Report - MCRGO Annual with Wayne LaPierre, Kayne Robinson, and Dick Posthumus.

I got there about 4:15. There was a reception for the officers and our most decicated activists there at 5. The meeting itself started at 7. After the first business stuff was taken care of, the main speakers were introduced.

First was Our next governor - Dick Posthumus. Posthumus is the ONLY pro-2a candidate for governor running.(David Bonior is 100% ANTI, not pro). To quote what he said "Jenny Granholm says Jim Blanchard is wrong. Blanchard says David Bonior is wrong. Bonior says Granholm is wrong. Well, they're all right!!!" He can win. John Engler 'couldn't win' in 1990. He never got 40% in the polls, and was at 38%....in October. He WON. Posthumus can't win by himself though. WE as gunowners, activists, and conservatives have to help him out.

Kayne Robinson spoke as well. He addressed hunting in paticular. Many of these anti-hunters are the same people as the Anti-Self Defense lobby. This fall, NRA will be exposing this shady network of rich elitists for what they are. They don't have the grass roots, but they have gobs of money. George Soros, Ford Foundation, Tides Foundation, etc. Remember the 1996 bear hunting ballot inatitive? We MUST go to bat for the hunters. If we don't go to bat for them, they won't go to bat for us. We need a united front.

Wayne LaPierre was the main speaker, and he didn't disapointed. He addressed arming the pilots. He said that airline companies don't trust pilots with guns. I don't understand that at all. If a pilot can't be trusted with a firearm, why in the hell can he be trusted with 300 lives in the air? These pilots need to be armed if they so choose.

He also praised Bush and Ashcroft for mentioning in court that the 2nd amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms, and said that us gunowners are the reason AlGore isn't president.

One thing he said that we should be on alert from now till about the Forth of July on the McCain Lieberman gun show ban. Call your reps and senators on that bill. Also a ban on gun maker nusance lawsuits as well is being considered. NRA supports the ban on nusance gun lawsuits, and opposes the McCain bill.

Lastly, he also mentioned McCain/Feingold and mentioned that NRA was the first to file suit, and he also mentioned that the first amendment is as important as the 2nd since they go hand in hand. We can not trade our freedoms for a false sense of security, and said next time someone asks us to give up our freedoms to respond that(parapharasing) "Our freedoms aren't ours to give up, and to tell them "I'm with the NRA and Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners, and I'll fight for freedom".

Afterward, we gave away and auctioned off several guns and other items. We drew the winners of the M1 Carbine and M1 Garand that was advertised. I didn't get the numbers, but the winners were from Livonia and Warren, MI.

There was a .308 raffle with a Lepold(sp) Scope there at $20 a ticket. That was the big prize. A few MCRGO commerativer .45's were auctioned off and raffled, as were a couple of .22 marlins, a Taurus Handgun, and more M1's.

I met Wayne LaPierre and Kayne Robinson there. We appreciate their support of our organization. I also met freeper "The Energizer" there. "Chemist_Geek" was there as well.

Several legislators and candidates from both parties(mostly GOP) were at the reception as well.

Our legislators of the year were given to two people. Steve Vear in the house and Chris Dingell in the senate. I met Vear once before at a Posthumus event. I met Dingell for the first time today. Both are nice guys, Vear in paticular. Vear is running for the senate as well, and if you are in Hillsdale, Lenawaee, and other parts of Southern Michigan, he's the man to support. I thanked them both for making it much easier to transport a firearm.

I met Dale Shugars there. Real nice guy and very personable. He is a current state senator from Kalamazoo/Portage and is running for congress against Fred Upton. There is a clear 2nd Amendment choice here. Fred Upton is anti-self defense. Dale Shugars has a 100% pro-2a record. He is the underdog in this race, but he COULD win it, with a strong primary conservative turnout.

I met Leon Drolet there as well. He's a state rep from Macomb County who took Sanborns old house seat. Nice guy, and solidly pro-2a.

I also once again talked to former rep Alan Cropsey(on PAC Committee), Eileen DeHart(who is on the PAC committee), Mickey Mortimer, and Mike Green. All are running for senate and are pro-2a leaders.

Sue Tabor from Eaton County was there. She has one term left in the house, and she possibly the most pro-2a of anyone in the state house. We're glad she isn't term limited this time. She almost ran against a DU'er this time, but he decided not to run.

House Floor leader Bruce Patterson from Canton was there as well whom I met at a Mike Green fundraiser. Shamless plug here. He is having a skeet fundraiser($75) on July 9th, in Huron Township. He's in a tough race, but could win with our help. If anyone is interested, freepmail me. I may or may not make it. Depends on who MCRGO sends.

Former Speaker Chuck Perricone was there for the reception, but couldn't make the meeting. He did a rare thing for a politician(I can say that since I am one now - precinct delegate). He kept his promise. He promised CCW in the house. He delivered. Thank you Speaker.

And our next senator - Andrew "Rocky" Raczkowski was there as well, at least at the reception.

Secretary of State Candidates Terri Lynn Land and Lorne Bennett were both there.

St. Senator and Congressional candidate Thaddeus McCotter was there as well. I didn't get a chance to met him. Reps or former reps Jim Howell, Ron Jelinek, Dale Sheltrown, Glenn Anderson, Tony Stamas, Michelle McManus, Patricia Birkholz, Bob Gosselin, Gene DeRossett, Larry DeVuyst, Terry Geiger, and Mike Kowall were there as well, either at the reception or event. Wayne County Sheriff Robert Ficano(Sheriff of the year) and Eaton County Sheriff Rick Jones were there. Ficano is running for Wayne County Exec and will be 100000000 times better than Ed McNamara. Jackson County Prosecutor John McBain was there as well. He was prosecutor of the year. Judicial candidate and state rep Bill Schuette was there as well. Some were at the reception, but not at the meeting. Most were at both.

I met congressional candidate Dave Stone from Allen Park as well. He's running against John Conyors. If that isn't enough of a reason to vote for him, I don't know what is. It's a very democrat district, but downriver and City of Detroit are two different type of democrats, and Conyors is so divisive, there just may be a shot if Downriver gets out the vote. And he mentioned that Democrat Senator George Mans(I think) endorsed him over Conyors. Stone is a member of MCRGO, NRA and MUCC as well. I wish him the best.

I thank everyone that was able to make it, and appreciate their support of the organization. We have a lot of work to do this election.

It was a great event.
BTW - I saw a lot of bumper stickers there that say "Posthumus for Sportsmen". I'd like to start seeing a lot of those on the road.

BTW II - Special thanks to Matt Davis. He was an FFL holder there, and was able to transfer the firearms to their new owners. Thanks to Matt, most of the guns won or bought were given to their owners today.

BTW III - In 2003, please vote for ROD COLLINS for NRA board of directors. He was MCRGO's first president, and was fighting for our gun rights since the beginning.

Good for you, Dan. Sounds like a great event, and one more promotion for pro-gun groups like MCRGO and the NRA.

David Bonior! [spit]

Good summary, Dan.

I liked LaPierre's comments about the Founding Fathers. They sacrificied their blood, lives and sacred honor to give us the rights we have. Americans have no right to give our hard-fought rights up -- especially these days, with all the threats around us.

"And our next senator - Andrew "Rocky" Raczkowski was there as well, at least at the reception."

Here in North Carolina, Jim Parker is doing a damn good low-dollar GOP candidacy as a social conservative running against Liddy Dole in the primary - and he campaigns largely at gun shows, which are a real opportunity to reach out to social conservatives rather than the rich RINOs dominating county GOP cadres.

Scandals of antigun politicians - from coast to coast!

I ate dinner with Chris and Cindy Dingell, and Sheriff Ficano. Chris Dingell is running for the Circuit Court in Wayne county (Detroit) Michigan. We need to support him, because he has supported us in the past.

Dan neglected to mention that he was a recipient of an award from MCRGO for energetic Second Amendment and Article 1, Section Six activism, all whilst studying at MSU.

Congratulations, Dan!

Dan neglected to mention that he was a recipient of an award ...

All that and humble too! Congratulations, Dan. I'm glad you're on OUR side.

Remember the 1996 bear hunting ballot inatitive? We MUST go to bat for the hunters. If we don't go to bat for them, they won't go to bat for us. We need a united front.
++++++++++
My kids and I were all over the place in 1996, putting out G IS GOOD, D IS DANGEROUS signs for the bear hunters. My interest in bear hunting couldn't be lower, but we were glad to help. Now if all these good folks (and everyone else who owns a gun) will just get to the polls and VOTE, we can send all the antis home to get real jobs.

It would be good to heed the words of one of our Founding Fathers -- We all hang together or we will hang separately.

I'm a lot of things. Not humble though(LOL. I'm more often called condensending). While I don't brag all the time about this and that, I do speak my mind about topics and will go into the firepits.

I preach all the time on this board about actions and not words, and tend to fire a lot of heat on those that are noise makers. I'd taken heat for it, and I've given it out. One thing I'm not though, is a phony. Anyone involved in MCRGO in MI can attest to it, especially in Livingston County or the Lansing area.

One last thing to all MCRGO members - I'm running for the board of directors in the next election. All 9 seats are up for election, and I want to make sure that this org is still moving in the right direction politically so we can have good solid effective pro-2a leadership.

We can't give Dingell money this time though. A PAC paying a judge isn't exactly the most 'ethical' thing to do. We can get the word out though, and I'll be planning something hopefully next month on that.

A PAC paying a judge isn't exactly the most 'ethical' thing to do. We can get the word out though, and I'll be planning something hopefully next month on that.

Right, the judicial races' rules are different. Wayne county citizens ought to vote for him. How to tell them about Chris Dingell, while staying legal, is something I leave in your and Ross' capable hands.

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