I am so tired of listening to that shallow excuse not to write one miserable email or make a toll-free phone call, it gives me ulcers.
I do not give three reheated bean shits if your State Representative or Senator are Jim and Sarah Brady brought back to life and elected to the chair: You write them and let them know your dislike to any particular bill you are against or Gun Control in general.
You need to make noise. You need to make the Opposition understand that there are a lot of people against a bill (or fucking 22 bills) right now in the Florida legislature. Make them understand that contrary to what Moms Demand says, there is no 90% of Floridians in favor of Universal Background Checks or a weapons ban. The may vote that way, but maybe they won’t oppose with confidence or even suddenly develop the runs when it comes voting time.
But when you do not contact tour Legislators because “it is a waste of 120 seconds of my life better served farting and scratching my privates” then you are helping our common enemy. Your Anti Gun Legislator will say TRUTHFULLY “I have received almost no complains about this bill and I will thrown my full support with the tens of thousands of Floridians that want Gun Safety in our streets and schools and had told me they want this bill.”
And you helped with that load of bullshit because your could not compromise your manicure by pushing typing or dialing.
We are playing for keeps. Move your ass.
Incentive to actually make a phone call.
The politicians assume that every preprinted post card is worth one vote. (One of the reasons why I toss the NRA Truth About Gunowners poll into the trash. Waste of a good stamp.)
Every e-mail is worth a handful of votes, varies depending on the number of constituents. But, for this discussion, let’s say an e-mail is worth 100 votes.
A written letter is probably worth about 300 or so votes.
A phone call is worth about ten times that, or 3000 votes. That 120 seconds to talk to a Congressional staffer are well worth the time. If 10 people actually pick up the phone, and call their Congressman, or Legislator, that politician will assume those call represent tens of thousands of votes.
If anyone has more experience with polling statistics and can provide a more accurate representation of how our esteemed elected officials consider phone calls, versus e-mails, please correct me.
…except that my lovely local rep apparently doesnt have voice mail and never answers the phone.
Kind of annoying, actually.
I spent about two hours on the phone with my representatives staff last week. One call to my state rep (D), one call to my state Senator (D), one call to each of my US Senator’s both D’s.
In each case I gave my full name and address. Made sure they knew they were my representatives, and expressed how I wanted them to vote on the bills in question.
They are not the least bit interested in why. I had each of the staffers read back what they were going to be telling their boss, in all four cases they just read back my name and city and that I wanted them to vote in a particular way on a particular bill. The reasons I gave was not written down in and is not communicated to their bosses.
It might not make a bit of difference in the long run, but I have to start somewhere.
I am lucky in that all my Federal elected officials are R, and I come from a very strong gun rights state, but I do call them regularly on other issues.
It is my State and City Assembly members that I need to work the gun issues with. My current mayoral administration is a “kinder/gentler one” more interested in making the criminals and the homeless comfortable than giving a toss about the taxpayers needs.
Regardless, I used to send out e-mails, but now it is calls. Gets a lot more attention. And, you can follow up with an e-mail or letter to double down on the reasons for the issue.
I have been out of town. Do we have a list of the bills?
Here is the list copy/paste from the tracker account I have in the House site. There are a couple there not doirectly related to guns
SB 108
Bill Title:
Regulation of Concealed Weapons Licenses
Bill Sponsors:
Book
Date of Last Action:
1/10/2019 8:21:20 AM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
HB 135
Bill Title:
Transfers of Firearms
Bill Sponsors:
Good, Joseph
Date of Last Action:
1/9/2019 12:27:25 PM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
HB 147
Bill Title:
Duty to Assist
Bill Sponsors:
Cortes, J., Willhite
Date of Last Action:
1/9/2019 12:27:30 PM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
HB 175
Bill Title:
Firearms
Bill Sponsors:
Hill
Date of Last Action:
2/25/2019 3:59:37 PM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
HB 197
Bill Title:
Concealed Weapons and Firearms
Bill Sponsors:
Polo
Date of Last Action:
1/16/2019 3:42:42 PM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
SB 364
Bill Title:
Prohibited Places for Weapons and Firearms
Bill Sponsors:
Braynon
Date of Last Action:
1/25/2019 8:52:17 AM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
HB 403
Bill Title:
Safety of Religious Institutions
Bill Sponsors:
Grall
Date of Last Action:
1/30/2019 12:14:10 PM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
HB 455
Bill Title:
Assault Weapons and Large-Capacity Magazines
Bill Sponsors:
Smith, C.
Date of Last Action:
1/30/2019 12:14:25 PM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
SB 466
Bill Title:
Assault Weapons and Large-capacity Magazines
Bill Sponsors:
Farmer
Date of Last Action:
2/1/2019 9:40:54 AM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
SB 468
Bill Title:
Firearms
Bill Sponsors:
Farmer
Date of Last Action:
2/1/2019 9:40:54 AM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
SB 470
Bill Title:
Fees
Bill Sponsors:
Farmer
Date of Last Action:
2/1/2019 9:40:54 AM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
SB 500
Bill Title:
Gun Safety
Bill Sponsors:
Stewart
Date of Last Action:
2/8/2019 9:06:58 AM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
HB 553
Bill Title:
Pub. Rec./Personal Identifying Information of Assault Weapon or Large-Capacity Magazine Possession Certificateholder
Bill Sponsors:
Smith, C.
Date of Last Action:
1/30/2019 12:14:57 PM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
HB 581
Bill Title:
Exceptions to Requirements for the Purchase and Sale of Firearms
Bill Sponsors:
Clemons, Byrd
Date of Last Action:
2/6/2019 5:50:43 PM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
CS/SB 598
Bill Title:
Firearms
Bill Sponsors:
Judiciary, Albritton
Date of Last Action:
2/22/2019 10:26:53 AM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
SB 636
Bill Title:
Use or Threatened Use of Force
Bill Sponsors:
Braynon
Date of Last Action:
2/15/2019 10:02:48 AM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
SB 654
Bill Title:
Transfers of Firearms
Bill Sponsors:
Book
Date of Last Action:
2/15/2019 10:02:50 AM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
HB 683
Bill Title:
Prohibited Places For Weapons and Firearms
Bill Sponsors:
Bush
Date of Last Action:
2/13/2019 9:05:10 AM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
HB 709
Bill Title:
Discharging Firearms in Public or on Residential Property
Bill Sponsors:
Slosberg
Date of Last Action:
2/13/2019 9:05:50 AM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
SB 752
Bill Title:
Concealed Weapons and Firearms
Bill Sponsors:
Berman
Date of Last Action:
2/15/2019 10:20:10 AM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
HB 753
Bill Title:
Licenses to Carry Concealed Weapons or Firearms
Bill Sponsors:
Fernández
Date of Last Action:
3/1/2019 4:21:21 PM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
HB 769
Bill Title:
Sale and Delivery of Firearms
Bill Sponsors:
Smith, C.
Date of Last Action:
2/20/2019 1:23:49 PM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
SB 1122
Bill Title:
Licenses to Carry Concealed Weapons or Firearms
Bill Sponsors:
Pizzo
Date of Last Action:
2/28/2019 12:00:23 PM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
HB 6005
Bill Title:
Possession of Firearms on School Property
Bill Sponsors:
Byrd
Date of Last Action:
1/9/2019 12:27:33 PM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
HB 6007
Bill Title:
Licenses to Carry Concealed Weapons or Firearms
Bill Sponsors:
Sabatini
Date of Last Action:
1/16/2019 3:42:36 PM
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
SPB 7026
Bill Title:
Not Used
Bill Sponsors:
Criminal Justice
Date of Last Action:
Available Actions for Bill:
Bill
SB 7030
Bill Title:
School Safety and Security
Bill Sponsors:
Education
Date of Last Action:
2/19/2019 9:53:57
I contact my legislator precisely *because* she is an anti-gun D. (After some consideration, several additional adjectives removed…) I know it won’t do any good. I just want her to never be able say that everyone she hears from is for gun control.
I constantly am emailing and writing to my representatives, and even to elected officials living elsewhere to whom I am not a constituent. I speak with other gun owners and people that get upset by pending legislation against the 2A, and I tell them they should write emails and letters, and they stare at me like I’m nuts. The thought never crossed their minds except for the brief couple of second I bring it up, and after that, they decide it’s too much effort. It’s really frustrating how lazy a lot of my fellow gun owners are.
For the record, I do contact them but pissing into the wind is more effective.