings....chess....

[photogpat]

Just trying to herd all the Libertarians, Conservatives and Moderates in the same general direction can be tricky sometimes....insert cat analogy here.

[farmerj]

My point is grassroots public involvement is just as, if not MORE, important than advocacy.

John Q. Public being willing to call up the local police and saying, "Hey, this information doesn't seem quite right. Am i misunderstanding somethingand can you talk to me about this?"

It doesn't have to be the 800 lb gorilla of the local advocacy group immediately. Because people get complacent and figure "They took care of the last issue, they will get this one too."


The OP had the time to take and research the issues, realize it's not right, post a discussion topic about it, but not take 5 minutes to call the number on the website he was looking at. Call the number. It's interesting the response people will give you. Some good, you single handedly as a concerned member of your community made a difference. Some not so good. Then go find an 800 lb gorilla. (not to be mistaken for the 800 lb troll)

[photogpat]

My point is grassroots public involvement is just as, if not MORE, important than advocacy.

John Q. Public being willing to call up the local police and saying, "Hey, this information doesn't seem quite right. Am i misunderstanding somethingand can you talk to me about this?"

It doesn't have to be the 800 lb gorilla of the local advocacy group immediately. Because people get complacent and figure "They took care of the last issue, they will get this one too."

You are ABSOLUTELY correct! The common man (so to speak) should absolutely take it upon themselves to have a respectful, polite, well-educated conversation with a government entity when there is a wrong to be righted. That's playing chess!

Sometimes, through no fault of their own, folks are unwilling, unable, etc to contact the .gov for themselves -- they may also be unfamiliar with the specific statute being violated. In that case, having the experience and knowledge of the law present in a group like GOCRA can be a huge benefit.

[samginko]

Good job!
I have dealt with Eagan PD and the chief, and they are good to go. Not official but I only got PRO 2nd vibe from them.

[jshuberg]

Small issues can be solved at the individual level. Things like Obama and Bloomberg throwing the weight of their offices and millions of dollars into changing states laws simply cannot be solved at the individual level. For this we need GOCRA, MGOPAC, the NRA etc. Organization is what got Obama the Democratic nomination over Hillary. It's responsible for the "fundamental change" we've been experiencing as of late. It's also what prevented bad things from happening in the last legislative session. The larger, more unified an organization is, the more it can be effective at the state and national levels.

The truth is, that we have far greater numbers than those who wish to infringe and revoke our rights. We need to put our differences aside for the greater good, stand together under whatever banner is most appropriate to the fight, and defend our rights. So far in MN that banner has been GOCRA, and I suspect that MGOPAC will be just as instrumental. Yes, the power of the individual is very important, but in the current environment we also need to muster our efforts and present a united front in order to successfully defend our rights.

We win far more often than we lose, especially as of late. The strategy works, we just need to turn it up another notch or two to head off what's coming next. We need to bust open our wallets a little wider this next round to make sure "our guys" running for office are able to be competitive against the Bloomberg financial machine. If we don't, we could very easily become New York or Colorado where the legislature presumes to pass laws irrespective of the will of the people.

[yukonjasper]

The OP had the time to take and research the issues, realize it's not right, post a discussion topic about it, but not take 5 minutes to call the number on the website he was looking at. Call the number. It's interesting the response people will give you. Some good, you single handedly as a concerned member of your community made a difference. Some not so good. Then go find an 800 lb gorilla. (not to be mistaken for the 800 lb troll)

You are correct, I think if I would have picked up the phone, I could have eventually obtained the same outcome. The reason I posted in the first place was that although I suspected what I was seeing was not right, I did not know definitively that:
A) it was a violation of some law or regulation
B) what law or regulation it was that was violated
C) the best person to call to get it corrected
D) I assumed I'd have to wait until the following business day to do anything about it.
E) Although I am a citizen, I have the right to challenge the City since I was unaware if any laws or regulations were violated.

One alert to an advocacy group answered all of those questions and brought swift action.