Meleanie Hain Memorial Shoot - Nov. 1st - NEPA

[soberbyker]

Just in case my reply doesn't make the moderator's cut:

Yours did now lets see if mine does:

Sean, you're right, we don't know how Meleanie would feel about a memorial shoot. No more than you do though. What we can, and have done, is think how she may have felt about it based on our personal experiences with her, a luxury you simply don't have.

I know many folks who are enthusiastic about something and then have had a (near) tragedy doing the very thing they enjoyed, yet when all was said and done they still enjoyed what they were so enthusiastic about. For example riding motorcycles. I personally know a couple people who were nearly killed on a motorcycle. They were not offended when a "ride" was offered up in their name to help with hospital costs and, once healed, were right back in the saddle again.

It's truly disheartening to read articles like yours, and there are many, that take to bashing Meleanie (and her friends) instead of trying to help the kids she left behind. At least her friends are trying to help.

By the way Sean, from her obituary on the Lancaster Online website it says (in part): (http://obits.lancasteronline.com/index.php?p=2404011)

"In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials may be sent in Meleanie's memory to the PA Firearms Owners Assoc., through their website at pafoa.org/support/donate. A memorial tribute fund for Meleanie's children will be established at Belco Community Credit Union, 201 Good Dr., Lancaster, PA 17603."

So it would seem your statement about how her family now feels about guns is off as well.

The real irony here, missed by most of the keyboard commandos, is that you truly don't know when/where you many need to defend yourself, at a soccer game, at school, a shopping mall, or even at home. Sadly, Meleanie let her guard down at one of those supposedly safe places and paid the ultimate price.

RIP Meleanie and thank you for being a friend. We have truly lost a special person, may your spirit live on.

[hgsw67]

added another comment & invite to Sean to attend. will not post here, but will not let him diminish this with his agenda.
Harry (hgsw67)

[normanvin]

You can add the wife and I as tentative.

[soberbyker]

added another comment & invite to Sean to attend. will not post here, but will not let him diminish this with his agenda.
Harry (hgsw67)

Sean responded to my post and I replied to his.

.

[PennsyPlinker]

I wasn't going to post over there, but I decided to do so after all. Just in case my comments do not survive moderation, here they are.

Sean, I was a friend of Meleanie. We knew each other personally. She was a guest in my home her last Saturday on earth. I do not presume to know her mind with regard to her attitude on a benefit shoot, but if I were a betting man, I would lay money on it. I write that because I knew her personally, not just over the web.

You wrote that gun violence is a big problem. Leave out the word gun, and your statement becomes accurate. It really doesn’t matter what inanimate tool her attacker used to end her life, does it? It was the hatred in his heart that caused her death, not the gun in his hand. Other domestic violence deaths in her area are made up of two stabbings and one strangling. Are they better off for having died that way? I think they are not. If we could peer into the afterlife, I suspect we would find that the victim of murder seldom cares how the deed was accomplished.

We are rallying around our guns because that is how we know one another. Our passion for self defense spans divisions of religious belief, nationality, and race, economic status, etc. Truth be told, if Meleanie had had her gun, she might still be with us. She thought she was in a safe haven. She was wrong. Dead wrong.

Come and see what we are all about. I think it is pretty safe to assume you will be welcomed, despite the things you have written. I for one will be glad to show you what we are really like.

[JIDinPhilly]

added another comment & invite to Sean to attend. will not post here, but will not let him diminish this with his agenda.
Harry (hgsw67)

I invited him too. I don't know if he (Sean) knows that there are over 20,000 of us on here.

Anyone gonna go from the Philly area?

[King 5.45]

I'm beginning to think that Sean isn't looking for anything more than an echo chamber to celebrate his preconceived notions of the world.

He's onto a new approach to self-validation: http://www.bizzia.com/franchisepick/stop-the-shooting/

[smithwessn]

I'm beginning to think that Sean isn't looking for anything more than an echo chamber to celebrate his preconceived notions of the world.

He's onto a new approach to self-validation: http://www.bizzia.com/franchisepick/stop-the-shooting/

My reply to Sean-

Sean, you refer to a memorial shoot for a shooting victim as "insensitive, creepy, and, as a fundraiser, ineffective." As other posters have mentioned, memorial rides are often planned for victims of motorcycle accidents. Do you find those to be insensitive and creepy as well? Do they honor that victim by leaving the motorcycles in the garage for the day? A motorcycle community would have no parts of that. They would fire up all those bikes and ride to the memorial event. That's who they are, that's what they do. They ride.

What if someone held a memorial 5k run/walk for a person who was killed by a car while jogging to prepare for a race? Would that be insensitive and creepy? Should those people sit on the couch and not run or walk all day?

What we are doing is no different than the above scenarios. Ironic? Ok. Insensitive? Absolutely not.

[xd40_jim]

Unfortunately, things have changed, I am going out of town that weekend so I will be unable to attend. I would still like to make a donation from my family.

[redeye202]

Add redeye202, my daughter,[tiger] is a maybe.