No electronic recording of any kind was allowed at the OC NRA meeting
tonight.
When Angela, Rose and I showed up, we simply walked in without signing in.
The Vice President (actually a nice guy) named Paul came over and spoke with
me at length about the rules. He told me the meeting was open to members only
and was private. He said that questions are to be submitted on NRA supplied
3"x5" cards. I showed him the following questions I authored based
on your RKBA information as follows:
"You supported legislation HR 424, that would impose mandatory
prison time for me if I were to defend myself or my child with a gun. How
would this new law make my life more secure?"
"You support mandatory gun-locks. Criminals don't obey such laws.
Doesn't your attitude shift the advantage to the criminal, leaving myself
and child defenseless while undoing your lock?"
The girls wrote another question similar to the one Rose asked candidate,
now Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn on KABC-TV, http://patriot_one.tripod.com/hahnvusconstitution/,
but it wasn't picked by the moderators:
"You took an oath of office to uphold the Constitution. How do you
justify supporting anti-gun legislation?"
Paul said these questions were "too aggressive" and he wouldn't
ask them himself, but that I was free to submit them. I don't recall Paul's
last name, but he mentioned that he knew Bob Dornan and has run for political
office. After we were through talking, a thoroughly impressed guy asked me if
I knew who I was talking to! I told him "no." Paul is a VIP of some
kind, though.
While we were busy talking, I saw Rose apologizing to someone while
removing my nine-month-old grandson's "Hunting Buddy" camo bib. I
asked what was wrong and heard someone say NO camo clothing allowed, but they
quickly turned it into a joke. (Rose says it may have been a joke all along -
we're not sure.)
Before Sanchez spoke the Moderator announced several rules. One was if
anyone caused any disturbance they would be removed by any legal means. There
was a local police car parked outside for the duration of the meeting.
After the Sanchez talk, the Moderator began asking the questions and
eventually got to ours. She said she didn't recall what HR 424 was about and
the Moderator asked where our information came from. I happily responded with
"Gun Owners of America". Sanchez said her staff would check it out
and contact Angela. (After the meeting Angela gave Sanchez a card with her
phone number and the question copied in full.)
I was absent from the meeting from this point forward, but Angela said the
Moderator would ask the authors for clarification if the question was unclear.
Angela heard one of the NRA officials tell someone (paraphrased) "Sir, if
you continue to be disruptive, I'll escort you out of here."
Angela's general impression of Sanchez was that she had a bossy attitude.
She would get irritated about someone carrying a concealed weapon. She said
that she doesn't want anyone carrying a concealed weapon away from their home
because of "Road Rage." The crowd reacted to this. And her
solution for a poor woman in a bad neighborhood was "Get married."
There was a John Birch Society member with ballot-style rating handouts
outside. Sanchez addressed the "F" rating during her talk and then
focused on areas of agreement. By the way, she said she doesn't have a problem
with someone buying two or twenty guns at a time. But "fifty guns is too
many."
Someone asked if she knew the difference between "assault" and
semi-auto weapons. She responded that she has "seen them fired and that's
all [she] needs to know."
A woman named Anna asked:
"Do you believe that women should be in the Armed Forces? If no, why
not? If yes, why shouldn't that woman be allowed to protect herself, since
the government has trusted her to protect the country?"
Sanchez answered the first part of the question and skated on the rest.
Joe Laria, of "Liberty Belles," asked the "meeting
closer". He wrote a question and the "runner" took it to the
Moderator, who put it on the bottom of the stack with the comment "That
question has already been asked." At this point Joe stood up and said:
"You're lying, that question has not been asked". Then he asked
Sanchez, "The Second Amendment does not say anything about hunting, the
Second Amendment says nothing about target shooting. Knowing that, what is
your feeling of the real meaning of the Second Amendment ?"
The Moderator said "That's enough questions," and they ended the
meeting.
