The Los Angeles County CCW Permit Challenge

[Paladin]

To ALL Calguns.net members,

I want to challenge you today. The challenge is for us to make a major impact on Californian's ability to obtain a CHL (concealed handgun license). We can do this by replacing Los Angeles County Sheriff Baca. If that happens, we could almost double the number of CHL holders in the state.

Why are CHLs important? (1) To protect yourself, your loved ones and any other innocent victims when you are away from your home in normal times, or especially after a major disaster (Remember post-Katrina New Orleans? The Rodney King riots?). (2) In case you ever are a witness to a violent crime and the perp gets out on bail. (3) In case you are ever the victim of domestic abuse or a stalker.

Why sheriffs? Because sheriffs are usually the ones who determine whether a resident within their county can obtain a CHL. Also, unlike heads of police departments, sheriffs are directly elected by the residents within their jurisdiction.

Why LA County? Acc to http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/06037.html , there are roughly 10 million LA county residents and 28% are under 18. Let’s guess that 30% are under 21. That means there are about 7 million potential applicants. If only 2% apply, that's 140,000 applications. If only 1/4th are approved under the new sheriff, that means we’ll have 35,000 new CHL holders in California – almost doubling the total number. That gives a lot more people a vested interest in stopping restrictions upon our 2nd A rts. It will show that CHL holders in major urban centers are not a source of criminal activity, but rather, that murders, rapes, and aggravated assaults all go down when law-abiding citizens can carry ( http://www.nraila.org/Issues/FactSheets/Read.aspx?ID=18 ). A side benefit is it will cause many residents in other urban counties to pressure their sheriffs and chiefs of police to follow LA’s example. Plus, it will be such a shockwave throughout California politics that Sacramento will be less arrogant in attacking our 2nd Amendment rights to keep and bear arms.

Who to support? According to the previous thread ( http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...ad.php?t=29691 ), either Ken Masse ( www.kenmasse.com ) or Don Meredith ( http://meredithforsheriff.com/ ) would be better than Baca re CHLs. Most who have participated at CGN seem to think Masse is the better candidate. Unfortunately, we must factor in which one is more likely to beat Baca, not just which one is more CHL-friendly. Determining that will take some net searching, phone calling, and foot work by those in LA county (see Tasks below). They need to find out who is the stronger challenger to Baca and then let the rest of us know by next Wed morning.

How to support? We have 4,100 CGN members. If only 3,000 of us get 3 (or more) of our friends to join within one week, we'd have 13,100 members (remember to tell them joining CGN is FREE). If 10,000 of us then immediately send checks for $20 (or more), that will be an instant infusion of $200,000 to the pro-CHL candidate in the last 7 weeks of his campaign. I think $200,000 coming in out-of-the-blue might shake things up down there. If those 3 new CGN members in turn get 3 other people to join here, and more importantly, contribute to the campaign, that would be a $800,000 contribution! That sheriff will know who made his win possible and will know that if he does not lower the barriers to CHL issuance, 3 years from now we will organize again, this time to replace him.

I'm willing to risk $20 to try to dump Baca and I'm in the Bay Area. Mailing a check is a lot "cheaper" in time, money, and effort than printing up flyers and driving around to shooting ranges and gun stores to gather signatures. We, here at CGN forum, can have a major impact on that election if we choose. All it takes is the will to skip seeing two movies ($10 each), that you probably won’t remember 6 months later.

Timeline: EVERYBODY sends out this posting as part of an email invitation to at least 3 of their pro-2nd Amendment, pro-gun friends IMMEDIATELY. People in LA county contact each other and form organization this weekend (choose your leaders/officers and pro-2nd Amendment or pro-safety name for your org, but not one with a negative connotation, otherwise the candidate may decline your help lest he get bad PR). They carry out steps 1, 2, and 3 by next Tuesday evening. They carry out step 4 Wednesday early morning (before 7:00 am). Then EVERBODY -- hopefully including thousands of new CGN members -- goes to Calguns.net's "Gun rights, political, and legal" forum to see what candidate to support and IMMEDIATELY mails their $20 to that candidate and emails a ONE TIME ONLY reminder to the friends they invited to CGN to check for the chosen candidate’s name and address info. Next Wed and Thursday, step 5. So, the candidate should have a bunch of new volunteers starting in one week and get all the money within 2 weeks.

Feel free to post this on other gun/RKBA/political forums. People from out of state (friends, family, former or future CA residents, pro-2nd A people, etc.) can support this effort too.

The question is, how much do we want to win? Are we willing to spend a lousy $20 to win LA county? Are pro-CHL people in LA county willing to fight constantly for the next 8 weeks for change? If we sit on the sidelines and don’t play the game, how do we expect to win? If we don’t act now, we won’t have another chance to replace a major county’s anti-CHL sheriff with a pro-CHL one until 2010!

The only thing that is worse than having done nothing to turn this state around is to continue to do nothing. Let’s do this!



Tasks for those in LA county who want to head this up:

1. What does the local NRA Members Council/GOC people think of the different candidates? What do local deputies/police think of the different candidates?

2. How much money have the different candidates raised? How much did the last contested race cost each contestant? The best place to start would be the LA county clerk's office or registrar of voters.

3. Which challenger has the more professional and organized campaign? Which one has raised more money? Is there any polling data to indicate where the challengers stand (check with the LA Time local politics desk)? Is the other willing to quit and support his former opponent so as to not split the anti-Baca vote?

4. Leave a posting on CNG’s “Gun rights, political and legal” forum announcing the chosen challenger and his website so we know where to mail our checks.

5. LA county members work up their own email list among each other; determine the days and hours they can volunteer; contact the chosen candidate telling them how many volunteers you represent and ask them how you can help, what days & times (sons & daughters might be able to help as part of a class project); and then get at it. Determine who will promote this on other gun/RKBA/political forums and update us on your campaign and anyway those of us outside of LA can help.

We only have 8 weeks until the June elections for California’s sheriffs. Many people mail absentee ballots weeks earlier, further cutting down on our time. Before that, flyers, signs, radio spots must be made and distributed/sold & aired by the candidate’s campaign committee. Before that, staff must be hired, phones installed, etc. All this takes time and money, so you have to act immediately for this to work. There is no time to be passive, to wait for meetings, people to contact you, etc. The LA people must be active and aggressive in getting things done. Remember, this is our ONLY opportunity to impact the issuance of CHLs in Kali for the next four years until the next sheriffs elections in 2010.

I'm not in LA myself but I do want to mention that this is a great idea! I think CCWs are definitely the next issue for us to tackle. Considering we just got over 30,000 legal recievers into the state anything seems possible !

[linuxgunner]

I'm sending checks to both Masse and Meredith.

[mblat]

A bit too late isn't it? Any way I just sent money via paypla to both MAsse and Meridith compains...

[Paladin]

Originally Posted by mblat

A bit too late isn't it?

No.

Unless there is some hot issue or controversial candidate, most voters don't even think about local races until a week or two before the election (June 6th). A couple of dozen P/T volunteers and $200,000 to $800,000 arriving six weeks before an election could tip this our way, paving the way for demonstrating right in Kalifornia the benefits of licensed CCWs in a major urban area. Just as the NRA has moved the nation toward Shall Issue state-by-state, this will help move Kalifornia toward Shall Issue county-by-county.

The main thing now is for CGN members in LA county to step forward and start implementing this plan. They're the ones best able to determine: (a)which contenders have the best political organization and financing, and (b) which of the contenders is less likely to discriminate in CHL issuance (i.e., more likely to be closer to "Shall Issue").

We don't want to support the challenger who has the best financing and political machine if they are a Baca-clone. There are better uses of our ever limited time, money and manpower to advance our agenda.

Similarly, we don't want to support someone who is our ideal candidate if they have no chance to win due to an inept political organization -- we don't have the time to turn their organization around.

The political calculus involved requires information about both factors and then figuring out the optimal (not ideal) single challenger to support. Finding someone to support who is on our side (even if not ideal), who has a good political organization, and who has a good chance of winning is better than letting Baca win again.

[linuxgunner]

Originally Posted by mblat

A bit too late isn't it? Any way I just sent money via paypla to both MAsse and Meridith compains...

No it is NOT too late. This is when they need the most funds. They are actively fundraising until the final week of the campaign. Remember, their goal is not to win the election, but to get into a run-off. They have a shot at doing that. That means LA, and its 10mil residents, have a shot at getting CCW in the next year.

[mblat]

I don't know if anybody remembers or not, but I'bve sent CCW question to both Don and Ken.

Ken's answer was - if your life in danger you'll get it. Not too much pro CCW
Don's was - I am the same with Corona ( and that is almost shall issue )

Thay both are better than Baca, but it seems that from our point of view Don is better.

Unfortunatly, it seems that he is total unknown, while Masse has some name recognition and probably higher chance of beating Baca. By the way as late as 4 weeks ago Baca still hasn't declared that he will run for reelection. Did it change?

[RRangel]

Excellent idea! Probably easier said than done though. It's worth the effort anyway.

[dwtt]

Originally Posted by mblat

I don't know if anybody remembers or not, but I'bve sent CCW question to both Don and Ken.

Ken's answer was - if your life in danger you'll get it. Not too much pro CCW
Don's was - I am the same with Corona ( and that is almost shall issue )

Thay both are better than Baca, but it seems that from our point of view Don is better.
Unfortunatly, it seems that he is total unknown, while Masse has some name recognition and probably higher chance of beating Baca.

I would support Masse because a total unknown will have little chance. Do either of these candidates have people reaching out to the local new media? Anyway, I'm in northern CA so I can only help by donating money to Masse.

[Paladin]

Originally Posted by dwtt

Anyway, I'm in northern CA so I can only help by donating money to Masse.

You can do a lot more than just that. Emailing this plan to all your sympathetic family, friends, and shooting buddies/club who live or lived in Kali will multiply your efforts. Be sure to ask them to pass this on to their family, friends, shooting buddies/club.

Esp important are the people who live in LA county, for they can vote as well as volunteer as well as contribute.

I've probably spent close to 10 hours over the past three days thinking, writing, rewriting, and posting this plan, and then monitoring the response -- yet I'm in northern Kali! I'm sure there are others outside LA Co. that could help via phone or the internet w/forming a website/forum/etc for whatever local org comes out of this (since there could be a runoff election); others who have more political insights or ideas; others who could help the selected contended w/PR or advertising ideas or production (Remember the TV/advertising "power couple" (Bloodworth?) who helped Clinton?); and still others who might have some "deep pockets" contributor friends who could chip in; and others who could advise that local org on whether to legally incorporate or just be a informal association of like-minded volunteers.

dwtt, I'm not saying you can do any or all of the above. I'm just using your post to show others, who probably initially said the same thing to themselves, that they should think again, and think about their friends and see if there really is nothing else they can contribute. If $20 and emailing their friends is all they can do, great! As I pointed out, with enough $20 contributions this can work. But if you can figure out a way of contributing more, that just makes it more likely we will win.

Building a network of supporters is what matters and the internet is ideal for that. Look right here. I'm up in No. Kali, have never met any of you in my life and yet because of the internet and esp Calguns.net (Thank you Ramon!), we are politically networking to, hopefully, have a MAJOR impact to promote CCWs in Kali!

Remember, we don't have to get a majority of adults to support our contender -- we only have to get a majority of registered voters who actually vote (absentee or at the polls). We can do this if we really want to. For those in LA county and those outside of it who can contribute in other ways, as I mentioned above, it will require skipping many of your favorite TV shows and some fun events for the next two months, but the possible benefits -- the right to carry to protect you and your loved ones, to greatly expand CHL-issuing areas in Kali -- far outweighs any loss.

What we critically need now is for LA county CGN members to step forward and say, "I'm here and I'll help in whatever capacity I can." I can only do so much.