Our Mission
By BlackPowderBill
Recently I was going through some
old files and sorting things out. I came across
a newspaper article from 1980 that had a
picture of me standing and pointing. I was
pointing at a person in a packed high school
auditorium who were their to protest new
Naval Housing on the Willow Grove, Pa.
base.
I made my point & spoke out in
favor of the new housing as I was representing
300 sailors. We never did get the new
housing. I've often wondered how many
times I've jumped on the horse to ride in a
crusade for others or thinking others were
behind me. Then I come to the realization
many of those who summoned me are still
looking for a saddle and horse. At the Rochester
Dome gun show in January while working
the SCOPE table hawking raffle tickets a
man passed by smiled and replied, we've
already lost the battle. I responded to those
that could hear me as he melted into the
crowd; he should be thrown out of the show.
Strong words you may say, not for me I'm
just being honest.
How often and how long are we
going to keep toting water for others who
will not plug the holes in their buckets? This
10% who do stuff is long over due for an
overhaul. People approach me and want to do
a gun owners rally, ya know like the MMM.
Heck we can't even get 50 people to the
Sportsmen's march on Albany. If any thing
was ever arranged for say even a 1,000 people
to meet you'd play hell trying to schedule
it between all the hunting, football, basketball
& baseball game seasons dates. To be blunt,
the last time I saw a few hundred guys together
on a crusade we were all in our military
garb.
So what do we do? Got me, I've
been doing this advocacy stuff since high
school. I've heard every lame excuse there is.
One of the problems is money, for the life of
me why our groups still struggle to make
ends meet I do not fully understand. After all
"we", being around way longer that the antis,
should be able to muster people and cash for
regular operations not just firefighting.
Look at it like this, the antis toss
out a few matches and we have to go scrambling
around spitting to put them out.
Antis get people on the ground
ready to roll just for the cause; sportsmen get
people looking for a free magazine. Ahhh,
and God forbid if it don't show up! If you are
in a group and getting a magazine is the reason
you joined your missing the true cause of
advocacy. People belong because they feel a
need to. People have a need to belong to a
group of like individuals. So, what do all
these "other" groups have in common? One
issue , pro life, pro choice, church folk have
God, antis have a commitment to deprive the
rest of the world pleasures.
Sportsmen have many causes and
inside those are the sub categories. This I feel
is the one main flaw why we can not combine
our resources. It seems everyone has
some special feeling towards a cause. Then
they toss in an entire concoction of other
causes that have absolutely no merit what so
ever in their original core belief. They wander
off on some short crusade about social
security or now days some internet fable and
then forward on an opinion to everyone they
know. Mean while someone like me is waiting
on a reply that will benefit those who are
sitting in front of a PC contemplating sending
off another mass of emails about mountain
lion attacks in New York.
In 2006 every sporting group I am
a member of sent out a request. This request
was for each one of us to go out and recruit a
new member. Now in 2007 I have reviewed
the membership numbers and see they did
not double nor did the numbers increase 10%
-things are flat.
So how are we going to get new
people? Well, you take this newsletters
membership application; pick a membership
level either 1-2 or 3 years. Write in your dead
beat friend's name. Ya know the one who
drives 50 miles round trip to save $2 dollars
on a box of ammo. Hand the application to
him so he can read it. Then tell him to give
you the money and you will mail his application
in. Thank him, shake his hand and pat
him on the back. He does not need an explanation
on why, he knows why.
See the fella at the gun show was
correct in his statement; "we have lost" because
some people failed to progress and
move into the 21st century. In fact most are
stuck in the 1960's, they want things to be the
way the used to be...or I should say the way
they want the world to be with their enhancements.
I figure these folks never knew what
was expected of them to begin with. No one
wanted to come out and correct them for fear
of upsetting that individual.
Ya know, ruin the balance in the
unbalanced dream. In the military we had a
person to tell us who, what, where & why.
You understood the mission, objective and
goal . Your mission is for SCOPE members
to attain a goal for SCOPE. That goal is to
double our membership. Each SCOPE member
is to go out and get one person to join
SCOPE. That's it - no other sub missions, no
free lancing while on deployment , no social
security problems , postage stamp bills or is
Hillary really a man stuff.
Now you've been told what to do &
it's only one task, just do this one thing, now.
Later on I'll have another mission assignment.
Regards BPB
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