Gun Owners for Howard Dean

Sunday, January 18, 2004

Some stories you might want to read about Iowa

Slate/MSN has a story about how Dean's ground war is being conducted.

Meanwhile the other campaigns are running against the legislation they voted for.

Meanwhile in New Hampshire, Clark got an endorsement from George McGovern, after earlier this week getting an endorsement from Michael Moore of "Bowling for Columbine" fame. Read about it here.
- posted by Michael @ 12:20 AM

Saturday, January 17, 2004

SIG Sauer 1911

SIG is coming out with their own version of the 1911.

I love SIGs. I really do. But for the life of me, I can't figure out why I should give this one a look. There are already a ton of good 1911 models out there, especially from Kimber. SIG also already has two perfectly good .45 pistols, each of which is arguably a better overall design than the 1911 (just for the fact that there are fewer parts of which to keep track.)

The only thing that strikes me as more of a mismatch is Taurus's 24/7. Do we really need another polymer handgun on the market? Shouldn't the SIGMA series warn us away from polymers made by companies mostly known for their revolvers?

Anyone have thoughts on this?
- posted by Michael @ 7:44 PM

The Iowa Caucuses

I haven't updated this site in a long time. Again.

I'm siting on pins and needles about the Iowa caucuses. Every poll indicates that it's a statistical dead heat, and they can't seem to agree on who's ahead, Howard Dean or John Kerry. Every political nut on DailyKos is following the Zogby three-day tracking poll, which has a margin of error big enough to drive a truck through. Phooey.

Kerry and Dean both have exciting organizations on the ground. Dean has about 5000 volunteers crawling all over Iowa knocking on doors to drum up support, thousands more on phone banks, and tens of thousands who have written letters to Iowa voters (all of which should have arrived today). Each supporter on the ground in Iowa is trying to get three people to commit to supporting Dean. Kerry has just as active a campaign going with 3000 or so veterans going door to door. It's going to be a close fight, but a fight for the ages. Caucus attendance should double at least. It's good to see people getting excited about democracy again. There's nothing like having your freedoms threatened to make you step up and participate, I guess.

I did what I can for Iowa from here: I gave money and wrote fifteen letters.
- posted by Michael @ 7:22 PM

Wednesday, September 24, 2003

A lot of updates all at once

It's been a while since I last posted. Sorry about that.

I've been getting more involved with the Dean campaign, particularly in community outreach. This currently consists of me getting to Portland's Saturday Market at 10:30 AM and handing out literature. We get a pretty good reception, all things considered. About one out of every ten people I talk to are enthusiastic Dean supporters. About just as many are Bush supporters (but they take the literature anyway.)

Occasionally I run into a Bush supporter who *hates* guns. I can't figure that out.

Chris from email-land has indicated to me that I should avoid Olyarms rifles, especially their plinker. He recommends J&T Distributing and Rock River arms. Feel free to email me other suggestions. I'm even open to getting an AK instead. This is more for my pleasure than anything else, frankly. If the s*** really hits the fan, I'm better off with my 12 guage.

You'll notice to the left a graphic with five baseball bats. The Dean campaign is on a last-minute fundraising blitz for Q3. They want to raise five million in the last ten days of the quarter. As ambitious as this may seem, I'm pretty confident that they'll make it, and surprise the heck out of everybody.

One last thing: Wes Clark stated that he would expand the assault weapons ban. "If you want assault weapons, join the military" he says. I think he's forgotten what the Second Amendment is all about. Phooey on him.

- posted by Michael @ 8:17 PM

Monday, September 01, 2003

DeanLink

One quick way to get involved with the Dean campaign is to use DeanLink. Just enter your name and address information and DeanLink will allow you to find other Dean volunteers -- and other Dean volunteers to find you -- for various campaign activities. Your personal information will not be shared, but you can email other Dean volunteers to coordinate activities. You can even leave feedback about how helpful (or unhelpful) other Dean enthusiasts are.

If you want to join up, just head to the site, and let them know that I sent you (member #1955).
- posted by Michael @ 8:10 PM

Sunday, August 31, 2003

Who is this gun-carrying Dean supporter, anyway?

I should probably write a little about myself.

I grew up in gun-grabber central (Chicago IL) but purchased a firearm almost as soon as I could afford one in Georgia. My first purchase was a Mossberg Maverick and a Smith and Wesson Sigma Series 9mm (I know, I know....) I eventually found someone who would actually take that damn Sigma off my hands and purchased a real handgun, a SIG Sauer P229 in .40 S&W with a .357 SIG barrel. This is still my favorite handgun. I also have a SIG P220 in .45 (the slide says "Made in W Germany!"), a Ruger GP100 .357, and of course a Ruger 10/22. Of course both SIGs have Hogue grips. I want my next purchase to be an AR-15, preferably an Olyarms plinker. I could pay more for more accuracy but I don't think I could take proper advantage of it. I also want to get my hands on a good "flimflam" gun, something on the order of a .380 or maybe even a S&W Airlite in .38 spl. I presently live in very gun-friendly Oregon. My parents, living in Chicago, think I'm out of my mind having guns around the house. I'm an NRA member and I go to the range once a month at least.

Other than that, I'm a computer geek, math geek, and general screetching liberal. I support Howard Dean in particular because I like where he stands on abortion, guns, and gay rights. As far as I'm concerned, he's also the only one talking sense about Iraq and Al Qaeda. To be honest, I think the President is completely screwing things up both in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and that it's going to come back to hurt us like hell later if we keep this up. I think the peaceniks who are screaming for us to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan are also nuts: things will be worse if we just pack up and leave while both nations are in chaos. I think Dean has the common sense that it takes to really win the War on Terror.

Note: I don't know whether flimflam endorses, or even cares about, Howard Dean. Flimflam is as flimflam does. I'm only stating that I want a gun that I can keep in my pocket, no matter what, in case of extreme emergencies (such as attack by crazed ninja)
- posted by Michael @ 10:29 PM

Welcome to Gun Owners for Howard Dean!

This is the innaugural post of the Gun Owners for Dean blog.

I started this blog because I believe that Howard Dean is the best candidate for the job of President, and because I wanted to educate fellow gun owners -- who may be shy about supporting a Democrat for the job -- about where Dean stands on the Second Amendment and on other issues.

Where does he stand? If you've heard that Dean is a screetching liberal, then he might surprise you:

"And on gun control, for example, I do not believe in gun control…"

Dean's record speaks for itself: during his ten years as Governor of Vermont, he signed two pieces of pro-gun legislation and earned an A rating from, and the endorsement of, the NRA. His position on federal gun legislation is that it should be left to the states; and while he does support the Assault Weapons Ban, closing the "gun show loophole," and many odious provisions of the Brady Bill, so does Bush. Both candidates favor stronger enforcement of already existing Federal laws. It's also worth mentioning that Bush's concealed carry law in Texas is one of the strictest shall-issue laws in the nation, while Vermont doesn't require a permit for concealed carry.

Dean's basic attitude about "gun control" can be summed up as follows:

“I'm against a federal gun control law other than what we've already got. I think that should be left to the states…We can win the western states, and I should be able to do a better job winning the western states because guns really matter a lot in the western states. And as it happens, I'm from a rural state and I understand that the gun issue in rural states is different than the gun issue in urban states. My attitude is let California and New York have as much gun control as they want, but just don't make a law that applies equally to Vermont and Wyoming and Montana."

I don't make the claim that Dean is the best friend that gun owners ever had. I do think, however, that a gun owner can vote Freedom First and still support Dean.

More later!

Sources:

- posted by Michael @ 10:01 PM