NC Firearms advocacy

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[align=left]Folks - this came up last night at my table, we were talking again about GRNC and NC gun rights. As far as I know, we have two groups currently in NC (the NCRPA and GRNC) who are out there working for our gun rights. The general consensus is that GRNC is not very active. I don't know much about NCRPA, so I don't know if they are very active and if they have common interests with us.

What we were talking about is perhaps the need to form a 2A group that is active, or perhaps joining an existing group and lighting a fire. In either case, we would need to be very active and need a decent bit of support. We had over 20 open carriers last night in Jacksonville, there are many more who I've seen post here just in Eastern NC, so I know we have enough carriers across the state to get some momentum.

[/align] If we were to start another group, I would personally want to model it after one of the more successful associations that we see on here, like the VA folks.
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Tell me what you think.
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It seems that GRNC is more in line with our primary concern--self defense--whereas the other group seems to be more "sportsman" related.

With that in mind, perhaps we should approach GRNC with a very clear and focused "activist" attitude. I think that if we had a mess of folks from here join GRNC and start volunteering to do things--man tables at gun shows, coordinate calling campaigns for our Reps, develop brochures and PR-related materials--it could move GRNC into a more proactive mode.

I think a LOT of the reason why GRNC is much less active and effective than a group like VCDL is MONEY and TIME. Folks here in NC seem to not have as much spare time to devote to activism, and I think we ALL know there is a LOT more money in VA than in NC. Since we don't have the time or financial resources here in NC that they have in VA, we're going to have to try and spread out the workload and be VERY focused to get anything done.

Also, you need to remember that both the NRA and GOA have their headquarters in Northern VA (Fairfax an Springfield) and they are both big enough organizations to have their own offices. This gives them a LOT more "visibility" tan little volunteer-only groupas like GRNC. We're working at a HUGE disadvantage here in NC, and the only way were going to be successful is to just dive in as active, engaged citizens.

NC's Legal, Law Enforcement, and legislative systems are tightly intertwined, and have a massive historical legacy as a "good old boys" network. There are long-standing attitudes of racism and classism with regards to firearms ownership and carry here in NC, and the Civil Rights movement has essentially forgotten NC and moved on to more high profile areas like DC and NY. Until the Gun Rights movement can bring large numbers of law-abiding minority members, and change the attitudes of the "Boss Hoggs" in our LEAs and in the General Aseembly, we wil continue to be ineffective.

It's all about public perception. Whe the general public realizes that gun control laws ONLY punish law-abiding citizens, and when they realize that people just like them (poor, or black, or middle-class, or single moms, or grandfathers) have the HUMAN RIGHT to SELF DEFENSE, and when they realize that the police are NOT tasked with providing fo rpersonal security (in fact their ONLY mandate is to preserve the safety of the Corporation that employs them--their City Government==even if that means stepping all over individual Civil Rights in direct violation of the US and NC Constitutions!) We will continue to be ineffectual.

I've volunteered with GRNC to help them design some brochures and handouts. I'll be working with their directors over the next few months to come up with some new, more modern, eye-catching materials that they can distribute. It's a TINY step, but it's something...

So what it boils down to is that I am, in fact, advocating a "takeover" of GRNC by people who ARE politically active, motivated, and actively engaged in the daily PRACTICE of gun rights activities.

If you carry, you should be a volunteer with a group like GRNC.

The ball won't start rolling unless WE push it ourselves...

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I open carry on a regular basis and would be happy to help out! I say lets get teh ball rolling!

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I guess we are at a disadvantage to some extent, but I think we can make more of a difference than what is happening now. I would like to pick a handful of issues and focus on working through them. I don't want to say "one at a time", because I know that often we're waiting on other people and events, but I would like to work on some core issues we have in NC, like establishments that serve alcohol and pistol permitting. I would also like to work on some local level advocacy and law enforcement education.

I am totally up for a "friendly takeover" of GRNC by open carry advocates and active members. I think there are tremendous advantages to working under an existing advocacy group. I do seem to recall GRNC having some issues with the NRA though, so I do worry a little bit about two black sheep of the gun world coming together...

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I would be willing to get involved with whatever we could come up with. I voted for GRNC but now thatI think about it perhaps a new organization would be better. People that have already heard of GRNC and decided not to join would then have another choice and another decision to make for themselves

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I vote start a new group. GRNC is old, antiquated and has a bad name already. I don’t like the nameeither. How about NCGRA (NC Gun Rights Association). Something like that. "Grass roots" just doesn’t do much for them.

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I think perhaps if we want to start a new group, we might follow the model of VCDL, and call it NCCDL. This has several advantages:

1) it associates us with an established, successful org in the minds of the people
2) We could work with, and use many of VCDL's resources, ideas, and working models,
3) because of the subliminal association with other XX-CDL orgs, it makes our numbers look bigger, and therefore more influential
4) it stresses "Defense" and "Citizenship". It does not bring any sorts of negative connotations of "guns" (which scares the heck out of the media) or "grass roots" (which scares the HECK out of elected officials) into the discussion.

That's my position, and I'm sticking to it...

I'm going to have a LOT more free time between May and September this year, so I think I can volunteer to "take point" on coordinating with VCDL if this is something we REALLY want to do. Or I could "take point" on getting us to sort of "move in" and leverage GRNC into a more effective org if we decide to take that route...

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Sounds great dreamer. So where do we start. Do we need to register somewhere? We need a website. Costs? See if Virgina's group will help us with some pointers or something else.

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I've contacted with Phil at VCDL, but I haven't really pursued this idea with him. He knows that we need SOMETHING here, and we spoke briefly about it at the OC Dinner in Richmond last month...

I'll write him an email later this week.

Right now, I'm busting my butt for Mid-Terms, and I've got a mountain of school stuff to deal with. After Wednesday, I'll have more free time to address this...

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We'll probably have to file articles of incorporation and write a constitution so that we can become a non-profit, if we want to go that route. I like the idea of modeling after VCDL and like the NCCDL acronym. Dreamer is ahead of me, because I had also thought that we should get in touch with the folks running VCDL if we wanted to go new-group route.

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I'm in for NCCDL. I will have limited time to put into it, but I will do all that I can.

Modeling this thing after VA {my beloved home state} is probably a really good start toward getting some things done.

Let me know what I can do!

Dreamer: I, like you, am in Greenville on a regular basis, so if you need my help in person once in a while I can do that as well.

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[align=center]I bought the websites!

[/align][align=left]Guys,

I am all for starting a new group and really lean toward modeling after vcdl.org. Also, being in the tech industry as long as I have, one thing I have learned is if you want a website name grab it before someone else knows you want it.

That being said, I bought nccdl.org and nccdl.com. I have no personal interest in hording or selling these sites but rather prevention of such.

I am offering these sites to us as a group free of charge. We will need to work out graphic designs, hosting plans and lots of other details but at least the domain names are ours to use free and clear!!!:celebrate:celebrate:celebrate

Just to make it clear, I have bought these domains to protect them for our use.

Next steps please?

Filing with the state to form the group? Anyone know what that entails?

Graphics design help (nudge nudge Dreamer )

Hell, I will even foot the bill for hosting when we are ready for a live web site.

I am excited!!!! :celebrate:celebrate:celebrate

Let's roll.
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Good move!I hope somethingmaterializes from this idea.

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For folks who voted Join GRNC, are you at all on-board with a new group? I think we need somewhat of a consensus if we're going to move on this. I would like to see 15+ active members of whatever group we decide on. Anything less and we can probably count out getting anything done.

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I'll do what I can, but I'm jammed up time-wise for pretty much the rest of this week, with mid-terms...

Next week is "spring break". I'll try and get something knocked out then...

I'll get in touch with Phil Van Cleef at VCDL this weekend if I can, and see if he can offer any help.

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I'm a member of GRNC and it's very unorganized and inactive. All I have ever got from them is one or two newsletters. I also get the emails that ask you to call or email your legislators but that's it. I don't think they really do anything. So,I'm all for starting up the NCCDL. The only thing is that it needs to be more of a "no-compromises" group like GOA.

On a sort of related but unrelated note, GOA is wanting to get Alaska carry reform started in other states this year.

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Count me in, whichever route is taken.

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glockaholic wrote:

Count me in, whichever route is taken.

Click to expand...

+1

I am in for whatever we are going to do. Anything to help move the cause forward.

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Scrub wrote:

glockaholic wrote:

Count me in, whichever route is taken.

Click to expand...

+1

I am in for whatever we are going to do. Anything to help move the cause forward.

Click to expand...

Same here. I joined GRNC after talking to the guys at their table at the recent Greensboro Gun Show, but I'm in agreement with glockaholic & Scrub.

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I admit to being a long time lurker on this site. This topic motivated me to actually register.

I admire VCDL and have wished for a similar group in our state. Count me in for the effort. I look forward to being able to assist as required.

Good move by Bebog. Even if this goes nowhere, I like his style.