Michigan SAS Story (a good one, too)

C

Colombe

New member
http://www.freep.com/news/mich/guns19_20010319.htm

FRANKENMUTH -- The school nurse, with pictures of her grandsons pinned to her jacket below another pin that said "hockey grandma," leveled the .38 Smith & Wesson revolver, paused and fired. Then she smiled.

"Hey, that's pretty good for my first time," Theresa
Hull said, beaming. The 59-year-old Nashville, Mich., woman hit the center on her paper target three times early Sunday afternoon. "I love this."

And with that, a state and national pro-gun movement aiming to attract female members had also hit its mark. Bull's-eye.

The Shop & Shoot Weekend, hosted by the Michigan Chapter of the Second Amendment Sisters -- gun rights advocates' answer to the female-run gun-control movement Million Mom
March -- brought all kinds of women and girls to Frankenmuth for a weekend of outlet shopping, chicken dinners, girl talk, shooting lessons and competition.

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:) :) :)
 
C

Cougar

New member
SAS

My wife is the former Ohio coordinator for SAS and was also (briefly) on thier National Board. She left the organization after being frustrated by their lack of direction. Sure, they had National Directors, but they had no direction.

After the rally in DC last Mother's Day, the SAS wasted the next five months trying to get themselves organized. Sure, they were able to pull of the couter-rally to the MMMs in DC, but that event focused their attention to a specific goal. After the rally they had no focus and no plans for anything to focus on!

My wife and I finally came up with the idea of having the SAS sponsor a National Firearms Safety Day. (emphasis added) This Safety day was to have been held at least a month before last fall's election. The purpose of this day was many fold:

  • To promote firearms safety. Show the MMMs that our concern is safety! Show the rest of the country as well!
  • Use the event to register voters for the upcoming election. Some States have a 30-day registration deadline before an election.
  • Invite the media to show the real truths about firearms. Have documented references to dispel the untruths being propogated by the opposition.
  • This would be a family event to introduce firearms safety to children. Use Eddie Eagle program for the kids.
  • Show the differences in the types of firearms and how to determine their loading status and how to render them safe.
  • No actual firing was to be done by participants. A demonstration may have been given by the instructor by shooting an example of each type of firearm. A melon or some such would show to the kids the destructive power of a gun -- and to show that they are not toys!

Alas, the SAS heirarchy could not get their collective butts together to pull this off. They were still re-writing and re-writing the mission statement. They were still trying to decide on a logo.

They wasted the momentum and the media attention that they garnered at the DC rally.

The initial concept of the SAS was great. It was found lacking in its execution. The SAS started as a great Civil Rights movement. By turning it into a women's shooting sports organization they have ostracised an entire group of women who don't particularly care about guns or the shooting sports, but who do care about safety and the government interfering with our civil right to RKBA. There is already a Women's Shooting Sports Foundation. By promoting responsible gun ownership and good firearms safety practices, they would have a much wider audience (and potential membership) and a much better chance of meaningful communication with the fence sitters and the 'feel-good-itis' anti-gunners.
 
C

Colombe

New member
Hmm..I guess I feel like I need to respond to that, Cougar, although I can't speak for the SAS itself. I can only give you my opinion.

Last year, a small group of people who never met agreed, over the internet, to counter a well-funded, well-publicized group of women who wanted to take away their right to bear arms. They posted it here and there and got a whole lot of other people to come with them. I was one of the people who heard about it and decided I wanted to go. I'll spare you the details, but it was quite a trip. When I got there, I met several other people. A woman who had lost a daughter to violence. Another woman who flew to DC, by herself, with one change of clothes, just to stand up for what she believed in. It was the same thing, over and over. Our trips weren't paid for by anyone else. And we still managed to make the trip. 5000 of us. Sounds like you were one of them. Why were you there?

So, since then, things didn't go the way you had hoped. I'm betting you aren't the only one disappointed. But they got the job done when it was needed, didnt they?

Now, its a year later. And you know what? The MMM is laying off and we're making the national news. Things seem to be moving more at a state level than at the national level, but thats ok. It gives each of us a chance to do our part, doesn't it? Did you have you Safety Day in Ohio? If not, why not? It sounds like it was a good idea. But it also sounds like one of those someone/anyone/noone things. I was at the Shop N Shoot here. It was state, not national. Less than 1/2 of the women attending had ever shot before. Some were scared to death. How does that not fit your vision?

I'm sorry you disagree with where you feel the group is headed, but again, I don't have anything to say about where the group is headed. All I know is that until they start calling for gun registration, or until the MMM disappears completely, I'm going to support them.
 
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