The PROponent Peoples Rights Organization 5 E. Long St., Suite 412; Columbus, OH 43215; (614) 268-0122 Volume 6 July, 1994 Number 7 (headline) RALLY, July 2! RALLIES... Hopefully this edition of the PROponent will arrive before the July 2, 1994 Pro Second Amendment rally at the State house in Columbus, Ohio. If not, plan to attend the national rally in Washington, D.C., on August 14, 1994. The rally in Columbus is at 1 pm on the second of July. We have several elected officials lined up to speak and many leaders in the battle to preserve our Second Amendment. The rally will last one hour. There is ample parking at the Statehouse garage and at the City Center. Buses can park at Veterans Memorial until 4 pm. Come on down to the west side of the Statehouse and join your fellow patriots in sending a message to our elected officials about our Second Amendment rights. The large turnout at the last rally in Columbus helped prevent any state-wide legislation being passed concerning the curtailing of our rights. There will be tables at the rally for voter registration, mailing lists and bus trips to Washington in August. There will also be a first aid station if it is needed. Is there a better way to begin the Fourth of July weekend than by attending a Pro Second Amendment Rally? Bring the whole family. Please do not wear cammies or hunting clothes or bring any firearms to either rally. If we all wear white shirts and blue ribbons, it will make a solid impression on the media and elected officials. Blue ribbons with flags will be available at the rally. The rally in Columbus is being held on the same day as twenty others in the nation. There is a possibility that 37 states will hold a rally on July 2, 1994. What a coupe, if 20,000 patriots attend each rally and many go to Washington. That would be over a million patriots demonstrating in support of the Second Amendment. Help Ohio in it's rally effort and help us regain all of our freedoms that our elected officials are denying us. See you at the rallies! MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN ... Thank you for electing me your Chairman for 1994. This will be an important year to educate Ohioans on firearms and the 2nd Amendment. I believe that most people when provided the correct information will easily understand the intention of our Founding Fathers in affirming our Right to Keep and Bear Arms. During our grassroots seminar at the 1994 NRA convention an instructor from Los Angeles informed us of a radio talk show host who had been a gun control advocate, but who was educated and turned around by their local lobby group in several program debates. Both the leadership of the pro-gun as well as the anti-gun sides understand completely the role that firearms ownership plays in political control of a population. That is why we are working so hard to keep our guns and they are working to take them from us. However, it is to the great majority of people who believe only what they hear in the media or from politicians that our education efforts must be directed and where they can take root and flourish. Ours is a winnable war. I believe in our eventual victory because our cause is just. I am very excited about our accomplishments to date, but there is much more to do. If we all put forth our best, one day the grandchildren of the baby boomer generation in PRO and the NRA today will look back upon the 1990's with the same awe and respect that we look back upon the deeds of those men of the colonies who defied the greatest power on earth, England, or upon those men who charged ashore on the beaches of Normandy to take back the world from the merciless grip of fascist dictatorship. But ask any of them if they were "heroes" and they will all to a man say "No, we were just ordinary men who saw a job that had to be done and to the best of our ordinary ability, tried to do it." Lofty talk you think? But those with only "the faith of a mustard seed [ed. mustard seeds are very small] can move mountains.." and even today a few righteous can still save a city or a nation. So how much will it take to overcome the likes of Handgun Control Inc. or the power-hungry politicians in Washington? Sure they think they are smart, and they do know a lot about lies and scams and prevarication. They are smooooth. But in matters of truth and honesty they are but vidiots and mental waifs compared to any PRO member. In spite of the recent setback provided by Kasich and Pryce, there is no reason to give up and throw in the towel. Now is the time not to "turn back the clock" but rather to wind it up again. The job that needs to be done is to get America back to those ideals that made her great. It falls on our shoulders, the ordinary PRO and NRA members to get busy and save this nation from tyranny. Then, one day, when our grandchildren can grow up in freedom rather than as slaves to an all-powerful state, they, looking back, can ask us "Where did you find the strength to sacrifice yourselves like that?" And we can answer, "We weren't heroes, we did it for you." Mike Regan, PRO Chairman EDITORIAL... In our last issue, the editors of the PROponent took to task those who violated our rights as guaranteed by the Second Amendment. Many people have called the PRO hotline and commended us for an excellent issue. At the recent gun show in Lancaster, more people gave us words of praise for an outstanding issue. However, one gentleman came up and said that we were getting a little radical. My reply to him was to write us a letter and we would publish it in the PROponent. We publish all critical letters. If your facts aren't straight the editors may rip you up a little, but we believe that these are the kind of free press exchanges that bring truth to light. If nobody writes, the issue may not get discussed. In a recent interview reported in one of the local papers, one editor stated that PRO was a "little to the right of the NRA" The other editor however, takes issue with that statement saying that PRO is a little more radical than the NRA. When PRO was founded we were stressing grassroots organization and filed lawsuits against the City of Columbus. The NRA wasn't interested in grassroots and tried to get us to stop our lawsuit. The "new" NRA is now strongly grassroots and political. But today, PRO is helping to organize statehouse rallies and demonstrations. The NRA wants no part of it. So you can call us "radical" or perhaps we are just a little bit ahead of the mainstream, but the real issue here is the truth of what we are saying. Some of the things we say in the PROponent may be shocking, but that does not mean they are not true. If anyone thinks we have said things that are not true, then call us on the carpet. We want to argue the point. We want the truth to come out. The PROponent is written, laid-out, published and mailed by two people. Their views are not always that of everyone in PRO. The editors welcome guest editorials from almost anyone. Even Sarah, maybe. If someone would like to contribute a monthly column to the PROponent, please feel free to do so. In the years since our fertilization, birth and growth, the PROponent is one of our strongest weapons. We have received praise from gun rights activists across the nation on a fine newsletter. It is a lot of hard work. Reading a myriad of publications, listening to talk shows and other Second Amendment activists and then condensing it down to a digestible mass for our members. We also read a host of other publications put out by other grass-root organizations similar to PRO. This is the fifth year of PRO's existence. No one involved in the beginning foresaw that we would be doing the things that we are doing today. Gun clubs that once saw PRO's political activities as "radical" now look to us as the premier source of "can do" political know-how. We weren't born that way. We learned it the hard way by trial and error, but we are still happy to share what we know. To everyone that has been involved, or helped us on our crusade, the editors of the PROponent express their heart-felt thanks. Some come and go, while others are involved in all aspects of PRO's activities. In this issue, the editors wish to give special recognition to Ron Herman. Ron is a past President of PRO. He served two years in that capacity and is currently finishing his second term as vice-president. He is our Chief NRA Firearms Instructor and is certified in five disciplines. Besides his PRO duties, Ron operates the Pepperidge Farms franchise in central Ohio, and has his own munitions business. He also works all the PRO Gun Shows, though at times he tends to hide in the corner with the deputy sheriff. Ron and his wife Sherry are raising their son Jeremy in the safe way to be around firearms and have appeared in several television programs about having children and guns in the house. Ron Herman once said that he wanted to become a cornerstone for PRO. He has become that, and more, through his commitment to our cause. Without his experience and guidance, many projects that PRO is now involved in would have withered and died or not have been as successful as they have been. Thanks Ron. [Ad for Gun Rights Policy Conference] ____________________________________________________________ If You Get More Than One PROponent A number of PRO members have approached the PRO leadership worried by the fact that they seem to be getting more than one PROponent. We would like to explain why this could be normal. PRO has two mailing lists. The first list is our paid membership list. The people on this list receive the PROponent each and every month. PRO also has a much larger mailing list of alleged pro-gun persons. This list was obtained from hunting licenses, gun show raffles, members who have failed to pay current dues, and purchased names. The people on this list receive legislative alerts, gun show advertising, election material, and usually the issue of the PROponent with candidate information the month before any election. ONLY THE MEMBERSHIP LIST IS CULLED FOR DUPLICATE NAMES. Furthermore, your name could be on both lists and can even be on the mailing list several times depending on how many raffles you entered and shooting magazines you get. If you get several PROponents right before elections just hand out the extra to friends. We do not feel it is worth our while to cull the mailing list for duplicate names. On the other hand, if you get several PROponents every month please contact PRO and we will correct our membership list. We are only human and we do at times make mistakes, but we are more than willing to correct any problems with our membership list to keep it up to date and free of errors. Don't be afraid to help us get it right, we understand mistakes do happen and we will fix it. ____________________________________________________________ NRA DINNER... The first Central Ohio Friends of the NRA Dinner on June 14, at the Villa Milano, was a smashing success. 244 people attended the dinner and all had a good time. The food was excellent and the companionship was felt throughout the room. We also raised over $4,300 for the cause. As chairman of the NRA fundraiser, I would like to extend my thanks to those that gave of their time and effort to make this dinner a success. Pam Sheets did an outstanding job as secretary/treasurer, and as chief prize collector. She did an excellent job in setting up the prize tables, raffle tables and in the overall success of the dinner. She even ran out of her shoes. Her husband, Don, deserves special thanks for enduring all the phone calls needed to plan the event. Scott Mote did an excellent job as Master of Ceremonies for the dinner. I heard many compliments about Scott during and after the dinner. His law firm also purchased a table for the dinner. Loren Moss sold tickets and took the official pictures for the dinner. Pat, Bill and Ginny Johnson manned the NRA table and guarded the door during the event. Jack Papin sold tickets. Larry and Barb Smith were invaluable in the planning stages, even though I spelled her name wrong in the program. Sherry and Ron Herman volunteered their time collecting credit cards and spotting for the auctioneer. John Lydic sold tickets and manned the ticket table before the dinner. Mike Duve sent press releases and stored the auction items at his office, though he almost gave Phil apoplexy when he forgot a box of prizes. To all the rest that helped make this event a success, thanks. Phil Gray is the new NRA representative for Ohio, and his help and encouragement is especially appreciated. He is travelling all over Ohio assisting other groups and individuals host NRA dinners. If you see him out and about, give him a heartfelt thanks and a firm shake for his untiring efforts on our behalf. I know that I forgot someone that helped. There were so many willing volunteers that contributed their time and effort. Don't holler at me, you will be in the next issue, along with some pictures of the first Central Ohio Friends of the NRA Dinner. Planning has already begun for the next dinner that will be held sometime in March, 1995. To those of you that came, bring a friend. To those of you that missed this one, plan to attend the next one. In closing, let me express my heartfelt thanks to all who contributed their time and efforts in making our NRA fundraiser a success. Dennis Walker THE "FOSTER" BILL ... In the past, PRO has always been at the forefront of proposing new "weapon control" legislation designed to keep "weapons", "out of the wrong hands." It was PRO that proposed banning "assault vegetables" after several persons were killed "by" vegetables. (one was hurled from a passing car; another was used as a silencer.) It was PRO that proposed banning "assault turtles" when a snapping turtle was used to rob a man in Texas. Now comes PRO's ultimate contribution to the gun debate: The "Foster" bill. I had a dream the other night that three gang members broke into my home and began hauling stuff out. So I grabbed my .380 and ran after them wounding the leader and holding them all for police. When the cop came he was very sympathetic (he didn't even take my gun) but you could tell he was just going through the motions and knew none of these punks would never do any time for this crime. The key feature, however, was that he warned me my handgun was illegal because the barrel was too short. See, he said, turning it around to point at his own head, "You could commit suicide with this." (I know this is unsafe and crazy, but hey, it was just a dream.) But then I got to thinking. Half the "gun deaths" you read about in the media are suicides. Half of the "gun deaths" each year could be prevented by a simple law that required a long rod be permanently attached to each handgun (especially those carried by military and police) such that it would prevent the owner from pointing the gun at his or her own head. We could call it the "Foster" bill named after Clinton's friend Vince Foster who allegedly committed suicide with a handgun. Suicide is the leading peacetime cause of death in the military. If our President really cared he would issue an executive order tomorrow for the installation of these rods on all military handguns! When I get ideas like this, I just know there has got to be a place for me in Washington! DEBIT PLAN MOVES AHEAD ... We spend a lot of time talking about the Second Amendment but you should never forget that those seeking power never come at you from just one side. They bang pots and pans to the left so you bolt and dash forward through the tall grass and then they bang pots to the right so you veer back, but end up being driven relentlessly down into the center of the waiting nets. As the people blindly rush into channel, the nets fall on them and they are trapped. Those holding the nets can then sort out the "animals" later. Some can be sent to the fields to become beasts of burden. Some will be butchered. And some, the "junk" animals, will simply be killed and have their bodies thrown into a great pit to be covered by bulldozers. The march to the gunless, cashless society is on. It was reported in the June 1 issue of that "scholarly journal" USA Today that the government is about to force the use of debit cards to receive any government benefits, including food stamps, military pensions, social security and others. One can expect that one day soon the government will force all payments including salaries for employees through the debit card system. The plan which is part of Al Gore's "reinventing government" program was praised by Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala who said, "We'll have an audit trail for every transaction, making fraud much easier to detect and prosecute." Well, of course. Once every financial transaction a citizen makes is available at the touch of a bureaucrat's button, fraud is impossible because freedom is impossible. Today, most of us (although we probably don't know realize it.) leave pretty good paper trails already. Our credit card (not the same as Debit Card) purchases, our checking accounts, our bank accounts, while supposed to be private, actually are available; certainly to credit companies and to government officials as well. Banks are even required to file government forms reporting suspicious activities like withdrawing too much cash or refusing to go along with illegal bank rules (like being required to give your citizen ID [social security]) number. But poor people are a problem. They don't use banks. They don't have credit cards. They prefer cash sales and don't leave nice paper trails for those in power to monitor. They cash paychecks at the grocery store or government checks at check cashing services. They are a leak in the net of control slowly being tightened around the American people. Therefore the government is using its stranglehold on the poor and those receiving benefits to either come under the eye of Big Brother or else have your money cut off. This is no different than the current squeeze of poor people by the Clinton administration which "requests" that they voluntarily give up their right to be free of unlawful search and seizure under the threat of having their families kicked out on the streets to live with the "homeless." Since presently about half the population works for the government in some manner and even more receive benefits, by simply forcing all government payments through the debit card a majority of the economy will become monitored and tightly controlled. Then, the majority of privacy and freedom in this country will have vanished as the nets fall upon the unsuspecting citizen-animals. Christians will immediately notice the relationship of the debit card to the "mark of the beast" in Revelation 13:16 which "puts under compulsion all persons, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the slave." whereby "nobody might be able to buy or sell except a person having the mark" ... or should I say card. Non-Christians may dismiss the prophesy but can in no way dismiss the dangers of Big Brother government riding gain on the details of our lives. So what are you going to do when owning money becomes a crime? Huh? ____________________________________________________________ "And we should -- then every community in the country could then start doing major weapon sweeps and then destroying the weapons, not selling them." William J. Clinton, President of the United States, sworn defender of the U.S. Constitution ____________________________________________________________ WHAT IS IT WITH NEWSPAPERS ? The Second Amendment is ... well, second! It is the First Amendment including freedom of speech and the press that the Founding Fathers placed first. The reason, as I see it, is that while the Second Amendment is the defender of the rest, it is though the usurpation of the First, particularly freedom of speech and the press that public opinion can be marshalled to overthrow the constitution and ALL amendments by legal means. We are all witnesses to this in the vicious attacks upon the Second Amendment by a rabid press. The overthrow of freedom of the press began many years ago in the robber-baron days when J.P. Morgan, who was the American representative of the Rothschild plan to control the world through its money, figured out that success required a controlled press. Therefore Morgan had his henchmen make a list of the 100 most influential newspapers in this country and then proceeded to buy 50 of them and install his own editors. Today, virtually all major media speak with one voice. You see, as OSU journalism professor emeritus Walt Seifert put it, "Editors and reporters do not enjoy freedom of the press. The only people who do are owners and publishers. They can hire and fire journalists who disagree with them." Morgan knew that and reporters and writers who don't know it soon find out. Remember all that dynamite investigative reporting by Columbus Dispatch reporters Berens and Snell where they revealed that "assault weapons" were in fact NOT the drug dealer's "weapons of choice"? Well, that team is history. In a controlled press, if you are too good, too honest, too willing to snoop the higher levels of government, you are out. The reporters who keep their jobs are simply "compatible" with the goals of management. But this probably doesn't quite mean what you think I mean. When the public thinks of a hard hitting newspaper reporter they think of Clark Gable in those great roles of a hardboiled writer with a nose for news, lust for the truth and a press card stuck in his hatband. But when today's newspaper writers think of themselves, they imagine some great novelist like Hemingway sipping a drink in a sidewalk cafe in an exotic foreign land. In other words, they all see themselves first and foremost as liars, for that is, in truth, what novelists are. The novelist makes up reality out of his own head. He decides the facts and what happens and what makes the most interesting twists for a "good story." If you want proof just look at the photo Hoot editor, Irv Oslin, uses in his paper. Irv is also a Guardian writer but his photo is not Gable going after truth, but rather the great American novelist at his typewriter. The net result is what led Reese Cleghorn of the Washington Journalism Review to say, "All I know is that in every story about something familiar to me the reporter got it wrong." It even led novelist L. Neil Smith to quip, "Like you, I've never been involved in any event they managed to report correctly." This writer was involved with the media long before the gun issue and my experience is identical. Science, medicine, accident on your street, it is always the same. Reported totally wrong! I have even gone so far when being interviewed by reporters as to force them to repeat the facts to me as they understood them. At the time of the interview they clearly knew what was truth and what was not, but when the stories appeared, it was always just another chapter in the great American novel. Fabrication. Television is even worse. It doesn't even pretend to be news. When Columbus Dispatch editor Mark Fisher came to speak at the May PRO meeting (see related piece in next issue) he was asked if in journalism school all those who were going into TV journalism were separated out and sent to a different camp, because they all seemed so ignorant. Mark answered that he knew some TV people and while there was some but not complete truth to the ignorance charge, the real answer was that television news was simply meant to be entertainment. Entertainment. Think about that. Who are these Hollywood heroes that are so worshipped by the people and even those in power? They are people who make a living pretending to be someone else! They are all paid impostors. That's what actors are. So television "journalism" goes well beyond lies and into "entertainment." This means people pretending to be people they are not. It means gags like exploding gas tanks and fake dead fish. It means Hollywood. So now combine it all. Owners with a political agenda. Servile editors who follow orders to keep their jobs and bosses favor. Novelist reporters to whom reality and fantasy blend in one hazy scene. And TV actors whose "news" is only to entertain. This is the state of the First Amendment today. However, this does not mean that a free press is completely dead. Truth can still be found in a few places for those willing to work to dig it out or pay for it. There are expensive newsletters that still report facts. There are a few dedicated authors who think of themselves in the Gable image still writing books. (or even a few honest editors like Mark Fisher of the Dispatch Forum page who keeps count of pro and anti-gun articles to make sure both sides are equally represented.) But most people just don't bother to dig. They just open the newspaper or turn on the TV and let whatever is there seep into their brains. Eventually they remember the stories as if they were true. Those in power count on it. There was a guy I used to work with who I will call Bernie who used to go around telling everyone how great he was. Soon I would have bosses telling me, "I heard that Bernie is great." And I would ask, "Who exactly did you hear it from?" The problem was they all forgot that they heard it from Bernie! The problem today is that all you people who read the papers and watch TV news and then later give your opinion on guns, crime, heath care or whatever, forget that you heard it all from Bernie. ____________________________________________________________ Now I know it seems sometimes, especially when you look at Robert Reich, Donna Shalala, Steffie Stephanopolis, or the ever-popular Joycelyn Elders, that America is being ruled today by circus freaks and clowns. If Bill Clinton's moral impediments were physical, he'd need a ramp to get from the bare floor to the carpet. Argentina had Juan and Evita: we've got Evita and Bozo. L. Neil Smith, Speech to Libertarian Party State Convention May 21, 1994 Phoenix, Arizona ____________________________________________________________ BATF ON THE ATTACK ... I'm sure you have all heard about the rules-change-a-minute coming out of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF). It is a most unprecedented and for the most part very illegal attack upon the law abiding citizens and businessmen of this country. First we have the recent declaration that several shotguns are "dangerous ordnance" effected by a great stretch of the rules. Next we have the banning of all 7.62 x 39 steelcore ammo because the BATF claimed that Olympic Arms had sold pistols in that caliber and thus the ammo could be considered "cop killer." The handguns were developed at the request of military and law enforcement and Olympic maintains that only five prototypes were built and NONE have been sold to the public. The BATF doesn't care. Who knows when they might be sold and some nut case might shoot someone with one. The BATF says that's close enough to legal for them. Ban it all, they said! Then we just read the following off the computer network on talk.politics.guns and we quote: "I just heard on the Stan Solomon radio talk show (Indianapolis) that the BATF has changed the requirements for FFL renewals. The new requirements include front/side mug shots and fingerprints with every renewal. Also required are detailed blueprints of the business premises and a detailed description of the alarm system. Also required is written permission for the BATF to conduct warrantless search & seizure of the business premises." It seems to me (and Sarah Brady) that any businessman who sells guns instead of condoms ought to be treated like a criminal, No? And besides, think of the tax dollars saved by having building plans. Could you imagine the cost of taking aerial reconnaissance photos like they did in Waco to build BATF raid-practice structures for every gun shop? Why, with FFL's "more numerous than gas stations", the cost would be astronomical. And lastly, there was the recent Day One show on ABC where BATF special agent Pat Hynes said, "Right now there's 20 million records here, we've already computerized 60 million." That means 60 million of our names are already in government computers. Note that sec. 926 of the gun control act McClure-Volkmer amendments prohibits "any system of registration of firearms" owners or transactions. This confirms rumors that they were doing this and it is absolutely 100% illegal. How long America? How long are you going to let these blatant criminals run your lives? However, the way they see it, the ends (controlling you) justify any means. After all, as Hitler said, "History is written by the victors." RESPONSIBILITY ... In the Naked City feature of the June 8, 1994, Columbus Guardian appeared the headline "Responsible Gun Ownership is What the 2nd Amendment is All About" Followed by the following two examples of firearm "accidents": "A 23-year-old Beulah Road man unloaded his .357 Magnum and then pulled the trigger. The gun fired, striking him in the right thigh." "A 17-year-old and two of his buddies were "dry firing" and "empty" gun when it went off, sending a bullet through the boy's left hand." While the Guardian made no further comment, knowing that all their "hip" readership who were raised on properly shocking to parents, but nevertheless politically correct (ghost written) song lyrics would catch the implication that only a citizen who is a sworn agent of a strong central government is smart enough to own a gun. But WE will comment. First of all, while the story does not say that the .357 was a revolver, chances are pretty good that it was. If that is true, then the story that the owner "unloaded" it and it still fired is shaky at best. PRO finds that the "it just went off when I was cleaning it" story is often used as a cover for doing something really stupid with your gun and having it result in an accident. Secondly, we want to know what a 17-year-old and "two of his buddies" were doing with unsupervised access to firearms. Were they gang members practicing in case some rival gang member might "dis" them? Were they practicing sticking up carry-out stores or defending their drug-trade turf? Or was it a "real" accident where the supervising parent just turned his or her back for an instant and something went wrong? Obviously since Columbus Guardian writers are largely engaged in writing the great American Rock and Roll novel, the key element here is the "look and feel" of the story, rather than facts or probing analysis. BUT if Guardian writers think that PRO will defend these clowns just because they are gun owners, they are wrong. Both these cases violate the golden rule of gun safety and neither had to happen. How many times do we need to repeat it? ALWAYS KEEP YOUR MUZZLE POINTED IN A SAFE DIRECTION! If you do that and nothing else, then nobody ever gets hurt. If you do stupid things. If you think its unloaded and it isn't. If you shoot your TV. If you have it go off while "cleaning" it ...NOBODY GETS HURT. Responsible gun ownership IS part of what the Second Amendment is all about and being responsible means taking personal responsibility for firearm safety. That includes proper supervision of underage shooters and NEVER, we said NEVER, let that "empty" gun be pointed at yourself or another person! The national safety council shows that U.S. Firearm accident rates have declined steadily from about 2.6 per 100,000 population in 1930 to about .6 per 100,000 in 1990. If this trend continues we can stamp out firearm accidents by the end of the century. All it takes is for each and every gun owner (both legal and illegal) to find that safe direction and keep their muzzle pointed there! PRO ATTENDS 1994 NRA CONVENTION ... Report by Mike Regan On May 20, 21, and 22 Mike Reagan and Dave Stockham attended the 1994 NRA Convention, Grassroots Session, and Annual Meeting on behalf of the Peoples Rights Organization. There is great evidence that the NRA is now strongly pro-grassroots. The message now going nationwide from the NRA's D.C. headquarters is that all members must organize locally and affiliate with the NRA. (How many years has PRO been saying this?) Every gun owner must diligently defend the 2nd Amendment by supporting friendly qualified candidates as a number one activity. There was a dispute during the annual meeting about the success or failure of the current administration from the "old guard." They whined that the current financial situation was terrible since the purchase of the new headquarters building and that the NRA was ineffective. However, it was shown from an appraisal that the new building is worth at least three (3) times its purchase price and that leases pay the mortgage. Additionally, the old building would need several million dollars in improvements. As far as effectiveness, up to three years ago the NRA was losing membership and had inadequate accounting. I believe any member of PRO who can, should attend the 1995 NRA convention in Phoenix. You will be impressed if not overwhelmed by its scope and professionalism. Dave and I had somehow lost our table seating for the banquet and the usher fixed our problem by seating us near the stage at the same table with Joe Foss. (Joe Foss is a WWII air ace of the South Pacific, retired general, former governor of South Dakota and previous president of the NRA!) All the celebrities including Chuck Yeager, Robert Stack and Dusty Rogers (son of Roy) visited our table to say hello to General Foss. The spotlight was repeatedly aimed back at our table (and hence at PRO) as speaker after speaker honored Mr. Foss. The other PRO member in attendance at the meeting was PRO police liaison Jim Ramm who was just elected to the NRA board of directors. (Isn't it great to see PRO beginning to make a mark on the national scene!) Jim will be a fellow director of Joe Foss on the Board and rode back to the hotel in from the Tanya Tucker concert in Joe's Cab. This is just one more connection that PRO can add to the list of Ohio board members and powerful friends such as Neal Knox who has on more than one occasion "sent a bolt of lighting" down through the NRA leadership because of valid complaints PRO had about the way some things were being handled. I know this sounds like a lot of self-serving name-dropping, but I bring this up as a selling point for others to attend next year's 1995 NRA Convention. Meeting celebrities is only the icing on the cake. Dave, Jim and I sat in on seminars designed to bolster our knowledge in defending our 2nd Amendment Rights. What I thought would be a boring string of goalless meetings turned out to be one of my most enjoyable "vacations." If you have been an NRA member for 5 consecutive years or a life member, you can vote on issues at the general meeting as well as elect the president and directors. You need to call the NRA membership office now and verify that your membership has NOT had an interruption in renewal. Even 2 weeks can disqualify you from voting. If you have not been a member for 5 consecutive years, you can still vote on issues by upgrading your membership to "LIFE." But you had better do it before July 1, 1994 because the cost is rising from $500 to $750. Jim Ramm was elected to the NRA board by PRO's campaigning. If PRO could increase our membership and convince all PRO members to join the NRA, we could elect even more board members from PRO. Every PRO members needs to be made to understand just how important it is to join the NRA. We know that in the past they have made you mad. They made many PRO leaders mad, but they rejoined. Think of it this way: It's only for a few years, because by then either we will have won or they will have your guns. Either way, being a member won't be nearly so important and you can go back to arguing about your favorite shooting sport (or telling stories about how you used to shoot). Having Jim on the board is great, but we can still elect another. Frank Fecke (of Ohio Rifle and Pistol Assoc.) and I would like to enlist as many Ohio NRA members as possible to attend the 1995 Convention. We would like to organize an informal Ohio contingent to attend seminars and the meetings together. This will solidify relationships among Ohio NRA affiliates and help us have even more fun. There is a possibility of having enough attendees to charter a flight. [Editors: An NRA Convention report by Jim Ramm will appear in the next issue.] ____________________________________________________________ "... when we got organized as a country and we wrote a fairly radical Constitution with a radical Bill of Rights, giving a radical amount of individual freedom to Americans, it was assumed that the Americans who had that freedom would used [sic] it responsibly. "What's happened in America today is, ... there's a lot of irresponsibility. And so a lot of people say there's too much personal freedom. *When personal freedom's being abused, you have to move to limit it.* That's what we did in the announcement I made last weekend on the public housing projects, about how we're going to have weapon sweeps and more things like that to try to make people safer in their communities." William J. Clinton, President of the United States, Sworn defender of the U. S. Constitution, on MTV, April 1994. [Emphasis ours] ____________________________________________________________ HUNTER'S EDUCATION ... by Mike Regan, Chm. Hunter Education Committee PRO needs more people to take the Hunter Education and Instructor course from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR). You must take the Hunter Education course yourself before you can take the Instructor course. Hunter education is as important to the fight to keep firearms and a wildlife tradition in this country as the efforts to ban hunting and so-called "blood sports" is to the other side. Voter education is important, but don't underestimate the importance of educating our urban population in the tradition of hunting and wildlife conservation. The Hunter Education classes are well attended and PRO is able to recruit potential members and disseminate a abundance of information. Each course usually has from 30 to 50 students and most are teenagers and includes some parents as well. Help keep hunting alive in Ohio by becoming a Hunter Education instructor. If you have not yet taken the hunter education course, sign up for the next one near you. If you have already taken the course within the last two years, sign up to take the Instructor course. It is only four hours long on a Saturday. To find the times and locations of the next instructor courses please call the ODNR Outdoor Skills Dept. at 1-800 282-3557. PRO HELPS LIBERALS COPE ... So you are a liberal in the 90's and living in fear. You want to be politically correct. You want to do your part as a victim of crime, but you never really understood just what that could mean in your personal life. You are paralyzed with hoplophobia. [Editors: Yes, we know this is not a proper word, the same as "homophobia" is not, but at least ours has correct etymology.] There is now hope for your pain. First understand that PRO cares. PRO is aware. PRO is sensitive to your feelings. No matter if you are male or female, PRO offers the therapy and sensitivity training to turn your life around. Before you actually have to do anything yourself, PRO will give you a blue lapel ribbon as a badge you can wear to let others be aware of your struggle within. This ribbon alone will not only raise your consciousness toward the important issues of American rights and the plight of the victims of crime, but will also help raise the consciousness of those around you who see you wearing it. After taking this first tottering step toward self-actualization, PRO will lead you to a new life. PRO offers group therapy where certified instructors will gently lead you to confront your neuroses. You will actually handle the hated objects of your fears. You will learn to appreciate their background and culture which is so different from your own. Through this sensitivity training you will come to identify with those less fortunate persons who have become victims of crime. You will understand that this pain never needed to occur. You will come to understand that the pain of the victim does not need to be your pain. The truth is that PRO can deliver you from fear. PRO understands your dichotomy. Sure, you have come to suspect that being raped by a biker gang, being stabbed 15 or 20 times by a drug-crazed robber, or even being dragged a mile or two by a car-jacker is not the kind of experience that would augment your lifestyle, but at the same time you are convinced that your total liberal ignorance of firearms would surely mean that any gun would probably be a greater danger to yourself than to any potential attacker. PRO is pleased to inform you that ignorance can be cured. The therapy of PRO's Personal Protection firearms classes will give you the help you need. Quite frankly, we believe it's your body, and thus it's protection should be your choice. Call PRO and sign up today. You will find that this sensitivity training will not only give you that choice, but also will make you much more sensitive and caring [toward gun owners] than you ever thought you could be. BORROWED GUNS... It is not an advisable tactic for competition shooters to borrow a firearm to compete with in any type of contest. But the first and second place finishers both borrowed .22 rifles at the Citizens Against Crime fundraiser for Amy Salerno. Salerno is running for the 23rd House seat in the November election. Jim Prior finished first with a score of 157 points. Jim scored 86 on the pistol and 71 on the rifle part. Scott Mote shot 52 on the pistol part and 87 with the rifle. Third place winner, Barry Perdue, shot 138. He shot 71 with pistol and 67 with the rifle. Prior borrowed a single shot Russian Target rifle that looked as if the May Day Parade had driven over it. The rifle shot straight, but Jim was not used to it. Scott borrowed a Kimber from Barry Perdue, and beat him by one point. Amy Salerno was at the shoot and partook of food, soft drinks and shooting. Even though she shot a Ruger we won't hold it against her. CAC would like to express it's thanks to Greg McGinnis, who was the organizer, planner and driving force for this fund raiser. Thanks Greg. [Photo of Amy Salerno aiming rifle at fundraiser shoot] [caption] Amy Salerno Takes Aim ... GRPC... Elsewhere in this excellent edition of the PROponent is an ad for the GRPC in San Francisco, California from Sept. 30 til October 2, 1994. This is an excellent time to visit with other GRASSROOTS activists in the war to protect the Second Amendment. Plan to attend. OGF... Last year, PRO attended the first ever Ohio Game Fair at Camp Lazarus. It was a beautiful setting, good weather and an excellent time for those attending. There were some problems with parking and advertising, but these have been taken care of for this year. The dates for this year's Ohio Game Fair are September 9, 10 and 11. There will be all types of activities available at the fair from dogs, to shotgunning, to archery. Plus all types of exhibits. See you there. SEMPER FI... All the Marines want is a few good men! One of the Clintons went overseas to escape serving his country. One of them went to the Marines and volunteered to serve. The Marine Recruiter strongly implied that she was too old and too blind to be a marine. The year was 1975 and Hilary was 27 years old. The young recruiter suggested that maybe the dogs would want her. Dogs is a reference to the army foot soldier. Clinton ran across the sea and his future wife was rejected. At least the president tried to serve, even if her husband didn't! The above story was told a gathering of female veterans that are raising money to build a memorial at Arlington National Cemetery for female veterans. If the story is true, Hilary has more "sand" than does Bill. But we must remember that both of them are opportunistic individuals that make their own photo opportunities, and tell different stories in different areas to satisfy diverse groups. So until that Marine Recruiter stands tall and comes forth and says "hell yes, I sent her to the dogs" just believe that it is a feel good story. If it is true, at least on of our leaders had the courage to try to serve our country. A final thought is what that Marine Recruiter had against dogs? FISH STORY... Ohio's Attorney General declared the Brady Law a huge success because it stopped 129 felons from purchasing firearms. The Brady Law is working. We have saved at least 129 lives because of it. We can sleep safe and sound right? No. The 129 was 00.7% of the total firearms brought in Ohio in the first three months of the Brady Law. Some were burglars; some were thieves; some were check kiters. Were they all potential murderers? Doubtful. Out of 16,499 applications, only 129 were denied. If we had a law that affected so many people but did so little good, the people would demand that it be revoked. This is what we should do. A final thought concerns the fate of those that were denied a permit to purchase a firearm. Were any of them arrested for violating the law? Were any of them found not able to purchase a firearm in error? TUCSON SHOOTOUT... It was hot, dry and dusty. The sweat dripped in their eyes, making it hard to aim. The two enemies stood at ten paces and leveled their guns at each other and opened fire. Round after round was fired at the other(three to seven), but neither was hit. They were charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in Tucson, Arizona. Jonathan Brown, Jr. and Tristan Rossum, two teen-agers, tried to settle their dispute the old-fashioned way when they got into an argument. Luckily, for them both, neither could aim a shotgun. Sheriff Detective Warren Hock said they had to arrest them for aggravated assault because they had no "felony stupid rule yet". BACK-STABBER... The representative from the 12th Congressional District has begun to send out his form letters in reply to his vote on the "assault weapon ban." In a letter mailed June 2, 1994 he says "I have also supported reasonable controls on inherently dangerous weapons such as fully automatic military weapons, plastic guns and armor piercing `cop killer' bullets." "I am convinced there will be virtually no discernible impact on law abiding hunters, collectors, target shooters, or those interested in self-defense. The bill exempts all arms, their possession or transfer, held prior to enactment. At the same time, this legislation will help reduce the firepower currently employed by criminals against police and the general public." He closes with the following quote, "My support for this measure should in no way be construed as a weakening or shift away from my commitment to Second Amendment rights. I simply do not advocate, nor will I support, legislation or regulation that would take away the right to keep and bear arms." But Mr. Kasich, you did the very same thing that you said you wouldn't do. What a hypocrite! He also fails to mention the contingent of Ohio Police Officers that went to Washington to talk to him about his vote. He treated them very shabbily. CHOICES... As a result of the recent double murder in California by a sports star, the papers and other media outlets are providing telephone numbers for victims of abuse. Choices for Victims of Abuse operates a 24 hour crisis line in Columbus. It is 224-4663 and is for battered women. Lutheran Social Services operates Domestic Options to Violence Education Therapy Group. This is an 18-week group counseling program for male batterers. They can be reached at 228-5209. DEER CREEK... Deer Creek State Park shooting range will be closed from July 10 til September 1. They will be doing a remodeling program on the range. LETTERS ... Dear PRO: I read with interest your story about Congressional criminals and agree with you 100%, so here is my twenty bucks to help get rid of these cruds, and I will work to see that they are defeated in the polls. Col. B. Webb [Editor's note: Thank you Colonel Webb. PRO and the country need more patriots like yourself if we are to defeat the slime slinging gun control advocates. Donations can be made to PRO, Citizens Against Crime or to the Ohio Committee of 1776.] Dear Pro: The June issue is a MASTER-PIECE. I'm going to get a lot of new members with this one. Send 20 copies please. R. Boylan, Marysville. [Editor's Note: Thanks Ron, and we got his copies of the PROponent to him at the Salerno Shoot.] LOBSTER FRA DIAVOLO... On a recent Today Show on NBC, a cockroach of the sea was murdered. It was cruelly killed and tortured to death. The killer pulled off both claws, cut off the tail, then split the head in two and tossed the pieces in a hot skillet filled with olive oil and garlic. Michael Giannelli, director of the Ark Trust, an animal rights group based in Sherman Oaks, California, said that the chef and the owner of the restaurant were chilling desensitized throughout this whole process. PETA, based in Rockville, Maryland, plans to sue the restaurant owners for cruelty to animals said Mary Beth Sweetland, director of investigations. She went on that they have wanted to bring suit against seafood chefs before, but never had any video taped evidence. Maria Freddura, owner of The Daily Catch in Boston, wondered what all the fuss was about "when millions are boiled, broiled and baked each year." Barbara Beltz, an associate professor of biology at Wellesley College, said that the pieces twitching in the pan was just a reflexive action of the muscles to the heat of the pan. She went on to say that lobsters have a special joint in their claw that allows them to let go of their claws when they are attacked in the wild; that no pain was caused the lobster by the loss of its claws. Lobsters are eaten by the millions each year. As long as you cook them quickly, whether by dismemberment, boiling, baking or steaming you are committing a humane act in obtaining a food source for yourself. A word of caution in cooking lobsters: If you put them in a pot of cold water and try to heat water and lobster to boiling at the same time, the lobster can crawl out of the pot. True story. THE CLUB ... It was great. A few days ago some friends and I went to shoot at the conservation club we belong to. The weather was just right. The range was nearly empty. We had numerous guns and stacks of ammo piled all over the tables. We made lots of noise and had a ball doing it. When we were done the ground was thick with brass and then we all went over to one guy's home for a wonderful friendly family dinner together. Some time later I got to thinking. You know, this is really what America is all about. Safe fun, friendship and family, but still in the background, just out of sight, is a chorus humming "don't tread on me." How different is this from the ideas being forced down America's throat by the gun-grabbers. Their elitist ideas of "fun" are quite different. A table piled high with semi-auto "assault weapons" is something that makes them think about new ways the average Joe needs yet to be controlled. A thousand rounds of ammo just sitting there, let alone being fired across a field, to them is something that should only be allowed with a proper "arsenal" license; that is, permission of the state. Well phooey! It is THEY who just don't seem to get it. If Metzenbaum and Schumer want to come out and squeeze off a few rounds with us and afterward have a couple of beers in the clubhouse, they are more than welcome. But if they want to tell us how we are all a bunch of boorish louts who are about to go crazy at any moment and shoot up a restaurant, well I think it's time we reminded them that England lost the war. We can probably scrape up enough for a couple of plane tickets to England, the land of their dreams, where nearly all guns are now banned and as a result, crime has increased to the point where they have had to arm police who have been unarmed for a hundred years. The latest proposal is to make it a crime to keep even those few legal hunting guns in your home. Over there, our anti-gun legislators can then revel in their exclusive clubs where they store their guns, where strict standards and high admission fees keep out "undesirables" and where life is again good ... all paid for, of course, by those few still doing productive work. If you wonder what is to be the final resting place of these gun club rifles and shotguns, I can tell you. I recently was in a gun shop in New Albany and I was told a story of the owner's grandfather who lived in Germany in the '30's. One day soldiers appeared at the hunt club with a wheelbarrow and told them to put all the guns into it. Granddad didn't want to give up his gun and tried to resist. The soldiers offered him a choice. He could give up his gun or he could die. He gave up his gun. PRO GUN SHOW ... Don't forget the biggest ever PRO Gun Show on August 6 and 7 at the Franklin County Fairgrounds in Hilliard, OH. As an experiment, we will be able to expand to 500 tables by using a new way to treat the floor to keep dust down. If you have been having trouble finding things because of the Clinton-Metzenbaum-Schumer gun sales boosting programs, come to our show and have a better chance of filling your needs. Guns, Knives, Ammo! ____________________________________________________________ The PROponent is published by: Peoples Rights Organization; 5 E. Long St., Suite 412; Columbus, OH 43215; Tel (614) 268-0122 Fax (614) 275-0092 EMAIL: 73427.1615@compuserve.com Michael T. Regan, Chairman; Ron Herman, Vice Chairman Dennis Walker, Secretary; Sherry Herman, Treasurer Editors: Dennis Walker and Frank Jacoby Contributions, either written or financial are gladly accepted. Anyone wishing to reprint all or part of an article from the PROponent may do so. Please mention the PROponent and the issue that the article was in, and send a copy of your publication to our PRO office. (We like to know what your organization is doing too.) Also, PRO will exchange newsletters with any pro-gun, pro-rights, pro-hunting, etc. group to further grass-roots communication. Put us on your newsletter mailing list and we will put your club on ours. PRO general meetings are held the third Tuesday of every month at Veterans Memorial Auditorium, W. Broad St. Columbus, Ohio. "That government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth" _________________________________________________________________