Lessons Learned in Ohio

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http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/article3547.html

Passing good legislation - Lessons learned, Part I
Posted on Wednesday, February 14 @ 11:49:08 EST by cbaus

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By Jim Irvine

With the passage of HB347 last year, the Governor’s threat of a veto coming to fruition, and the culmination of a veto override, we all learned some lessons about how the political process works, and how we worked within that system.

Judging by the results, we won. So we were good enough, but there is always room for improvement. In this article I will discuss some things we did right. Tomorrow I will chronicle some areas where we can improve.

What Buckeye Firearms Association did right:

We were there. Sometimes showing up is 90% of winning. Buckeye Firearms leaders were at every committee meeting, and every vote for HB347. We met with legislators, expressed concern over some issues, and praised progress on others. We relayed your feedback to keep the legislature in touch with their grassroots constituents. Your personal calls and letters gave strength to our statements.

We answered questions, sometimes doing extensive digging to find them. We proved to those that matter that we are more than a web site and a few members; we are a trusted source of information and ideas. We are an asset to them and are true to our word. We earned respect that we will build upon this session and beyond.

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We worked with other groups like the NRA and PRO. Each pro-gun group has unique strengths. By working together and using each others strengths, we showed that we can overcome any obstacle.

We kept you up to date with timely email alerts and stories on our web site, allowing each of you to take appropriate action. It’s not “our” actions, but “your” actions that result in change. The more of “you” there are, and the more involved you are, the quicker change will come.

Nothing Buckeye Firearms or any other pro-gun group would matter if not for the work of you – the grassroots volunteer. It is your actions that propelled us to victory.

You answered our calls for action. The legislature, particularly the Ohio Senate heard your message loud and clear, with some legislators being contacted more than 100 times per day. That is outstanding. I know some are cynical about legislators not caring about what constituents have to say. There are those who don’t care, but the vast majority are really interested in your opinion. That is why they spend money polling likely voters at election time. Your professional calls and letters are valuable to them, and collectively give them the fortitude needed to override a veto.

You worked on campaigns of our endorsed candidates in the months leading up to the veto showdown, and developed a better relationship with your elected officials, and helped them to better understand why Second Amendment issues are so important to you. You gave of your time and money when they needed it. You were rewarded by several important votes when you needed it. That is a great relationship.

You were firm, but polite when you contacted your legislators. Most people we spoke with said over 99% of callers were professional. This speaks volumes about who we are and is crucial to further reclaiming our rights.

Together, we did a lot of things right. We knew the issues. We knew the obstacles, and we had a good plan to overcome them. Then we executed when we needed to. Our hard work will pay off next month as HB347 takes effect and some of your rights are restored.

Thank you to each of you who made success possible.

 

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Part II

Part II

Passing good legislation - Lessons learned, Part II
Posted on Thursday, February 15 @ 00:10:00 EST by jirvine

Buckeye Firearms Association News Send to a Friend When you're done reading this story, please send it to a friend!


By Jim Irvine

Yesterday we reviewed many of the things we did right last session as HB347 worked its way from a bill to a law. Today we are going to take a crucial look at ourselves and see where we can improve.

Areas where Buckeye Firearms can do better:

We were not able to adequately target specific districts. While we have an extensive list of gun owners, and a large email list, many of our email contacts are not sorted by district. We need to be able to target legislators who are undecided on their vote, while not bombarding those who have committed to our side. (We don’t want to send specific information to everyone, when only 1% of those live in the district we need to affect.) This problem came to light during the days leading to the final override vote, but could be just as important to keep/kill an amendment at any time.

To solve this problem we are asking everyone on our email lists to provide us with their districts. Please click here on our web site and fill in your name, address and email address. This will allow us to contact you quickly and efficiently for district specific information. We do not give/sell your personal information to any other groups, but we need to be able to identify how many supporters we have in each district. Thank you for your help.

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Stay informed. Legislators are still getting phone calls asking them to, “vote to override Governor Taft’s veto on HB347.” They already did. Taft is gone. HB347 was last session. Phone calls like this illustrate to the legislator that you don’t care enough to educate yourself. Timely phone calls were crucial to getting our law. The same phone call today is embarrassing. Friends don’t let friends make nonsense phone calls. We know regular visitors to our site are well informed, but we need you help reaching others to stop these wasted phone calls.

It has come to our attention that there were a couple of threats made to a legislator days before the Senate override vote. These are damaging to our efforts. We all get frustrated at the glacial speed the political machine often moves, but a person arguing for firearms rights should never lose control or make threatening statements. Leave that to the anti-gun, anti-self-defense, anti-freedom nut jobs. We must be better than that.

It takes years to earn and build respect. It can be lost in a moment. Each of us needs to be respectful to the office our legislators hold, and even when we disagree with them, we need to do so in a polite and professional manner. Only then can we hope to show them the truth so that we can bring them over to our side.

We are not big enough. We need to work with gun stores to help us get useful information to all those that support our goals, but don’t check our website often or receive the NRA alerts. Our base is large, but we need to insure they are better informed. Word of mouth is still the best advertising. Does your gun store display Buckeye Firearms brochures? If not please take it upon yourself to make this happen. Contact us if you need any help.

Did your firearms instructor tell you about Buckeye Firearms? Will he/she hand out information about us to their students? Will you contact him/her and ask them? Let us know if you or someone you know will hand out information to their students. Buckeye Firearms will furnish the supplies at no cost to the instructor. For those instructors who hand out our information, we will add a link to them from our web site. The more we help each other, the more successful we become.

Do you have other areas where we could do better? Let us know. By working together now, we can expand our network and be in a better position to influence the legislation that will be introduced this session. Now is the time to make improvements so that when action is required, we can move with the precision of a Swiss watch, and the force of a freight train.

Together, we are a good team, but great teams never quit looking for ways to improve. The goal is excellence.