2A Political Activism, the ORA and You/Us

[Roadking Larry]

Yesterday (1/17/09) I attended the Oklahoma Rifle Association's Executive Board meeting. I wanted to see first hand what the ORA is doing to defend the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in the state of Oklahoma.

I was not disappointed.

What I saw was a group of experienced and dedicated men and women working to defend their 2nd Amendment Rights. Not only are they involved in the political process but they work to promote and advance the shooting sports and self defense aspects of gun ownership by working with their local clubs with various competitive events both for adults and juniors/kids.
I also noticed that at 46 years old I was by quite a bit the youngest man in the room during the meeting.
Some of the people have been doing this for 30 and sometime 40 years or more, they are not going to be here forever and there is a need for the next generation(s) to step up and get into the fight, if we don't within a few years we will have lost by default.

Seven OSA forum members met with the top ORA folks after their board meeting to discuss ways to work in concert to help preserve our rights.
Timely communication was one of the biggest issues we talked about. Getting important information and action alerts out to the people who need to know in a hurry. To that end several of us will be posting news here and asking for help in communication with your representatives about important legislation. We expect to post action alerts where we would request people to call/email/write there Congressman or Senator or State reps and request specific action on a upcoming bill. Stay Tuned.

We also talked about membership and recruiting. The ORA is a member driven organization. If you think the ORA doesn't do enough or do the right things then you need to step up and get involved. There is only so many people and so many hours in a day The ORA can't be all things to all people.
http://www.oklarifle.org
Many voices are louder than any one or two.

More to come, stay tuned and hang on, its looking to be a bumpy ride.

 

[J.P.]

Thanks for the for the review and getting involved.
Updated action alerts here would be agreat idea.

 

[skyydiver]

Great post Larry, it was nice to meet everyone.

I will add something about my reasons for attending. I have known about the ORA for a number of years, but have never joined because I didn't think they did much but maybe have matches every now and then and maybe chase after hunter's rights some. By attending the meeting, I learned that these guys are serious about our 2A rights. I have had issues with the NRA (of which ORA is an affiliate) for a long time, because I perceived them as soft and compromising on the 2A. Yesterday the ORA board members convinced me that when / if they ever DO give up ground with certain legislation, they are being mindful of the overall 2A picture and their ability to further it in the future.

For instance, there was much talk about a certain piece of legislation that on the face really only applies to hunters. At first I thought the time could be better spent talking about car carry, etc... As the discussion went on, I realized that the main interest of the ORA in this hunting law was the fear that it might make hunting too expensive for many, thus taking them out of the overall 2A fight when their specific interest was already gone. They have a very good understanding of the big picture, having studied exactly how the Brits and Aussies lost their guns, and all the steps leading up to it (i.e. hunting being too expensive for all but the elite).

I joined the ORA yesterday, and would suggest that if all of the OSAers who are serious about the 2A would join and get active in ORA, 2 things will happen.

1. ORA's clout on Lincoln will grow significantly
2. OSA members will be able to help guide the direction and focus of ORA

Right on.

 

[Glocktogo]

The part about it being a room full of older men tells me two things. They have a lot of experience and knowledge on the subject. They haven't communicated this knowledge and experience well to our younger generations and women.

I hope they can change that, or they're going to selectively phase themselves out in a few decades. I tried to embrace their platform before and left unsatisfied. I'm ready to give it another try with some minimal effort on their part.

 

[skyydiver]

They even mentioned being glad we came so this knowledge transfer could happen. They admitted being technologically challenged and wanted to pass the torch to more youngins. I'm tellin' ya, you've seen my posts on this topic in the past, and I think that helping bring ORA into the 21st century, and helping steer the focus is the most effective thing we as a group can do right now. I'm not drinking the "ORA is the end-all be-all" kool-aid; but I'm sipping from the "it sure could be with an infusion of members like us" coffee pot.

 

[Shadowrider]

I was there and also joined ORA.

I too was very impressed with the knowledge of the executive staff of the ORA. I already knew one of them and was not disappointed in the slightest with the rest of them. It became clear to me that this comes from the experience of having actually been there and done it. They kind of drove home the difference between knowing what needs to happen and actually making it happen. And as Larry said we were ALL VERY MUCH younger than the entire staff there.

The hunting legislation discussed was actually kind of scary in the fact that it sounds like something most hunters would want while not knowing that that's pretty much exactly what happened in England and Australia's abolishment of guns.

I got the impression that they are concentrating their presence and focus on the state capital and not gun shows, campuses, etc. I think their resources are pretty thin and they are using what they have for "the most effect".

Also there were a couple of OSA members involved with campus CCW and they got some good advice.

In all a pretty good day, I'd say.

 

[okiexd40]

I was part of the group that attended the ORA executive board meeting yesterday.

The ORA board is made up of men that have been standing on the front lines of the 2A battle for quite some time, and they have done a fantastic job with the limited resources available to them. There is a lot of knowledge and experience in that room that is going to go to waste if we, the younger generation, don't step up and get involved and learn from these wise men. They might not be "up with the times" when it comes to using computers and the internet, but that is where we can step in and help and in the process we can learn from them and carry on what they have done.

I encourage anybody that is not an ORA member to step up and join.

If you already are a member the ORA, you might consider sending in a few dollars to the ORA for their "political victory" fund. They use the money from this fund for ads and radio spots to draw attention to issues that are before the Oklahoma Legislature. If you're thinking that you have never have seen or heard one of ads, it's because the fund is very small and they must do things on a small scale.

 

[Anaconda40]

Thanks for the update, Larry. Until the discussions that were held here on this board a few weeks ago, I didn't even REALIZE there was an ORA. And I'm pretty active politically.

I'll be joining.

By the way, Skyydiver, I really appreciate your perspective on this.

 

[underdog]

Glad you got together with ORA. Lord knows they need help, even if they don't.

I tried to log on to their message board today and I've been banned because I'm a spammer. Think I have posted one or two times. These folks are severely technologically challenged.

 

[gecko77799]

I will be joining and can volunteer some of my time towards any technological help they may need as well.