Dear Friend,
Forgive the length of this alert but there is a lot to talk about.
As you know, today Diane Feinstein announced her new gun ban legislation.
There are no surprises here. She wants to ban virtually everything. This is
something she has made no secret of in the past.
Her press conference today consisted of the all the same lies she and other
haters of liberty have been telling for years. Almost nothing said today was
even close to the truth, but let’s face it, that’s what we were expecting.
(It’s interesting to note that Obama has murdered far more children,
including a least 2 American children, with Predator Drones, with NO
congressional oversight, than were murdered at Sandy Hook. )
Also today, on a web conference held by the White House, Joe Biden suggested
that the single best defensive firearm is a double barreled shotgun. This
would, of course, explain their popularity with law enforcement and the
military.
The National Coalition to Stop the Gun Ban (of which OFF is a member) issued
a response to the proposed ban. Gary Marbut of the Montana State Shooting
Association has posted a version of it here:
http://progunleaders.org/Congress/
As you may have noticed, we have totally rebuilt OFF’s website. While there
may be a few bugs to work out (let us know if you see any) we think it will
be a much better online experience for anyone using the site. This
transition was in the works long before the fertilizer hit the ventilator
and was not a quick transition. We probably would not have chosen to make a
change of this magnitude had we known what was about to happen in the world
of gun rights, but we think in the long run this will be a benefit to all of
us.
OFF usually sends out one “renewal letter” a year asking folks to renew
their commitment to gun rights. In the past we have typically done this at
the end of the year or shortly after New Years. If you are a member of OFF
you may have noticed you did not receive that letter this year. You can
imagine why. We have had numerous members writing to find out if their
membership was “current.” If you believe what we are doing is worthy of your
support, of course we would be pleased if you would make a donation, but
under the circumstances we will most likely not be sending out a renewal
letter soon. There simply has not been time.
Since the Clackamas Town Center shooting and the atrocity at Sandy Hook, we
have been truly overwhelmed by new members and support from old friends. We
have added staff to respond to the amazing number of people pledging help.
If you are a new joiner, I want to thank you for becoming part of this
fight, but as you might guess, we have had such enormous growth over the
last month and a half that we are working overtime to respond to
contributors and new members and frankly we are running a bit behind. It
has always been our policy to respond to all communications, but especially
to new joiners and contributors, immediately. We have not been able to do
that recently.
If you recently joined and are due a patch or some other gift from us,
please rest assured they will be sent as soon as possible. Because of the
unexpected surge of membership there are things (like patches) we just flat
ran out of. Everything is on order and it will be sent to you as soon as we
get it. We are grateful for your patience.
We want to remind you that another pro-gun rally will be held at the Capitol
on February 8th at 10 am. If you were at the last one, you know what a
success it was. It would be great to make this one even bigger.
We’d also like to acknowledge all the people who have given 100% in this
battle and done more than we could have ever imagined to help OFF grow.
Northwest Armory in Milwaukie, OR has been amazing, not only in their
personal support but in their efforts to sign up new members for OFF.
Our friends at MK Tactical, Threat Dynamics and Blackstone Gun Safety
have all reached out to their friends and encouraged them to become part of
OFF and their help has been invaluable.
Talk show hosts Bill Meyer (KMED in Medford) Lars Larson (KXL Portland),
and Bill Post (KYKN Salem) have been tireless supporters of both the Second
Amendment and Oregon Firearms Federation and we cannot thank them enough.
This is going to be a very challenging few months ahead. We we will be lied
to and about. We will be vilified and attacked. But this battle is too
important to stand on the sidelines. I look forward to working side by side
with you as we defeat any new assaults on liberty.
Many thanks,
Kevin Starrett