FOAC Harrisburg volunteers needed *NOW* to counter paid daily anti gun intimidation

[Berncly]

-
FOAC Harrisburg volunteers needed *NOW* to counter paid daily anti gun intimidation by Bloomberg agitators.

This is very important.

The FOAC reports that we are losing the fight in Harrisburg because Bloomberg has flooded the State Capital building with a constant presence of paid anti gun agitators.
The FOAC is asking retirees and those with flexible schedules to volunteer to help keep pro gun advocates in Harrisburg daily to counter the paid Bloomberg agitators.

The plan is to create a schedule to distribute volunteers to Harrisburg every day the Legislature is in session to counter the anti gun Bloomberg intimidation.
Given the amount of gun owners in PA, it should be possible to recruit enough people so that each individual would only be scheduled a few days a year.

Phone calls and emails are important, but they are no longer enough to counter the constant presence of the paid Bloomberg anti gun agitators.
The members of the PA Legislature are being intimidated in their offices and are capitulating to Bloomberg's anti gun agenda.

This is why we are losing the fight on HB2060 and HB2227, and why the Republican leadership suddenly decided to push the anti gun bills through.
If we don't adjust our tactics immediately, the PA Legislature will continue to be intimidated into passing more and more anti gun laws in Pennsylvania.

It is extremely important that this threat be taken seriously, and that we move quickly to counter Bloomberg before taking more anti gun legislative losses.
If you are able to participate in this effort to protect your gun rights please respond to this thread.
The FOAC ALERT follows (partial).
Bern-

--------------------

FOAC's Weekly Message For Sunday September 30th 2018 :: 09/30/2018

https://foac-pac.org/FOACs-Weekly-Me...y-Newsletter/7

by Kim Stolfer, President of FOAC

This weekly update is a very difficult one for me to write. We were unable to put together a weekly update for last weekend because we were preparing to engage the legislature over their intent to run HB 2060, and potentially HB 2227. As you know, HB 2060 ostensibly dealt with domestic violence (PFA) issues while HB 2227 dealt with creation of a new section of law regarding extreme risk protection orders.

Most, if not all, of you reading this have never been engaged in the kind of legislative battle that occurred beginning on Monday the 24th. Make no mistake about it, this legislative battle was a knockdown drag out fight between every gun control group in the country, Moms Demand Action, Every Town, Giffords Law Center, and Cease-Fire PA were determined to pass this legislation!

This battle was initiated over the legislation above due to political/election issues and the speaker of the house representative Mike Turzai whose opponent in the upcoming general election, Emily Skopov (a Mom’s Demand Action-Gun Sense Candidate), ridiculed and derided him in a press release for not running HB 2060. This caused speaker Turzai to be outraged and to immediately schedule HB 2060 a vote this past week and damn the consequences.

To remind you, both HB 2060 and HB 2227 were tabled in June due to the flaws in the bills and the constitutional concerns surrounding them.

So, before I go any further, I want to ask you if you know or understand the issue of Ex Parte hearings? Do you believe that due process is important? Do you believe that laws should not put impossible burdens on the accused especially when they haven’t even had the opportunity to confront their accuser or have their day in court? If you said yes to the above then you have a good start in understanding why both of these bills are constitutionally repugnant and will lay the groundwork if passed for more onerous legislation to violate our right to bear arms and constitutional freedoms!

We are losing our rights in the shadows where these anti-gun organizations are creating legislation and laws that set precedent for future abuses.

As members of Firearms Owners against Crime you expect your officers to take the right position on issues that matter the opposition or consequences! We strive to do this every day! That is why over the weekend we did everything humanly possible to try to organize gunowners to physically go to Harrisburg and support us as well as to make phone calls and send emails to Pennsylvania House of Representatives members.

The problem we have is that gun owners seem to have lost the will to fight or even to recognize the dangers of these kinds of laws! Why do I say that? The fact is is that I do 5 million gunowners in Pennsylvania and 1.17 million citizens with a license to carry we had a total of eight gunowners there in Harrisburg with five of them being FOAC members and three more being members of the Oath Keepers. The picture below is of our information table at our rally point and as you can see there are no gunowners around.

On the other hand, Mom’s Demand Action had over 75 activists in red shirts walking around the Capitol building. See the picture below:

SO IF YOU WERE AN ELECTED REPRESENTATIVE WHO WOULD YOU LISTEN TO?????

There are many in the Second Amendment community that believe that there is no need for personal attendance at the few incidents like this where gun control raises its ugly head. However, that could not be further from the truth! The reason is that the anti-gun groups have realized that there is no substitute, not email or phone calls, for putting a living breathing human being in front of someone and advocating for their position!

This past week has borne out that premise and has set the stage for the success of it with every other gun control measure that comes up!

Furthermore, if gunowners cannot begin comprehending the dangers that our Constitution and all of us are faced with then it is very likely we are going to be in serious trouble. This comment from FOAC member, Brandon Combs, is most poignant:

The new rules are that there are no rules. This isn’t an “honest and open debate,” evidence is merely someone’s policy preferences dressed up in “common sense,” and we don’t get brownie points for “reasonableness.” The objective is to win so hard that none of those things matter. We have a lot of work to do; if gun owners don’t ditch the apathy and false dichotomies, the irrational reliance on Trump-as-savior, and learn how the Constitution and government really works, California will be the model for the nation and not the laughingstock of it.

So, what happened in Harrisburg this week?

It quickly became apparent that chaos was going to reign because many legislators were upset that speaker Turzai was bringing this issue up and putting the entire caucus of Republicans at risk so close to an election on a controversial issue such as HB 2060! Many house members recognized and were concerned about the risks presented with the language in the legislation. However, and this is key, they felt intimidated by the Mom’s Demand Action activists who have been strutting around Harrisburg and disrupting the entire flow of the capital and legislation. This was not going to be a debate on the merits, or lack thereof, of legislation or even an honest attempt at fixing flaws in legislation so there were no unintentional consequences. Now this fight was going to be purely on emotion and who swung the bigger stick. Clearly, through lack of commitment, gunowners had drawn the short straw!

Even with all of the anti-gun organizations and every law enforcement agency (except the Pennsylvania sheriffs but more on that later) in support of HB 2060, and with the NRA claiming to be neutral, the facts and the pro-gun house members were putting up a supreme battle. So much so that HB 2060 did not come up for a vote on Monday nor did it come up for a vote on Tuesday.

We, FOAC, offered a compromise to leadership that would require opening up HB 2060 for amendments and doing what is known as “a gut and replace” with the language from Senate Bill 501 which was amended in the Pennsylvania Senate with language we approved of and then with a couple of technical amendments we would have been neutral on this. This is what we were promised in May and did not happen! In case you hear from legislators that both bills were the same that is a lie! There are subtle but significant differences between the two and anyone it says that has not read both bills and is simply obfuscating the fact that they don’t know what they’re talking about and that they are willing to take the mistakes in HB 2060 rather than do the right thing!

There was such drama surrounding the deliberations on Monday Tuesday and Wednesday that it is almost impossible to put all of that in this report. From speaker Turzai screaming at representative Daryl Metcalfe in the caucus meeting, as well as representative Rick Saccone, to the lies being spread about the Pennsylvania sheriffs Association supporting HB 2060 to the failure of the speaker to follow house rules (specifically rule 24) on motions made by members on the floor.

Owners must evolve into the 21st century and stop allowing ourselves to be bullied by Millionaire monsters like Bloomberg and Soros! We need to put together a ready reaction force, special operations unit if you will, that can respond to these assaults on freedom with dedicated individuals who will take off a day of work and go with us to Harrisburg when necessary! This may happen once or twice a year and we have the numbers in Pennsylvania that can make it fair for everyone! Make no mistake about it though, failing to employ tactics that will properly counter what is being used against our legislators to support gun control will result in Pennsylvania slowly turning into Maryland, New Jersey, New York because right now my friends as far as advocacy goes we are getting our butts kicked!

The final vote on HB 2060 was 131-62 with 54 Republicans and 8 Democrats voting against this bill. ANY House member who voted for HB 2060 has lost their FOAC endorsement and their grade has been reduced. Tomorrow, HB 2060 goes to the PA Senate for consideration through the ‘full’ process including committees. Senators should be ANGRY about the bait and switch with SB 501, which FOAC was neutral and worked on for 3 years. Kind of makes you wonder if something else was going on like maybe helping Rep. Quinn run for the 10th State Senate District open seat?? NAAAHHH, that couldn’t be it could it, could it?

Keep your powder dry my friends, this story is still unfolding! ...

Continue reading here: https://foac-pac.org/FOACs-Weekly-Me...y-Newsletter/7

[nfafan]

Too bad we don't have Mike Pintek on the air at KDKA to bring attention to this shit.

[Extinquisher357]

-
FOAC Harrisburg volunteers needed *NOW* to counter paid daily anti gun intimidation by Bloomberg agitators.

This is very important.

The FOAC reports that we are losing the fight in Harrisburg because Bloomberg has flooded the State Capital building with a constant presence of paid anti gun agitators.
The FOAC is asking retirees and those with flexible schedules to volunteer to help keep pro gun advocates in Harrisburg daily to counter the paid Bloomberg agitators.

The plan is to create a schedule to distribute volunteers to Harrisburg every day the Legislature is in session to counter the anti gun Bloomberg intimidation.
Given the amount of gun owners in PA, it should be possible to recruit enough people so that each individual would only be scheduled a few days a year.

Phone calls and emails are important, but they are no longer enough to counter the constant presence of the paid Bloomberg anti gun agitators.
The members of the PA Legislature are being intimidated in their offices and are capitulating to Bloomberg's anti gun agenda.

This is why we are losing the fight on HB2060 and HB2227, and why the Republican leadership suddenly decided to push the anti gun bills through.
If we don't adjust our tactics immediately, the PA Legislature will continue to be intimidated into passing more and more anti gun laws in Pennsylvania.

It is extremely important that this threat be taken seriously, and that we move quickly to counter Bloomberg before taking more anti gun legislative losses.
If you are able to participate in this effort to protect your gun rights please respond to this thread.
The FOAC ALERT follows (partial).
Bern-

--------------------

FOAC's Weekly Message For Sunday September 30th 2018 :: 09/30/2018

https://foac-pac.org/FOACs-Weekly-Me...y-Newsletter/7

by Kim Stolfer, President of FOAC

This weekly update is a very difficult one for me to write. We were unable to put together a weekly update for last weekend because we were preparing to engage the legislature over their intent to run HB 2060, and potentially HB 2227. As you know, HB 2060 ostensibly dealt with domestic violence (PFA) issues while HB 2227 dealt with creation of a new section of law regarding extreme risk protection orders.

Most, if not all, of you reading this have never been engaged in the kind of legislative battle that occurred beginning on Monday the 24th. Make no mistake about it, this legislative battle was a knockdown drag out fight between every gun control group in the country, Moms Demand Action, Every Town, Giffords Law Center, and Cease-Fire PA were determined to pass this legislation!

This battle was initiated over the legislation above due to political/election issues and the speaker of the house representative Mike Turzai whose opponent in the upcoming general election, Emily Skopov (a Mom’s Demand Action-Gun Sense Candidate), ridiculed and derided him in a press release for not running HB 2060. This caused speaker Turzai to be outraged and to immediately schedule HB 2060 a vote this past week and damn the consequences.

To remind you, both HB 2060 and HB 2227 were tabled in June due to the flaws in the bills and the constitutional concerns surrounding them.

So, before I go any further, I want to ask you if you know or understand the issue of Ex Parte hearings? Do you believe that due process is important? Do you believe that laws should not put impossible burdens on the accused especially when they haven’t even had the opportunity to confront their accuser or have their day in court? If you said yes to the above then you have a good start in understanding why both of these bills are constitutionally repugnant and will lay the groundwork if passed for more onerous legislation to violate our right to bear arms and constitutional freedoms!

We are losing our rights in the shadows where these anti-gun organizations are creating legislation and laws that set precedent for future abuses.

As members of Firearms Owners against Crime you expect your officers to take the right position on issues that matter the opposition or consequences! We strive to do this every day! That is why over the weekend we did everything humanly possible to try to organize gunowners to physically go to Harrisburg and support us as well as to make phone calls and send emails to Pennsylvania House of Representatives members.

The problem we have is that gun owners seem to have lost the will to fight or even to recognize the dangers of these kinds of laws! Why do I say that? The fact is is that I do 5 million gunowners in Pennsylvania and 1.17 million citizens with a license to carry we had a total of eight gunowners there in Harrisburg with five of them being FOAC members and three more being members of the Oath Keepers. The picture below is of our information table at our rally point and as you can see there are no gunowners around.

On the other hand, Mom’s Demand Action had over 75 activists in red shirts walking around the Capitol building. See the picture below:

SO IF YOU WERE AN ELECTED REPRESENTATIVE WHO WOULD YOU LISTEN TO?????

There are many in the Second Amendment community that believe that there is no need for personal attendance at the few incidents like this where gun control raises its ugly head. However, that could not be further from the truth! The reason is that the anti-gun groups have realized that there is no substitute, not email or phone calls, for putting a living breathing human being in front of someone and advocating for their position!

This past week has borne out that premise and has set the stage for the success of it with every other gun control measure that comes up!

Furthermore, if gunowners cannot begin comprehending the dangers that our Constitution and all of us are faced with then it is very likely we are going to be in serious trouble. This comment from FOAC member, Brandon Combs, is most poignant:

The new rules are that there are no rules. This isn’t an “honest and open debate,” evidence is merely someone’s policy preferences dressed up in “common sense,” and we don’t get brownie points for “reasonableness.” The objective is to win so hard that none of those things matter. We have a lot of work to do; if gun owners don’t ditch the apathy and false dichotomies, the irrational reliance on Trump-as-savior, and learn how the Constitution and government really works, California will be the model for the nation and not the laughingstock of it.

So, what happened in Harrisburg this week?

It quickly became apparent that chaos was going to reign because many legislators were upset that speaker Turzai was bringing this issue up and putting the entire caucus of Republicans at risk so close to an election on a controversial issue such as HB 2060! Many house members recognized and were concerned about the risks presented with the language in the legislation. However, and this is key, they felt intimidated by the Mom’s Demand Action activists who have been strutting around Harrisburg and disrupting the entire flow of the capital and legislation. This was not going to be a debate on the merits, or lack thereof, of legislation or even an honest attempt at fixing flaws in legislation so there were no unintentional consequences. Now this fight was going to be purely on emotion and who swung the bigger stick. Clearly, through lack of commitment, gunowners had drawn the short straw!

Even with all of the anti-gun organizations and every law enforcement agency (except the Pennsylvania sheriffs but more on that later) in support of HB 2060, and with the NRA claiming to be neutral, the facts and the pro-gun house members were putting up a supreme battle. So much so that HB 2060 did not come up for a vote on Monday nor did it come up for a vote on Tuesday.

We, FOAC, offered a compromise to leadership that would require opening up HB 2060 for amendments and doing what is known as “a gut and replace” with the language from Senate Bill 501 which was amended in the Pennsylvania Senate with language we approved of and then with a couple of technical amendments we would have been neutral on this. This is what we were promised in May and did not happen! In case you hear from legislators that both bills were the same that is a lie! There are subtle but significant differences between the two and anyone it says that has not read both bills and is simply obfuscating the fact that they don’t know what they’re talking about and that they are willing to take the mistakes in HB 2060 rather than do the right thing!

There was such drama surrounding the deliberations on Monday Tuesday and Wednesday that it is almost impossible to put all of that in this report. From speaker Turzai screaming at representative Daryl Metcalfe in the caucus meeting, as well as representative Rick Saccone, to the lies being spread about the Pennsylvania sheriffs Association supporting HB 2060 to the failure of the speaker to follow house rules (specifically rule 24) on motions made by members on the floor.

Owners must evolve into the 21st century and stop allowing ourselves to be bullied by Millionaire monsters like Bloomberg and Soros! We need to put together a ready reaction force, special operations unit if you will, that can respond to these assaults on freedom with dedicated individuals who will take off a day of work and go with us to Harrisburg when necessary! This may happen once or twice a year and we have the numbers in Pennsylvania that can make it fair for everyone! Make no mistake about it though, failing to employ tactics that will properly counter what is being used against our legislators to support gun control will result in Pennsylvania slowly turning into Maryland, New Jersey, New York because right now my friends as far as advocacy goes we are getting our butts kicked!

The final vote on HB 2060 was 131-62 with 54 Republicans and 8 Democrats voting against this bill. ANY House member who voted for HB 2060 has lost their FOAC endorsement and their grade has been reduced. Tomorrow, HB 2060 goes to the PA Senate for consideration through the ‘full’ process including committees. Senators should be ANGRY about the bait and switch with SB 501, which FOAC was neutral and worked on for 3 years. Kind of makes you wonder if something else was going on like maybe helping Rep. Quinn run for the 10th State Senate District open seat?? NAAAHHH, that couldn’t be it could it, could it?

Keep your powder dry my friends, this story is still unfolding! ...

Continue reading here: https://foac-pac.org/FOACs-Weekly-Me...y-Newsletter/7

Does FOAC have an email system like Gun Owners of America ?
I looked and don't believe I saw anything like that, Can something be set up so we can fill their
email box with pre written emails directly from FOAC on these and any future bills.

Just a thought.

[ett]

Does FOAC have an email system like Gun Owners of America ?
I looked and don't believe I saw anything like that, Can something be set up so we can fill their
email box with pre written emails directly from FOAC on these and any future bills.

Just a thought.

If you are referring to how GOA sends an email with a clickable link to click; and that resulting link has a pre written email with a clickable link to send the email to your specific US Senator and/or Us Rep.
I believe the answer is no.

HOWEVER; if you read through this thread: http://forum.pafoa.org/showthread.php?t=339622
you will see that when logging into FOAC's website.
There are links to email your PA Senator and/or PA Rep.
And there is also functionality to mass email the entire PA legislature.
Although as explained in that thread; this functionality has to be turned on by FOAC as needed.

And with individual emails to your state legislator or the mass email to all legislators.
It's still up to you to write the email.


Please anyone who is more knowledgeable that I about FOAC; please correct me as needed.

[Berncly]

Does FOAC have an email system like Gun Owners of America ?
I looked and don't believe I saw anything like that, Can something be set up so we can fill their
email box with pre written emails directly from FOAC on these and any future bills.

Just a thought.

Yes.
Join the FOAC and then access that function in the members menu.
The FOAC doesn't do pre-written emails, but your email does not need to be elaborate or detailed.
A simple message like this is fine: "My name is John Smith, I am a registered voter in zip code xxxxx, please vote NO on HB2060 and HB2777."

You can also copy and paste the pre-written emails that I always post in the GOA ALERTS.
At this point sending emails and making calls is still very important but it is not enough.

I encourage everyone to join the FOAC so we can better focus on the aggressive Bloomberg paid gun ban movement that is taking place right now in Harrisburg.
Today, as we speak, anti gun HB2060 is in the PA Senate Rules Committee to incorporate the gun control language passed by the PA House last week.
Today, as we speak, anti gun HB2227 is in the PA House being voted on for Second Consideration.
Bloomberg's paid lobbyists are responsible for both of those bills advancing in the PA Legislature.

The feedback I am getting from Representatives is that the Republican leadership is capitulating under the constant intimidation from the Bloomberg lobbyists.
If people are not able to volunteer their time to counter the constant Bloomberg paid gun ban presence in the capital building, then the next best thing is paying pro gun lobbyists to counter Bloomberg's paid gun ban lobbyists.

If every member of the PAFOA joined the FOAC and paid their annual membership dues, the FOAC would have enough cash to hire lobbyists to counter Bloomberg's lobbyists.

We basically have 3 choices.
We can all become fully engaged volunteer activists and maintain a constant presence in Harrisburg to counter Bloomberg's presence.
We can all join the FOAC so they can use our membership dues to hire full time lobbyists to counter Bloomberg's gun ban lobbyists.
We can continue as we are and watch the PA Legislature buckle under Bloomberg's new intimidation tactics, and watch our gun rights systematically destroyed one by one.

If gun owners don't vote in every election in overwhelming numbers.
If gun owners don't take personal responsibility in protecting their gun rights.
If gun owners don't offer their share of money to pay for lobbyists.
If gun owners just sit around waiting for some kind of romanticized civil war.
Then we will continue to lose our gun rights one gun ban at time, one gun confiscation at a time, until we become New Jersey.

The battle never comes in the form or fashion that we would expect or prefer.
This is it, the fight is right here, right now, in the form of systematic total disarmament of the People.
The removal of the last true check and balance of government power.

It's time to wake up people.
Our State and National Constitutions are just words on paper if the People are not willing to stand up and defend them.
Get personally involved and invested in this fight or lose your gun rights forever.
-

[jthrelf]

I can volunteer a day or two in Harrisburg. Not exactly retired but I can make it work. Bern should I PM you my contact info?

[Berncly]

I can volunteer a day or two in Harrisburg. Not exactly retired but I can make it work. Bern should I PM you my contact info?

Thanks for standing up and jumping in.
Let's get a count in the open thread first.
Then we can talk to the FOAC people about the best way to schedule and coordinate.

[Extinquisher357]

If you are referring to how GOA sends an email with a clickable link to click; and that resulting link has a pre written email with a clickable link to send the email to your specific US Senator and/or Us Rep.
I believe the answer is no.

HOWEVER; if you read through this thread: http://forum.pafoa.org/showthread.php?t=339622
you will see that when logging into FOAC's website.
There are links to email your PA Senator and/or PA Rep.
And there is also functionality to mass email the entire PA legislature.
Although as explained in that thread; this functionality has to be turned on by FOAC as needed.

And with individual emails to your state legislator or the mass email to all legislators.
It's still up to you to write the email.


Please anyone who is more knowledgeable that I about FOAC; please correct me as needed.

Yes, I'm referring to GOA

[Extinquisher357]

Yes.
Join the FOAC and then access that function in the members menu.
The FOAC doesn't do pre-written emails, but your email does not need to be elaborate or detailed.
A simple message like this is fine: "My name is John Smith, I am a registered voter in zip code xxxxx, please vote NO on HB2060 and HB2777."

You can also copy and paste the pre-written emails that I always post in the GOA ALERTS.
At this point sending emails and making calls is still very important but it is not enough.

I encourage everyone to join the FOAC so we can better focus on the aggressive Bloomberg paid gun ban movement that is taking place right now in Harrisburg.
Today, as we speak, anti gun HB2060 is in the PA Senate Rules Committee to incorporate the gun control language passed by the PA House last week.
Today, as we speak, anti gun HB2227 is in the PA House being voted on for Second Consideration.
Bloomberg's paid lobbyists are responsible for both of those bills advancing in the PA Legislature.

The feedback I am getting from Representatives is that the Republican leadership is capitulating under the constant intimidation from the Bloomberg lobbyists.
If people are not able to volunteer their time to counter the constant Bloomberg paid gun ban presence in the capital building, then the next best thing is paying pro gun lobbyists to counter Bloomberg's paid gun ban lobbyists.

If every member of the PAFOA joined the FOAC and paid their annual membership dues, the FOAC would have enough cash to hire lobbyists to counter Bloomberg's lobbyists.

We basically have 3 choices.
We can all become fully engaged volunteer activists and maintain a constant presence in Harrisburg to counter Bloomberg's presence.
We can all join the FOAC so they can use our membership dues to hire full time lobbyists to counter Bloomberg's gun ban lobbyists.
We can continue as we are and watch the PA Legislature buckle under Bloomberg's new intimidation tactics, and watch our gun rights systematically destroyed one by one.

If gun owners don't vote in every election in overwhelming numbers.
If gun owners don't take personal responsibility in protecting their gun rights.
If gun owners don't offer their share of money to pay for lobbyists.
If gun owners just sit around waiting for some kind of romanticized civil war.
Then we will continue to lose our gun rights one gun ban at time, one gun confiscation at a time, until we become New Jersey.

The battle never comes in the form or fashion that we would expect or prefer.
This is it, the fight is right here, right now, in the form of systematic total disarmament of the People.
The removal of the last true check and balance of government power.

It's time to wake up people.
Our State and National Constitutions are just words on paper if the People are not willing to stand up and defend them.
Get personally involved and invested in this fight or lose your gun rights forever.
-

I'm a member of FOAC and also donate additional money besides the basic membership.
I will do as you suggested with emailing from FOAC website.

I'm also talking to other gun owners that are uniformed about what is going on with the midterm election. This is a big problem that has been stated on here before.
Gun owners don't show up to vote or join FOAC or GOA.

If the NRA would get more serious and not compromise, We'd be in better shape.
I'm a life time endowment member of the NRA and I'm very disappointed with them

[ExFlyinguy]

*UNABLE to visit FOAC site.

While I am pretty sure I have donated to FOAC in the past, I do not believe I have ever actually joined.

I just tried to change that, but every link to FOAC website leads one to a Member sign in page.