****PAFOA Representation**** Harrisburg Capitol Building, 9/24 and 9/25

[Berncly]

Wth is pa2a?

We need an online calendar, members start filling in days they can attend thw capitol. Alonw or with friends.
Start there with volunteer attendance. If you see a bpank and can fill it, do your damndest.

Ianal im drunk and typos cuz phone and drunk. Well not drunk but 5 shots of bourbon in.

Remind me to tell you about my friend Bill the next time we are at the fountain...

[Berncly]

There is definitely a lot of value in having a way to quickly disseminate information in a meaningful grassroots way. Growing membership in orgs like FOAC and GOA is certainly one part of the puzzle, but we can do more. Email blasts out to membership are great, but a forum like this where we coordinate and each spread information through our own network/contacts is vital as well. It's one of the things that can give us a huge advantage over the astroturf anti-gun groups. We have a large well of people who may not be members of an organization or on a mailing list, but have a personal stake in protecting the 2A.

I think the best/most valuable thing we can do right now as defenders of the 2A in Pennsylvania is to work for/with FOAC (whether it be officially or unofficially). I am not opposed to calling it something like "friends of pafoa" but I think that should primarily be to direct people here for organizational purposes. I don't know that it has to be anything more than a name (ianal) for members of this forum working to organize in support of FOAC's initiatives.
It could be a good gateway for getting more people involved as well. People who are not currently involved in activism may be much more likely to read/join a forum than jump right in and join a group like FOAC.

What he said is basically the idea, expanded beyond any specific organization.
We are just figuring out the details to stay within the rules.

[alpacaheat]

I think the best/most valuable thing we can do right now as defenders of the 2A in Pennsylvania is to work for/with FOAC (whether it be officially or unofficially). I am not opposed to calling it something like "friends of pafoa" but I think that should primarily be to direct people here for organizational purposes. I don't know that it has to be anything more than a name (ianal) for members of this forum working to organize in support of FOAC's initiatives.
It could be a good gateway for getting more people involved as well. People who are not currently involved in activism may be much more likely to read/join a forum than jump right in and join a group like FOAC.

I agree with not starting a competing organization to FOAC and GOA, I'm sure they'd welcome a new legion of volunteers from our membership.

I do however like the idea of having a mechanism to quickly organize, inform and mobilize our members when we have urgent action to take like that last Senate hearing. We actually had over a month's notice on that one, in the future we likely won't have that much planning time.

Email blasts, another "action" site, online activism calendar...all good tools we should explore.

[Justin///M]

Zero people are suggesting creating a competing organization.

The fact of the matter is that neither FOAC nor GOA are rally and protest groups. They said as much during the Pittsburgh rally.

Some of us have a different vision of creating that group. The intent is not to compete with FOAC and GOA for speaking time at hearings. The goal is to create the army the will march in support while the experts from FOAC and GOA testify.

With more teeth.

A great number of FOAC representatives thanked us for being able to draw out numbers for the hearings.

[fallenleader]

Remind me to tell you about my friend Bill the next time we are at the fountain...

i'm sober now.
i agree with what the other me said. just can't think of how to incorporate the congressional schedule into a calendar that allows people to edit and add reservations/appointments to.

it is stupidly loud at the fountain, if it is a substantial story we should probably move it around one of the corners.
i also agree with justin, my understanding was that all we are trying to do is organize a presence at the capitol to supplement what we lack. bloomberg millions to hire people to lobby all day every day.

something to go between showing up by the hundred with rifles and being completely silent and or spam filtered by reps.
just like lobbying/hounding reps is something between being content and second revolutionary war.

[Berncly]

i'm sober now.
i agree with what the other me said. just can't think of how to incorporate the congressional schedule into a calendar that allows people to edit and add reservations/appointments to.

it is stupidly loud at the fountain, if it is a substantial story we should probably move it around one of the corners.
i also agree with justin, my understanding was that all we are trying to do is organize a presence at the capitol to supplement what we lack. bloomberg millions to hire people to lobby all day every day.

something to go between showing up by the hundred with rifles and being completely silent and or spam filtered by reps.
just like lobbying/hounding reps is something between being content and second revolutionary war.

I was only kidding about Bill W.
We are all on the same page, things are getting lined up and should move soon.

[fallenleader]

I was only kidding about Bill W.
We are all on the same page, things are getting lined up and should move soon.

no offense but your story kind of sucks, you wanted me to drive 3 hours for that?

[KPShooting]

Zero people are suggesting creating a competing organization.

The fact of the matter is that neither FOAC nor GOA are rally and protest groups. They said as much during the Pittsburgh rally.

Some of us have a different vision of creating that group. The intent is not to compete with FOAC and GOA for speaking time at hearings. The goal is to create the army the will march in support while the experts from FOAC and GOA testify.

With more teeth.

A great number of FOAC representatives thanked us for being able to draw out numbers for the hearings.

Yeah, when FOAC or GOA need boots on the ground we should be able to turn out whatever they need. We just need to build the infrastructure to make it happen. I'm not entirely sure what that infrastructure would be though. Maybe we should take a look at some of the lefty "direct action" groups and see how they are setup.

Maybe an offical PAFOA app where you could get push notifications of upcoming events and one click sign up. It wouldn't be 100% involvement, but it might get more people out when we need them. Bonus points if it also lets you browse the forum since we'll never get tapatalk.

For the record I only suggested setting up tables at gun shows and having round table discussions as a way to drive more people to the site.

[PA_Robert]

OK, I'm a little lost..so what would "Friends of PAFOA" be? A PAC?

What is the intent/mission/function of FoP?

[Justin///M]

OK, I'm a little lost..so what would "Friends of PAFOA" be? A PAC?

What is the intent/mission/function of FoP?

Right now, what we're doing PLUS trying to get a permanent presence at the capitol established (being led by Berncly).

All of this talk about buying PAFOA and making it something bigger is 99% moot as I'll likely never hear anything back.