If you look over at the related articles links, you'll see my prior entries in Examiner.com's New Year's resolution special project. Here's the fifth in my series of daily suggestions between Dec. 11 and Jan. 1 for gun owners, and it directly ties in with today's earlier post.
Regular readers here know I've been sending gun rights questionnaires to politicians to determine their unequivocal position on the right to keep and bear arms. Of late, I've been receiving an increasing amount of emails from readers asking me to send the questionnaire to specific candidates in their states.
There just ain't enough of me to do that, and besides, I designed the questionnaire to be a tool for gun owners to use for themselves.
So here is today's suggested New Year's resolution:
I will send at least one politician a copy of the gun rights questionnaire and then make his/her answers or lack of response known to my fellow gun-owning voters.
Naturally, I'd love to see you do more and work with a grassroots group to make a project out of it, but for now, why not try it just once? To help with that, I've prepared a sample solicitation that you can copy and paste into an email, a campaign website contact form, or a letter:
Dear______________,
I see you're running for political office. I would like your unequivocal responses to some questions to help me determine where you stand on the right to keep and bear arms.
1. Do you believe that the Constitution is the "supreme law of the land" and that the Bill of Rights acknowledges our birthrights?
2. If so, should these rights be proactively protected from infringement by all levels of government, including city, county and state?
3. Please give some examples of gun laws you consider constitutional.
4. Please give some examples of gun laws you consider unconstitutional.
5. Does the right to bear arms include the right for any peaceable citizen to carry them concealed without a permit, as in Vermont?
6. Do you believe that Americans have a right to own, use and carry weapons of military pattern, and will you use the prestige of elected office to publicly promote that right?
7. Do you support or oppose registration of weapons? Why?
8. Do you support or oppose licensing requirements to own or carry firearms?
Why?
9. What specific gun laws will you work to get repealed?
10. If elected, will you back your words of support for firearms rights up with consistent actions? How?
Plenty of politicians give us general platitudes that tell us nothing. I am seeking specific answers to these questions. I intend to share your responses--or lack of response--with gun-owning voters.
Thank you,
[Your Name/Contact]
After all, they work for us. Why would we hire anyone without interviewing them first to see if they're a good match for the job?
Comments
David, you inspired me last week. Steve Poizner is running for Governor of California. I sent the 10 question survey to Steve Poizner's campaign. I have not heard a reply o far. I hope other readers do the same so Poizner can not ignore the issue.
Keep after them!
Rob
Thanks Rob--just yesterday another correspondent emailed that he was sending it to the Poizner campaign too--so I guess before too long you'll have your answer.
I sent marc rubio, candidate for Senator of Florida one a couple of months ago. He has not replied. Guilty until proven innocent.
today, i sent one to massachusetts state senator scott p. brown, who is running for ted kennedy's seat.
we shall see.
by the way, senator brown is running against mass AG martha coakley, and she is demonstrably a rabid anti-gun fanatic. i'll send her a copy as well, but i'm sure it will be ignored.
One of the few quotes I remember from former president Jimmy Carter concerned commitment to Christianity. He said something like: "If you were taken to court, accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you beyond a reasonable doubt?" I would suggest that we should hold our supposed 2A supporters in politics to a similar test. "Mr. or Ms. Candidate, you say you have always supported our Second Amendment rights. Can you prove it?" We're going to have to start separating out the ones who truly "walk the walk" from those who only "talk the talk". At the risk of sounding like a foaming at the mouth radical, we might start with those "politicians" seeking a seat on the board of a certain large gun rights organization.
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