jdege wrote:TSKNIGHT wrote:There are a couple members here that could tell you more than I can. They were boots on the ground in St Paul. I was just one of the many hands working out state manning information booths and writing Congress Critters etc.
The NRA didn't have much of a role until the last minute, but the final vote passed because of the NRA.
We'd passed the shall-issue bill in the House, and the governor promised to sign it. But the Senate refused to bring it to the floor.
We were certain that we had enough pro-gun Democrats to pass the bill if it came to a vote, but the Senate leadership refused to allow a vote, blocking it in committee.
The House took a semi-related bill that had already passed the Senate, passed a replace-all amendment and sent it back to the a Senate for reconciliation. Under Senate rules this sent it directly to the floor, bypassing the committees.
So there were two votes on the floor, first on the question of whether to take up the bill, and then on the bill, if the first vote passed.
And that's when the NRA's lobbyist showed up. He worked with a GOP senator - Geoff Michel - who felt he could not support the bill, and convinced him to vote for bringing the bill to the floor, even though he was going to vote against the bill itself. And that's what happened - Michel voted on the motion, it passed, then voted against the bill itself. But we gained enough pro-gun Democrats for the bill to pass.
I wasn't involved in those final negotiations at all, and have no idea whether Michel would have done the same without the lobbying efforts of the NRA rep (whose name i don't remember). But it was the NRA rep who negotiated the vote that gave us final passage, and I'll never forget that.
I've always felt that I, personally, might have had some influence there, beyond the usual foot soldier stuff of working gun shows, helping stuff envelopes, etc. Michel represented Edina, and I was living in Edina at the time. I'd been attending the GOP BPOU meetings, and had talked to Michel several times, and met with him for lunch, once. I was an active member of MNCCRN who lived in his district and who'd been in direct contact with him. That might have mattered.
Thank you for the work you put in. Nothing would happen if not for people on the ground advocating for what they believe.
On the NRA, I haven't abandoned the organization, but have been pushing for accountability and a change in leadership. The "good old boy" club has caused enough damage. It's past time they accepted responsibility for the mess they helped create and step aside for new leadership to start rebuilding what is left of the NRA.
