Saturday, January 06, 2007

WorldNetDaily Notices Wayne Fincher Case

...and even links to WarOnGuns ("A blog"? You couldn't refer to WoG by name?)

Supporters of Wayne--this is really pretty big--WND gets tremendous traffic, and reaches a large national audience, most of whom identify themselves as conservative.

Take a moment to write an email letter to WND--keep it brief and to the point to increase the likelihood that it will be published. Every letter we get is more exposure to their large national audience about this case. It's also important to give them feedback to let them know that this story has people interested and they should continue reporting it.

[More from WarOnGuns]

UPDATE: I just noticed WND has a related poll:
Should federal licensing be required to own fully automatic weapons?
You need to register to vote, but can view results without doing so. At this writing, the correct answer is leading with over 71% of the votes.

Saved by the Gun!

I have a suggestion for a somewhat different type of reality show. Maybe a network such as Fox would be interested. Numerous bloggers as well as the NRA have long cataloged the fleeting newspaper accounts of firearms being used defensively to protect life and property.

How about a weekly docu-drama TV show that recreates some of these news stories where civilian possession of a firearm saves a life? Such reenactments would have all the necessary ingredients for a ratings hit: Drama, excitement, tension, a potential victim being stalked, a bad guy, and a happy ending!

I'm sure we could get someone such as David Codrea or Clayton Cramer for series producer.
Thank you, Jeff Soyer--I guess great minds really do think alike, or at least yours understands my inferior one :)

I have no idea how you came up with me being a likely candidate for involvement in such a program. But when I saw your post, memories from the past came flooding back to when I had just started meeting with a group of friends to dream up creative ways to promote Second Amendment activism.

This is what I came up with and introduced to the group (I needed to scan papers I pulled out of my files--I could only find a few, but not all of these in electronic format--if I still have those in Word they're on a floppy disk somewhere I couldn't locate on short notice from the clutter):
Here's a mock-up TV schedule ad I created with scissors and tape. Note I was proposing Eric Estrada as host. He was a fairly regular attendee at California Rifle and Pistol Association annual banquets at the time, along with Robert Stack and Paul Sorvino, which meant that he was not afraid to identify himself with the pro-gun community, and I just thought he'd be a natural. Note this was all in the "blue sky" proposal stage and we never advanced to the point of approaching him on this, so this was done without his knowledge or consent, and without the knowledge and consent of UPN 13, whose logo I appropriated for the mock-up:


Here's how I envisioned the program to flow:


Here's the upshot--one of our group members, who has beaucoup Hollywood contacts, went around and pitched this to several producers, none of whom showed the slightest interest. There were a lot of reasons for that, first and foremost a distaste for such things among the entertainment elite. Still, I thought at the time their love of money would be enough to overcome such transient, ephemeral things as show business principles, but that's where another dynamic came into play: The money people aren't, by and large, very creative or visionary--they play the margins and stick with known formulas, hence the preponderance of copycat programming when something new takes off. Yes, you can be sure, if a new formula works, they'll be quick to pile onto the trend while it's hot, but that's after someone else has risked his capital and reputation blazing the trail.

Simply put, we didn't have the juice to make this happen.

Could it work today, particularly with the tremendous expansion of cable channels and programming that simply did not exist back in 1997? Yeah, I think it could, but this time I'd go for a younger and hipper format--my proposal really was rooted in the dynamic of its time and my own creative limitations, but the core concept would still remain valid.

So, Mr. Studio Executive, or Mr. Hollywood Venture Capitalist: Have your girl call my girl. Let's do lunch. Love ya, baby, you look fantastic!

And thank you, Jeff. I'd have probably not given this another thought but for your post. That was a lot of fun taking this stuff out of a drawer where it's been sleeping all these years--even if just to recapture a dream from long ago for a few brief moments today.

We're the Only Ones in Heap Big Trouble Enough

A Santa Clara Pueblo officer was arraigned in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court on Friday on charges stemming from an incident during which he fired his service revolver in a home near a 3-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl, according to a statement of probable cause.

Leon Gallegos, 29, of Alcalde was charged with assault against a household member, kidnapping, abandonment or abuse of a child and negligent use of a deadly weapon. According to the statement, U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs officers received a report of "shots fired" in a home at 2:48 a.m. Monday.

Gallegos' girlfriend told police she had heard seven gunshots in the home as she was leaving it, the statement said. She said Gallegos had been drinking alcohol, and two small children were in the home when the shots were fired...
Firearms and fire water bad medicine--especially for "Only Ones."

We're the Only Ones Sawed Off Enough

A former D.C. police officer pleaded guilty to gun charges yesterday in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt.

Edwin Kennedy, 36, of Chesapeake, admitted to illegally transporting a firearm and having an illegal shotgun. According to a statement of facts entered in court, Kennedy found a shotgun in Washington last year while on duty. He then took it home, and with the help of his 15-year-old daughter, sawed off the barrel to 14 inches, an illegal length. Kennedy then took the illegal gun back to Washington, where he arranged for the D.C. police to recover it.

When Kennedy learned he was under investigation for the modifications, he purchased a different shotgun and cut that barrel down to a legal length. Then prosecutors say he took pictures of it and showed those to authorities as if it were the original shotgun. But he later acknowledged to authorities that it was a different gun. He will be sentenced in May.
A lot about this story makes absolutely no sense to me--but then again, I'm not trained to think like an "Only One."

[Via k-romulus]

Citizen Militia Needed Now

When President Bush sent National Guard troops to the border, no red-blooded American would have guessed that their orders would be to retreat in the face of border aggression. And yet that's exactly what happened Wednesday night (1/3/07) when a group of armed men stormed the border and headed right for the National Guard.
Jennifer Freeman of Liberty Belles senses we need a lot less of the new "Homeland Security" and a lot more old-fashioned "Civil Defense."

VA Alert: It's On!

From the Virginia Citizens Defense League:
THE PROTEST IS ON!!

Maniacal New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his Mayors' Coalition Against Illegal Guns will be meeting for a one day "National Summit" at the DC Capitol Hilton (corner of 16th and K at 1001 16th Street NW) on Tuesday, January 23rd - see http://tinyurl.com/yxyvjg

Bloomy's summit runs from 9:30 AM until 2:30 PM followed by an evening reception at 5 PM at the Capitol Hilton.

VCDL's headquarters will be at the nearby Crowne Plaza Hotel at 14th and K, where at 2:00 PM we will rally members and hand out picket signs, and march on to the Capitol Hilton 2 blocks away to begin protesting.

[Via Countertop]

This Day in History: January 6

After two significant victories over the British in Trenton and Princeton, New Jersey, General George Washington marches north to Morristown, New Jersey, where he set up winter headquarters for himself and the men of the Continental Army on this day in 1777. The hills surrounding the camp offered Washington a perfect vantage point from which to keep an eye on the British army, which was headquartered across the Hudson River in New York City. Morristown’s position also allowed Washington to protect the roads leading from the British strongholds in New Jersey to New England and the roads leading to Philadelphia, where the leaders of the American Revolution were headquartered.