Mitch Berg: The Next Useless Wave of Gun Control in MN

[LePetomane]

I don't think that Carlbom will have as easy of a time with firearms issues. I do not think he will get very far. He may try to befriend the hunters like Cuomo did in new York with his "who needs 30 rounds to kill a deer" line. Hopefully people will see through it.

It is up to us to make sure they do.

My guess is that this guy has never handled a gun in his life and never will. He will drag relatives of hoodlums who have been killed in drive by shootings and try to make victims out of them. He'll bring Trayvon into the mix. Hopefully that will not go far. I don't see this guy trying anything new when the old stuff has worked well for him.

[RobD]

Carlbom won't be a figurehead. He will pull the strings from afar, dropping loads of cash.

Universal registration is in his sights this year. He knows how to blast a concise message.

[MaryB]

Bring on the hood victims, good example of someone with a gun making a well placed(safe) shot could have taken a scumbag off the streets. Bring up the lack of parenting brought on by the liberal policies leading up to the gang bangers, lack of jobs...

[bstrawse]

I don't think that Carlbom will have as easy of a time with firearms issues. I do not think he will get very far. He may try to befriend the hunters like Cuomo did in new York with his "who needs 30 rounds to kill a deer" line. Hopefully people will see through it.

It is up to us to make sure they do.

My guess is that this guy has never handled a gun in his life and never will. He will drag relatives of hoodlums who have been killed in drive by shootings and try to make victims out of them. He'll bring Trayvon into the mix. Hopefully that will not go far. I don't see this guy trying anything new when the old stuff has worked well for him.

No, he will build a coalition of local public leaders (mayors, etc), churches (priests, ministers, bishops, rabbis, and lay leaders), non-profit leaders, business leaders (including CEOs and others) - and he'll find & coach eloquent effective spokespeople for his cause. They'll hire local campaign managers to bring out the grassroots and will use polling to refine their messages until they hit on what will work. He will train individuals to be effective activists

This is what he did in the gay marriage debates with a reasonable amount of cash - but this will happen with money from Bloomberg and Giffords.

This fight isn't going to be like 2013.
b

[LePetomane]

Brian, Thanks.

So this guy is a professional instigator instead of some gum flapping blowhard. Does he have a real job?

[bstrawse]

Brian, Thanks.

So this guy is a professional instigator instead of some gum flapping blowhard. Does he have a real job?

Yes, he's a highly talented and sought-after political operative.... With his own firm in Saint Paul...
B

[sawgrass]

It boggles the mind how you can fight so hard to protect one right (guns) and at the same time work to deny a significant portion of the population another (marriage equality, women's rights, etc.). Do you truly not see the irony?

Funny, flip that around, and that's the definition of Richard Carlbom.

That's what disapoints me about him.. Working so hard for one right and now working against another.. He's just a mercenary working for whomever can pay him the most.

That's it goaliemn. Most disappointing.

They have a clear picture of the opposition this time as well.

[LePetomane]

Bring on the hood victims, good example of someone with a gun making a well placed(safe) shot could have taken a scumbag off the streets. Bring up the lack of parenting brought on by the liberal policies leading up to the gang bangers, lack of jobs...

That won't happen. The left is not willing to admit failure of any of their policies.

[connsolo]

It boggles the mind how you can fight so hard to protect one right (guns) and at the same time work to deny a significant portion of the population another (marriage equality, women's rights, etc.). Do you truly not see the irony?

It must just terrify some "liberals" to think that many of their very own are against gun control.

[Lumpy]

Bring on the hood victims, good example of someone with a gun making a well placed(safe) shot could have taken a scumbag off the streets. Bring up the lack of parenting brought on by the liberal policies leading up to the gang bangers, lack of jobs...

That won't happen. The left is not willing to admit failure of any of their policies.

Failure is never their fault; it's always the troglodytes' obstructionism that's to blame. Inner city gun violence is the fault of people who oppose gun control, crime is the fault of poverty, meaning more social funding is needed, etc. There's no policy so failed that its proponents won't insist it didn't work because it didn't go far enough.

Expect them to roll out big-eyed little boys and girls talking about how their fathers and older brothers were killed by guns (without mentioning said relatives' involvement in gangs or drug dealing). Without their actually saying so in so many words, expect them to somehow hint that the demographic that most strongly supports gun ownership- white rural males- is motivated by racism and the desire to see African-Americans victimized. Expect to see the word "vigilante" pop up again and again.

[MJY65]

I think a real danger exists if the antis actually back off a bit. Last year, they were so full of themselves that they went full out with AWBs, mag limits, etc. If they come back with a "reasonable" proposal like background checks, I'm afraid it will pass with little opposition in the present legislature.

[jshuberg]

I think a real danger exists if the antis actually back off a bit. Last year, they were so full of themselves that they went full out with AWBs, mag limits, etc. If they come back with a "reasonable" proposal like background checks, I'm afraid it will pass with little opposition in the present legislature.

Then do something about it!

Join GOCRA. Reach deep and donate whatever you can afford to GOCRA/MNGOPAC. Get on the newsletters. Attend the hearings and defy the stereotype. Be polite and respectful to the point of being sickening. Email and call every representative in the legislature. Write a hand written, snail mailed letter to your senate and house representatives. Let them know that the NRA/GOCRA speaks for you. Let them know that "universal background checks" is a politically correct term for gun registration, and that you will vote out anyone who supports gun registration.

And most important, talk to other firearms owners. Spread the word - Registration leads to confiscation, so that next time they go after an "assault weapon ban" they'll know where they all are and whose doors to kick. And point out that it's not some paranoid conspiracy theory, but that it's happening in New York and California as we speak. And that Minnesota has been specifically targeted as the next state the gun grabbers want it to happen in.

Lots of us were 1st time activists last year after the Sandy Hook tragedy. We need to step it up this time and bring as many other people into the fold as possible!

[gunsmith]

I think a real danger exists if the antis actually back off a bit. Last year, they were so full of themselves that they went full out with AWBs, mag limits, etc. If they come back with a "reasonable" proposal like background checks, I'm afraid it will pass with little opposition in the present legislature.

Then do something about it!

Join GOCRA. Reach deep and donate whatever you can afford to GOCRA/MNGOPAC. Get on the newsletters. Attend the hearings and defy the stereotype. Be polite and respectful to the point of being sickening. Email and call every representative in the legislature. Write a hand written, snail mailed letter to your senate and house representatives. Let them know that the NRA/GOCRA speaks for you. Let them know that "universal background checks" is a politically correct term for gun registration, and that you will vote out anyone who supports gun registration.

And most important, talk to other firearms owners. Spread the word - Registration leads to confiscation, so that next time they go after an "assault weapon ban" they'll know where they all are and whose doors to kick. And point out that it's not some paranoid conspiracy theory, but that it's happening in New York and California as we speak. And that Minnesota has been specifically targeted as the next state the gun grabbers want it to happen in.

Lots of us were 1st time activists last year after the Sandy Hook tragedy. We need to step it up this time and bring as many other people into the fold as possible!

Well Said.

I think we need to be a 'Broken Record' on this one phrase:

"universal background checks" is a politically correct term for gun registration,
"universal background checks" is a politically correct term for gun registration,
"universal background checks" is a politically correct term for gun registration,
"universal background checks" is a politically correct term for gun registration,
"universal background checks" is a politically correct term for gun registration,


"universal background checks" is a politically correct term for gun registration,
"universal background checks" is a politically correct term for gun registration,
"universal background checks" is a politically correct term for gun registration,
"universal background checks" is a politically correct term for gun registration,
"universal background checks" is a politically correct term for gun registration,

"universal background checks" is a politically correct term for gun registration,
"universal background checks" is a politically correct term for gun registration,
"universal background checks" is a politically correct term for gun registration,
"universal background checks" is a politically correct term for gun registration,
"universal background checks" is a politically correct term for gun registration,

There's power in the "Catch-Phrase"

"universal background checks" is a politically correct term for gun registration,

[MJY65]

I think a real danger exists if the antis actually back off a bit. Last year, they were so full of themselves that they went full out with AWBs, mag limits, etc. If they come back with a "reasonable" proposal like background checks, I'm afraid it will pass with little opposition in the present legislature.

Then do something about it!

With the exception of actually attending a hearing, I've done all of those things. Lecture was not needed.

[photogpat]

I didn't get into guns until about 2007 -- same time frame as the pending Obama I election and all the talk of bans.

I didn't get into the politics side of it until the Stand Your Ground hearings 2 years ago. What tipped me into the action part was when "Representative" Heather Martens got up and stated for the record that all gun owners were only a dark night away from opening their windows and shooting out blindly into the night.

Thats when I gave GOCRA my money. Thats also when I ran into Plblark at the Gopher Bar after one of the hearing sessions. He was telling me how they needed volunteers too...