50 caliber fundraiser.

[nicki]

Most of us will probably never buy a 50 cal rifle, but if you are like me, you might want to try shooting a few rounds through various models of 50 BMG rifles.

If you have a registered 50 BMG, you have a rifle that many of us would like to try shooting a few rounds through.

Calguns will eventually file a lawsuit, but other issues need to be dealt with first to build foundational cases.

The issue with all lawsuits is they require money and to a certain extent, lawsuits will be determined by available cash to fund them.

What I would like to float to the members of Calguns.net is that we have 50 caliber fundraiser shoots across the state.

We have 12,000 active members on Calguns.net, so we do have a large base of people who potentially would actually like to try shooting 50 caliber rifles.

What I would like to do is keep it simple.

If you own a 50 caliber rifle, would you be willing to loan it's use for events. Of course since they are registered AWs, you have to be there.

You can figure that every person who shows would probably want to shoot 5 to 10 rounds. Of course some people have deep pockets and are gluttons for punishment.

The bottom line is alot of rounds will probably be fired that day.

If you would like to shoot 50 caliber rifles, would you make a 25 dollar donation to CGF to be put in a special fund for 50 cal lawsuits?

Range fees would probably be around 10 to 15 dollars. This would bring the cost of this event in the 70 to 130 dollar range for most of us.

1,000 people participating in mulitple shoots statewide is not a unrealistic goal, one that could raise 20K of seed money for future 50BMG lawsuits.

So, my question to Calgunners is the following, would you participate?

[bigcalidave]

I think it would be fun to have a 50 cal organized shoot / shoots, where more funds were raised for CGF. But I don't think that changing the .50 legislation is a priority. .50 dtc is a suitable alternative for people who can't have a BMG upper and the fight is more relevant in other areas...
If it could be done as a separate entity to the other 2a battles, without distracting from them, I don't see why not. It would give me incentive to buy that bmg upper I've been drooling over...

[zhyla]

I agree. As perverse as they are, .50 cal laws only affect wealthy hobbyists and are the easiest to scare the public about (".50 BMG can shoot TEN MILES into a school zone!!!"). I'd like to see AWB, roster, and magazine restrictions come first in CGF's efforts (as I believe they do).

That said, I realize that a disproportionate amount of funding may come from those wealthy .50 cal hobbyists.

[ke6guj]

I agree. As perverse as they are, .50 cal laws only affect wealthy hobbyists and are the easiest to scare the public about (".50 BMG can shoot TEN MILES into a school zone!!!"). I'd like to see AWB, roster, and magazine restrictions come first in CGF's efforts (as I believe they do).

That said, I realize that a disproportionate amount of funding may come from those wealthy .50 cal hobbyists.

not true, you'd be suprised at the yearly income of some .50BMG owners.

[Josh3239]

A great quality .50 upper can be had for $2,000-$3,000. Throw that on an AR lower and you will have a great shooter. You can get cheaper ones, they probably won't win you any competitions but they'd be fun as hell. I'd think most people on this board have invested way more than $3,000 into this hobby.

[Prince50]

I will gladly loan my .50BMG platforms to the event. I could do it within reason in So Cal.

I've got a Barrett, ALS, TNW M2, and Serbu BFG Carbine to loan.

I'd love to get this one turned around, as we defeated it several times before Waxman finally got it through.

Darin

[50 Shooter]

Sorry to say it but you're a few years late, the 50 BMG ban in CA will NEVER be overturned nor will the standing AW ban. It's a nice pipe dream but you have to look at who controls the media and get's all of the attention when it comes to gun control.

When was the last time you ever saw a politician get on TV and say we need to overturn the CA AW ban? When was the last time you saw any of the gun owning movie stars get on TV and say we need to overturn the CA AW ban? This is the battle we face, getting any of these so called gun friendly people to put up or shut up.

Meanwhile, the anti's can get on TV anytime they want and spew forth all the lies they can to scare the sheeple. Americans have become a population of "me" and as long as their little world isn't affected they could care less about anything. I'm willing to bet that if they called for an outright ban on all firearms tomorrow 99% of the people would turn them in. They would justify it by telling themselves that "we'll fight it in the courts". Anyway, good luck.

[jaymz]

I agree. As perverse as they are, .50 cal laws only affect wealthy hobbyists and are the easiest to scare the public about (".50 BMG can shoot TEN MILES into a school zone!!!"). I'd like to see AWB, roster, and magazine restrictions come first in CGF's efforts (as I believe they do).

That said, I realize that a disproportionate amount of funding may come from those wealthy .50 cal hobbyists.

[2600fromAtari]

Sorry to say it but you're a few years late, the 50 BMG ban in CA will NEVER be overturned nor will the standing AW ban. It's a nice pipe dream but you have to look at who controls the media and get's all of the attention when it comes to gun control.

When was the last time you ever saw a politician get on TV and say we need to overturn the CA AW ban? When was the last time you saw any of the gun owning movie stars get on TV and say we need to overturn the CA AW ban? This is the battle we face, getting any of these so called gun friendly people to put up or shut up.

Meanwhile, the anti's can get on TV anytime they want and spew forth all the lies they can to scare the sheeple. Americans have become a population of "me" and as long as their little world isn't affected they could care less about anything. I'm willing to bet that if they called for an outright ban on all firearms tomorrow 99% of the people would turn them in. They would justify it by telling themselves that "we'll fight it in the courts". Anyway, good luck.

50, while the logical part of my brain agrees with everything you've said, the "emotional" side says "let's fight" no matter how futile the odds. :-)

I'm in for whatever meet/fundraiser you guys set up.

EDIT: ...and I can bring at least two other folks with me.

[jaymz]

Sorry to say it but you're a few years late, the 50 BMG ban in CA will NEVER be overturned nor will the standing AW ban. It's a nice pipe dream but you have to look at who controls the media and get's all of the attention when it comes to gun control.

When was the last time you ever saw a politician get on TV and say we need to overturn the CA AW ban? When was the last time you saw any of the gun owning movie stars get on TV and say we need to overturn the CA AW ban? This is the battle we face, getting any of these so called gun friendly people to put up or shut up.

Meanwhile, the anti's can get on TV anytime they want and spew forth all the lies they can to scare the sheeple. Americans have become a population of "me" and as long as their little world isn't affected they could care less about anything. I'm willing to bet that if they called for an outright ban on all firearms tomorrow 99% of the people would turn them in. They would justify it by telling themselves that "we'll fight it in the courts". Anyway, good luck.

If what you say is true, can you please tell me how I have a safe full of legal AR15's? Did we have a politician or a movie star go on tv and say "let's not add to the list so that the People can buy some OLL's"? We don't need politicians and movie stars to say a damn thing ( I actually prefer that they don't) to have anything overturned, we just need to prove that it's unconstitutional, and crappy laws will go away. (I'm oversimplifying of course, but you get the idea)

[50 Shooter]

All you've done is work around the law, you haven't had it overturned. That's why there's OLL's and 50 DTC rifles. As I said before, we don't have enough people to get any of the bans overturned.

The anti's have the ability to get on TV or in the paper any time they wish. If they put it on the news or in the paper tomorrow asking for a vote on banning firearms in CA, how do you think we would fair? I'm willing to bet that we would lose badly!

What are you willing to do then? Turn them in and hope to win in court or go to war?

[jaymz]

All you've done is work around the law, you haven't had it overturned. That's why there's OLL's and 50 DTC rifles. As I said before, we don't have enough people to get any of the bans overturned.

I prefer to say "working within the law". And yes, I know that those laws have not been overturned, but that's kinda my point, they don't always really need to be, not at first anyway.

The anti's have the ability to get on TV or in the paper any time they wish. If they put it on the news or in the paper tomorrow asking for a vote on banning firearms in CA, how do you think we would fair? I'm willing to bet that we would lose badly!

Are you serious? The antis don't even beleive that. If they did, they would be on tv RIGHT NOW asking for that vote.

What are you willing to do then? Turn them in and hope to win in court or go to war?

Yes and yes.

[50 Shooter]

Frankenswine tried it before when she told people to turn your guns in or go to jail. So it's really not that far fetched of an idea for them to try. They know if they could get away with it they would be on TV tomorrow doing it.

[Flopper]

If they put it on the news or in the paper tomorrow asking for a vote on banning firearms in CA, how do you think we would fair? I'm willing to bet that we would lose badly!

Five years ago (hell, TWO years ago) I would've been in complete agreement with you, but today this conclusion makes absolutely no sense.

For the past year and a half a continuous stream of polls have been conducted, and in every one the public has been pro-RKBA (or at least anti-gun control). Keep in mind that these public opinion polls were sponsored by groups that span the full political spectrum, including groups that have an anti-gun agenda.

There is a growing awareness about 2nd Amendment, crime, and self-defense issues, and people are finally starting to realize what we've known all along.

[Flopper]

Frankenswine tried it before when she told people to turn your guns in or go to jail. So it's really not that far fetched of an idea for them to try. They know if they could get away with it they would be on TV tomorrow doing it.

But. . .

If they put it on the news or in the paper tomorrow asking for a vote on banning firearms in CA, how do you think we would fair? I'm willing to bet that we would lose badly!

These two statements are contradictory, so which one is it?