What is PAFOA doing to help PA gun laws?

[JLStorm]

Well quite a few things are happening in PA lately. Philadelphia is again blaming gun laws for violence, NJ is blaming PA for their violence, 9 PA state game commission ranges are closed, some temporarily, some permanently, and a few other things are in the works.

Any word on what PAFOA has done or is planning on doing to help combat these latest threats to PA gun laws?

[novice]

Can't speak for PAFOA, but there are a lot of like minded people here.

[danp]

PAFOA is not currently doing anything to be directly involved in lobbying for or against legislation.

This is due to the practical and legal concerns involved in such action.

Practically, we have a lot of learning to do before we can be involved in a way that helps more than it hurts. One of the worst things we can do is run off half-cocked making statements and doing stuff without fully understanding the landscape, the politics, and the people involved in this "game." Luckily there are people who are very involved in such activities in the state who have been very helpful in slowly getting us involved and educating us on the ins and outs, but have helped us understand that until a we get up to speed (which may take a while), getting too involved would probably cause more harm than good.

Legally, everything we say and do has an immense effect on the status of the organization. How much of our resources we use to influence legislation can completely change our IRS designation (which we are still trying to figure out.) Additionally, Pennsylvania has some fairly complex laws regarding lobbying which I have yet to fully research and understand.

The result of all this is that for the time being we have decided to stick to what we DO know: How to utilize the Internet to connect people and information. We can do that well, and we can do it without causing any trouble.

I have every intention of getting PAFOA involved more directly in the politics of firearm ownership in Pennsylvania. But with that said, it is going to take time, perhaps years, to be in a position where the PAFOA has the resources, knowledge, and clout to actually do anything.

In the end, the PAFOA is one person: Me, and I have a day job. Most of my time I am able to spend on the organization is spent on programming the website, maintaining the forum, and answering emails. While I have high hopes and dreams for PAFOA, the reality of life is that diving into this stuff head first isn't something you just wake up one day and do, not if you want to do it properly.

I hope this helps explain our vision of the future.

[exceltoexcel]

It's really up to us, as members, to pool together and do something. So far Isee a lot of talk but little action. I've gone to a few local town meetings and sent out a few letters (still have yet to hear back). If you want to help out chime in.

[XD45]

My view would be that this is more of a place to get people together and talk about whats going on and what they are doing in the fight but dont directly get into the action, just act as a medium to get flks together over the issues.. but i'm not speaking for the PAFOA on that just my view

[mauser]

DISCLAIMER:
Any reference I make to "you" or "I" in this post isn't directed at anyone in particular, not the original poster, nor anyone else who has posted a reply, it's directed at everyone in general. My intention is not to point fingers or single anyone out.


PAFOA is a giving people like us a place to share information about gun laws, political opinions regarding gun laws and many other aspects of firearm ownership and responsibilities, and in my opinion, that's doing a lot.
Now we can all ask ourselves "What am I doing to help Pa. gun laws.

I agree with Danp's position and approach. What we must all realize is that we as a group have to be well informed and take well planned steps to avoid doing more harm than good. Just one small mistake could be devastating to our reputation and credibility. Jim Zumbo is a good example, well liked and respected until he spoke an opinion without considering all the consequences of his words on the ears of those not sharing his opinion. (Apparently there are a lot more than he ever dreamed of). Now his name is beeing used as a verb;
"Time to Zumbo LaPierre and the NRA?" (Taken directly from the subject line of a post here on PAFOA). Everyone is real quick to jump all over a mistake or words that are spoken in a controversial way. We must be very cautious.

Just being aware of the current political situation and voicing our individual opinions to our elected officials is going to make a difference. This forum is a wonderful way for us to communicate and share knowledge, and that is paramount to voicing an informed and reasonable opinion. We as individuals are obligated to keep our representatives, senators, governor, etc. informed of our wants and needs. "We" collectively elected them to be our public servants and the voice of the "We The People". Even if you personally didn't vote for an individual who is in office, that individual must answer to the constituents that he or she was elected by. You are one of those constituents, I am another one. If you aren't registered to vote, you aren't doing enough. If you are registered and don't vote, or vote without being well informed, you still aren't doing enough. Get personally involved with your elected officials either by phone, email, snail mail or in person and share your experiences or results with everyone else here, that will be a great help in getting us moving in the right direction at the right speed as a group.



Thank you Dan, all of the moderators and anyone else involved in making this group what it is, we appreciate what you're doing for us!

[RocketFoot]

PAFOA provides a medium for us members to learn and become aware of attacks against our 2nd A rights! From there it is up to us to organize a stand against these attacks. But I agree with DanP...half cocked responses are NEVER good! Responses and actions must be thought out and well planned.

[vetter3006]

The way we can use this forum is when a member finds out any information on new gun laws being proposed or any meetings being held they should post this information on our site and let everyone do some research and together we can write or attend meetings even if it a small amount that contributes it will help.
Between the NRA, FIREARMS OWNERS AGAINST CRIME,CCRKBA and others we can get alot of help and info from them.

[knight0334]

PAFOA itself(Danp as incorporated) is better off not getting involved directly. For PAFOA to get involved, it'd probably be best to have a few lawyers on retainer.


What PAFOA is best suited for is providing a forum for us to get our minds together as individuals to come up with ideas and to educated ourselves and others of the present laws.. Examples - the Gun Rights flyer that Pa.Patriot provided for us. Steve in PA gives us an LEO's point of view. Statkowski gives us a local politician's point of view. There are at least 3 lawyers here that help with interpretation and caselaw.

I've edited and reworded some laws and submitted them to State Senators and Representatives for them to use as a foundation. HB1717 from 2005 has a few changes that look awfully familiar .

Digging in old caselaw for relative information is a long task. Since common law** referrals go back to ancient Rome, but most notably Magna Carta to present. Reading up on self-defense and carrying rulings can take forever when you have over 2000 years of common law references to go through. If you're into reading, help on old case rulings is appreciated.


**common law being court rulings. our court system is based on England's common law, which itself is based on the ancient Roman courts. At least a couple Old Bailey cases referred back to a 200a.d. ruling.

[Mtbkski]

Each of us needs to do what we can. Be it just showing up at a town meeting or gathering with friends for a rally. I have driven for hours in all directions to attend various meetings. Some of them, only lasted a short time. But I at least had showed up and may have been given a chance to speak.

Now if all of us would just do this, it would help our cause tremondously. I took a day off work, drove two hours, to a meeting in Pittsburgh when I first joined this site. I thought for sure there would be a nice turn out from the PAFOA there. NO ONE. JUST ME. And I had to drive 2 hours to get there. Of all the people in Pittsburgh area that are on this site, no one thought the meeting with our elected officials dealing with gun issue was worth attending or taking the day off to attend. (Nothing personal guys. Don't get defensive. Just the facts)

How many of you have taken the time to write your elected officials when an issue is being addressed on this site. I have written to reps in other states to let them know what I think. And they have returned my e-mails noting a lot of time, that I'm not even a voter in there area, but they wrote back anyway.

If your going to talk the talk. You need to walk the walk. I would love to see more of us get away from the computer and out to these meetings that are posted on here. Just your presences is a point for us. It shows you care.