• We are now running on a new, and hopefully much-improved, server. In addition we are also on new forum software. Any move entails a lot of technical details and I suspect we will encounter a few issues as the new server goes live. Please be patient with us. It will be worth it! :) Please help by posting all issues here.
  • The forum will be down for about an hour this weekend for maintenance. I apologize for the inconvenience.
  • If you are having trouble seeing the forum then you may need to clear your browser's DNS cache. Click here for instructions on how to do that
  • Please review the Forum Rules frequently as we are constantly trying to improve the forum for our members and visitors.

Helmke leaving Brady Camp; Melson clings to ATF post

amlevin

Regular Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2007
Messages
5,937
Location
North of Seattle, Washington, USA
It's often the case in Corporations that when someone announces their departure, and doesn't indicate that they are moving on to another position somewhere else, they have been "Asked to Leave (that's "fired" for the executive types).

It's quite possible that the Brady Bunch has decided he's worthless and will try and find someone else to carry their agenda forward. With two big losses in the Supreme Court they are no doubt blaming him for their fortune.
 

Jeff Hayes

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2009
Messages
2,569
Location
Long gone
It's often the case in Corporations that when someone announces their departure, and doesn't indicate that they are moving on to another position somewhere else, they have been "Asked to Leave (that's "fired" for the executive types).

It's quite possible that the Brady Bunch has decided he's worthless and will try and find someone else to carry their agenda forward. With two big losses in the Supreme Court they are no doubt blaming him for their fortune.

I had the same thought.
 

thebigsd

Founder's Club Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
Messages
3,535
Location
Quarryville, PA
Helmke is likely just jumping off what he knows is a sinking ship, the Brady Campaign has not had a significant victory in the last five years.
 

gogodawgs

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Oct 25, 2009
Messages
5,669
Location
Federal Way, Washington, USA
A good analysis...

.
The guy who is stepping up to fill Helmke's position, Dennis Henigan, is a lawyer with about 3 decades of experience--mostly experience suing gun manufacturers, retailers, and owners, in his monomaniacal jihad against 2A rights int he US.

He is currently head of Brady's "Legal Action Project", and has been raking in the dough in that position suing gun manufacturers and retailers in connection to far-flung lawsuits attempting to hold them responsible for firearms-related deaths and injury perpetrated by criminals and stupid, negligent people.

He may not have the "recognition" that Helmke has, but Henigan is definitely "connected", and has argued cases in front of several US District Courts, as well as state courts all over the nation. He is an "anti-2A insider" of the most dangerous type, because he is a trial lawyer, and already is known and recognized by many jurisdictions as an "authority".

Helmke leaving is a good thing. Don't get me wrong. He will most likely go back to Fort Wayne, IN and run for mayor again, a city so saturated in violent crime, unemployment, and drugs that it makes Baltimore MD look like Mr Rogers neighborhood. What we see as a good thing, will most likely be a "death knell" for Ft. Wayne. The LAST thing they need--with unemployment over 10%, drug and violent crime on the rise, and a decimated industrial base--is a fruitbat like Helmke at their helm. His leadership of Ft.Wayne from 1987 to 1999 saw crime skyrocket to a point that Ft. Wayne (despite the fact it has a population well under a quarter million) had violent crime stats closer to cities like LA, DC, and Detroit. Helmke leaving Brady is good for us, but woe-betide the poor law-abiding citizens of Ft. Wayne Indiana if he returns to the political stage there...

But Henigan is an experienced anti-2A lawyer. And that does not bode well for the future of gun rights in the US. I think we can expect a MAJOR change in tactics with Brady. Instead of lobbying, PR and media manipulation, I believe we can expect a shift toward an inundation of legal activity from Brady. My guess is that Mr. Henigan is going to spend the majority of Brady's coffers on filing anti-2A lawsuits nationwide--to throw a monkey wrench into the progress being made by groups like SAF on the restoration of 2A rights.

Make no mistake, Henigan is a threat--a much more devious, quiet, and insidious threat than Helmke, but a threat none the less. Henigan is going to attempt to bankrupt the pro-2A movement, as well as retailers and manufacturers through an avalanche of drawn-out lawsuits, mark my words...

The battle lines have shifted--they KNOW they can't win the PR war any more because the People are waking up to their lies. They know that their only chance is to pick the pockets of the 2A movement, so that we can no longer attack the anti-2A policies of cities, states, and the Fed in the courts.

And also, such a change in tactics takes the 2A movement out of the grasp of the "grass roots", and puts it entirely in the rarefied realm of the State and Federal Courts--a venue that most citizens have no access to, no experience with, and no influence over.

Yeah, the folks over at the Brady Campaign are crazy--crazy like a fox...

They've finally realized that "chasing the chickens" (public relations and propaganda) isn't working. So now, they are going to just start eating the eggs (mounting a shotgun-approach legal assault in the courts).
 

amlevin

Regular Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2007
Messages
5,937
Location
North of Seattle, Washington, USA
Dreamer's post is another interesting take on what the Brady Bunch's strategy might be. This strategy has been employed in other areas. The Sierra Club and their "spotted owls" hasn't eliminated logging. Likewise oil drilling and the numerous lawsuits filed against the companies.

It becomes more and more difficult to mount a "war of attrition" when the Supreme Court has ruled against anti 2A groups twice in the last several years. The foundation of many of their arguments has been severely undermined.

As Dreamer mentioned, more and more people are waking up and recognizing that what the Brady group is tossing around is horse crap. They aren't buying it anymore. In the end the only "bankrupt" organization may well be the Brady Campaign.
 
Top