California Open Carry Association (CalOCA or COCA)

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As many of the regulars here know, ConditionThree already has formed the Shasta County Open Carry Association (SCOCA). I was considering forming the Stanislaus County OCA (StanOCA).

Tonight, I was thinking about this, and thought maybe we should form CalOCA instead. Each county or region would have it's own local group, but we could use one name accross the entire state.

Advantages:
- Help new local leaders get a local group started and keep them active
- Offer pre-made pamphlets and petitions and such
- Pool informational resources to get good information out to more people
- A larger organization may encourage recruiting (they would be joining a large organization, compared to one with just a couple members)
- Possibility of becoming large enough of an organization to effect change state-wide, in addition to locally

Disadvantages:
- Some central bureaucracy will be necessary (though most of this could be done via correspondance via the web)- Management will be decentralized, meaning we would need to screen and train new locality leaders to be sure they don't misrepresent the OCA

Examples of levels of participation:
- Facilitator: Organizing gathering/outings (including logistics, entertainment, food/drinks, etc), organizing petitioning and information distribution events, etc.
- OC Activist: OCs at OCA events.
- OC Exemplar: OCs at most (or all) times practicable by law.
- Local leader: Should be someone who does all three listed above, and wishes to guide the organizational efferts on the local level
- Officer - Our first generation of officers would be a core group from this board. Future officers should be promoted from a pool of Local Leaders. The officers would be responsible for the overall guidance of the organization. Providing support to local leaders and ensuring the local groups are operating within the organization's mission and goals. Officers would also organize periodic regional meetings and such.

I look forward to getting some input. Please add any pros & cons I missed; I'm well aware my list is not exhaustive. Also, please let me know if this is something you would be willing to participate in, and in what capacity. Also, list any special skills you have (such as web design, administrative experience, legal experience, political experience, etc).

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Since this is my idea, I'll start...

I would be interested in being a local leader and an officer. This would be until I move out of state, at which time I would nominate a new local leader and resign as officer.

I have clerical experience and am handy around computers. I am very good with creating/formatting documents and reports using Word and Excel (still trying to learn Adobe Acrobat). I'm majoring in Computer Information Systems and Operations Management (will be graduating in the next 9 months). My education and work experience has prepared me for organizing and helping to lead an organization such as this.

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I'm not knocking the ideas you have forwarded, but the short comment I have is;

Too soon.

Personally, I like the concept that organization and participation remain highly localized and cellular until enough groups are formed that a Statewide group becomes necessary for lobbying and political purposes.

As someone once said, "All politics is local..." Some of the issues we are dealing with, particularly those of local ordinances, create unique nuances in participation in these activities.

So far, we have 3-4 interested parties in the entire State of California. Laying the ground work for participation on the level we see in WA or VA is unfortunately, months, perhaps years off. Experience will foster growth, but I'm not anticipating a groudswell of support just yet.

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CA_Libertarian wrote:

Since this is my idea, I'll start...

I would be interested in being a local leader and an officer. This would be until I move out of state, at which time I would nominate a new local leader and resign as officer.

I have clerical experience and am handy around computers. I am very good with creating/formatting documents and reports using Word and Excel (still trying to learn Adobe Acrobat). I'm majoring in Computer Information Systems and Operations Management (will be graduating in the next 9 months). My education and work experience has prepared me for organizing and helping to lead an organization such as this.

Click to expand...

Look into Open Office.....it has the function of exporting a file in .pdf format.....as well as saving files in M$ .doc and others.
Best of all...it's free!

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ConditionThree wrote:

I'm not knocking the ideas you have forwarded, but the short comment I have is;

Too soon.

Personally, I like the concept that organization and participation remain highly localized and cellular until enough groups are formed that a Statewide group becomes necessary for lobbying and political purposes.

As someone once said, "All politics is local..." Some of the issues we are dealing with, particularly those of local ordinances, create unique nuances in participation in these activities.

So far, we have 3-4 interested parties in the entire State of California. Laying the ground work for participation on the level we see in WA or VA is unfortunately, months, perhaps years off. Experience will foster growth, but I'm not anticipating a groudswell of support just yet.

Click to expand...

I agree that organization and participation should remain highly localized. I think this could be done while operating under an umbrella organization without creating a great amount of overhead. Essentially, the organization's central functions are already enabled via this forum. We can distribute information, communicate experiences, recruit new members, and organize events.

I think you may be right that this is a bit premature. I think (and hope) we'll see rapid growth in interest soon.

I'll be redoubling my efforts to get the people I know to come to OpenCarry.org. So far, the 3 people that I know that have expressed serious interest in OC have yet to visit the boards. I think once they see the information and support network here, they'll be more eager to OC.

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I'll join anything. Having a statewide umbrella organization can aid in the public information sphere such as in creating press releases.

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UPDATE:

I've decided to go ahead with the idea. To start with, CalOCA is going to be very loosly organized. Just within my immediate circle of friends, I'm fairly certain I have 4-5 interested persons. 3 are in Stanislaus county, 1 in Orange county, and 1 in San Joaquin county. I also have an extensive list of former coworkers that I know own firearms and share my view of firearm rights. Hopefully there is some growth potential there.

As the organization grows outside of Stanislaus, it will be advantageous that I chose CalOCA instead of StanOCA. I think it just makes sense in the long run.