IMPORTANT! Great second amendment documentary!

[danp]

I just got finished watching an amazing new documentary on the second amendment by David T. Hardy called "In Search of the Second Amendment".

The documentary is a complete history of the individual right to keep and bear arms from over the past 500 years.

I've always thought I knew a lot about the history of the second amendment and this documentary humbled me, there is so much more information out there that proves without a doubt the intention of the founding fathers that I was completely unaware of.

I had originally proposed the idea of sending copies of this DVD to our Senators, but it seems the general consensus is that it might not be the best use of our resources and after hearing the comments both in public and private and thinking it over I think those people are right.

[phillyd2]

To be honest, I would seriously doubt that any senator would take the time to watch it. They would give it to a staffer who also most likely would not watch it. Educating senators is nice but their minds are already made up, pro or anti. The best we can do with them is scare the hell of our them by warning if they vote the wrong way we would organize against them and support their opponents in the next election. They only care about getting reelected.

But.... I would be interested to see if we could get this on Public Service Cable TV and / or public viewings sponsored by PAFOA. Lawmakers can then be invited to such viewings to debate the issue. Educating the public is the way to go, IMHO.

For this effort I voted $ 30+

[KeithPA]

I'd have to agree with philly. I really doubt any elected official would bother to watch it. They've already made up their mind one way or the other, plus are too busy screwing up our state/country to devote time to a dvd.

[danp]

The way I see it there's two benefits of doing this:

1) Some senators watch it, and it strengthens their position, or in more rare cases maybe changes someone's mind.
2) It might be some decent PR for our organization if people start talking about it.

If we can change one senator's mind, or at least give them pause next time they go to vote, it would probably be worth every penny. Doing NOTHING sure isn't going to help. Influencing one senator is much more valuable than influencing one non-senator in reality.

Or perhaps I have my hopes set too high...

In the end buying/sending copies to senators is completely separate from selling the DVDs, even without the former we could still do the latter to raise some money for PAFOA.

There's nothing set in stone at this point, that's why I created this thread/poll to get your guys' opinions on the idea.

[TRB]

Originally Posted by phillyd2

To be honest, I would seriously doubt that any senator would take the time to watch it. They would give it to a staffer who also most likely would not watch it. Educating senators is nice but their minds are already made up, pro or anti. The best we can do with them is scare the hell of our them by warning if they vote the wrong way we would organize against them and support their opponents in the next election. They only care about getting reelected.

But.... I would be interested to see if we could get this on Public Service Cable TV and / or public viewings sponsored by PAFOA. Lawmakers can then be invited to such viewings to debate the issue. Educating the public is the way to go, IMHO.

For this effort I voted $ 30+

You're probably right. It will be a staffer who will review the DVD. The packaging looks good enough. There is a chance that a staff member will actually watch it. Maybe it will change or reinforce the right thinking in their minds. This in turn might be enough to give a Senator pause when we need it.

Or get the staffer fired for disagreeing with the boss.

That is what grass roots efforts are all about.


This is my opinion based on a video that I have not seen.

[LorDiego01]

$30 is too much money to pay for a DVD that doesnt have naked celebrities.

On the other hand, you might do a better service if you can rip the dvd (legally) and host it on Pafoa to make it viewable to anybody over the internet. Or even make it available to download.

[dmg1969]

Dan, are you talking about sending the DVD to our criminals in Harrisburg or the big ones in Washington? Either way, while I think it is a good idea, I do think that most already have their minds made up either way. But, as they say...nothing ventured, nothing gained. It beats sitting back and doing nothing to preserve our right to bear arms.

Dave G.

[rwilson452]

I suspect others on here are correct. Sending a dvd to the legislators is a waste of energy. the only way you can get one to do anything is threaten their ability to get reelected. Letters get their attention best. Form letters less than indvidually written ones. Some don't pay any attention to letters other than from the voters in their area. Our best bet is to classify the one that are pole sitters and work on finding voters to write letters, call them, email them. Just bug the hell out of them. Bugging some jerk from philly is a waste of time. We can't hurt them. It doesn't hurt to remind the pro gun types of where they need to be. That there is no compromise position on this issue. It's the mugwumps that need the battering. there are enough so called pro gun democrats that they need to be hammered and hammered and hammered then hammered again. So if your reps are democrats and claim to be pro gun, let everyone know in that district that they need to be reminded that they can be replaced. Unfortunately in the US senate I think our missives will fall on deaf ears.

[danp]

Well, the general consensus seems to be that this would not be a very effective effort by the PAFOA and might not be the best use of the money we do have which is why I wanted to bring this up here for discussion.

After sleeping on it I think people have a valid point.

Perhaps I got ahead of myself in proposing this idea, I hope this doesn't make me look like too much of a idealist/fool...

[billamj]

I don't think that at all Dan quite to the contrary I just think that this is one of those things that would make very little impact. OTOH I think it might be a great idea as a fund raise for PAFOA once you've gotten the non-profit status ironed out. I also kind of like the idea that Farbmeister had of the march on Harrisburg, just not the 4 PM group slide rack. That could wake some folks up in the capitol.