CA at Shelby TFA – A Draw/How DO we get the truth out?

[Pat McGarrity]

Last Thursday, the Shelby County Tennessee Firearms Association met with the goal of developing responses to the recent infringements proposed by the Obama administration and the anti-gun propaganda campaign being waged by Obama’s public relations department, often referred to as the “main stream” media. We discussed an outline we are working on to reply to the emotion-based reaction to misuse of guns by criminals. Speaking of the media, which our opponents in the gun debate receive unlimited amounts of positive support by, for free, a reporter and photographer from the local newspaper, the Communist Appeal:

http://WWW.COMMUNISTAPPEAL.COM

showed up to attend our meeting, to my surprise.

CA reporter, Jody Callahan and photographer, Jim Weber said they’d like to sit in on our meeting, to which I said they were welcome. My policy has always been to have regular monthly Shelby TFA meetings open to the public and not allowing them to do so would be bad press in of itself. To his credit, Jim Weber asked if he could take pictures and I agreed to that as well. This is the same paper that, irresponsibly, has a database on their website of Tennessee Carry Permit Holders. It’s even linked within this article!

I believe their goal was to paint us in the worst possible light. Besides that being the history of the CA in writing about gun owners and gun rights in general, I have seen them purposely misstate the number of pro gun attendees versus anti-gun ones at events I was at. My goal was to still have a productive meeting, while minimizing any bad PR. Not giving them any ammo so to speak, pun intended.

Basically, it was a draw as you can see in the article below. They even had some (unintentional) constructive criticism in that I need to keep the meetings on track better and focused more. Preaching to the choir doesn’t do much to move our goals forward.

I have the notes from the meeting and welcome ideas on how we respond when the facts are on our side, however, the opposition is using emotion with little or no regard for facts. In some cases, perhaps we do not accept the premise of their question or statement? “Why do you need an “assault rifle”?”. You don’t need 30 “bullets” to hunt a deer.” Both of these commonly misused phrases are flawed from the beginning. We all know the meaning of Article I, Section 26 and Amendment II. The million-dollar question is; how do we get the intellectually lazy, apathetic and misinformed public to grasp this?

In Liberty,

Pat McGarrity
Director – Shelby County TFA





http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/20 ... peaks-out/

Memphis chapter of Tennessee Firearms Association speaks out against gun control

By Jody Callahan
Posted January 17, 2013 at 10:04 p.m.



The local chapter of the Tennessee Firearms Association met Thursday night for the first time since the federal government proposed new gun-control legislation.

The 17 members of the gun rights organization who gathered at Range USA in Bartlett weren't thrilled with the proposals.
Data Center: Search handgun-carry permits

Although the group had hoped to put together some sort of measured response to that legislation, they mostly argued against gun control.

"As you saw, our meetings tend to get disorganized," said Neville Mayfield. "We all know most of this stuff. We've been studying it for years. The problem that we have is, how do we get this information to the public?"

Several members agreed afterword that they would still like to put together that measured response.

"You want to have a rational explanation for what you believe and why you disagree with the legislation," TFA member Terry Cox said. "When we do put something out, we want it to be rational."

During the meeting, members were obviously infuriated by President Barack Obama's proposed legislation, and leveled some harsh words at his administration.

"I think these executive orders that were just passed is only the beginning," said Charlotte Bergmann, who recently ran against Steve Cohen for the 9th District seat in Congress. "I'm happy that I have something in my house that will protect this girl if someone breaks in."

They also took several shots at the media, including The Commercial Appeal.

Sam Cooper raised this question: "If you're going to take guns from law-abiding people, why not take cars? The majority of criminals use cars."

He also argued against a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines. "Why (have) a 100-round magazine? Because I may want to come to the range and fire 100 rounds without reloading."