https://youtu.be/CKF6oXad_ow?list=RDCMUCsoahoJ3yhDQnsi4W2WImRA
Author: Grumpy
It’s no surprise to us but Gun Owners of California’s late founder is still making the Left’s blood pressure rise. And boy, does this make us smile.
Long after he retired from the California State Senate, H.L. “Bill” Richardson continued to be a media favorite as the guy who would pull-no-punches and colorfully tell it like it is, whether it was about the 2nd Amendment, freedom or his love of America. And were he still with us today, we know damn well he’d stand proudly with the “domestic terrorists” – also known as concerned parents – who have had the courage to recently stand up to the jack-booted thuggery of our government and educational bureaucracy.
To see his name elevated by an East Coast Leftist as one of the chief architects of this current political movement thrills us at GOC to our core:
“One blueprint that conservative activists have adopted comes from the book “Confrontational Politics” by the late H.L Richardson, a former California state senator and gun-rights activist.” – Joseph D. Bastrimovich
True. The popular “Confrontational Politics” does provide a blueprint on how to engage effectively with the Left, and yes, it has been adopted by smart activists over the past 30 years.
But then the fiction is rolled out:
“They’ve [activists] brought scrutiny upon themselves for aggressive tactics, which include being deliberately disruptive, shouting down school board members and even threatening violence toward those they see as enemies. These have become commonly used tactics for other conservative groups.”
Aggressive tactics? Deliberately disruptive? Threatening violence? At this point, I’d ask if the guy had even read the book, but realistically it doesn’t matter because he proves the book’s point that “Dogs bark, jackasses bray, snakes wiggle and liberals lie, it’s their nature to do so.” Let’s leave it at that.
Throughout Richardson’s career and beyond, he called the Left out at every opportunity. Why? Because letting them march ahead without a challenge is a sign of weakness – and the Left knows most resistance on the right is exactly that…weak. That’s why learning how to effectively confront is key. To the average citizen, confrontation is not perceived as a tactic, a method of achieving a given end. However, to the Leftist, it is. To quote from the book, “they view confrontation as a verbal game, a form of semantic warfare to achieve a specific end, a strategy of bluff and bluster, a tactic used to accomplish a political goal, a technique to put an opponent on the defensive.”
The bottom line is that confrontation makes many people uncomfortable because it invokes negative emotions and is perceived as “unsociable behavior.” This actually makes the average American vulnerable, and often the victim of their own decency.
Liberals attribute our civility as weakness and deem our opposition to their agenda as desperate. They think we are buffoons, simpletons, adhering to ideas that are no longer relevant. Thus, understanding their verbal strategies is the first step in being able to combat them – and make no mistake about it – combat them we must. To do otherwise is to abdicate not only the field of American politics, but our homes, families and businesses as well.
For every individual who challenges their local school board or battles unconstitutional gun laws in front of an over-reaching city council – becoming proficient in confrontation is a wise tool to have in your belt. Nothing annoys a Leftist more than an effective conservative.
There’s simply no need to avoid conflict – especially if done well and with control. There’s no need to be nasty. Use perseverance and professionalism. To be effective, positive confrontation requires a positive attitude.
There are teachable moments every step of the way as we battle the evils of the world. We must learn to build alliances and collect residuals in any and all confrontations with the Left – even when facing temporary setbacks or losses. From each conflict something can and must be gained – experience, friendships, political skills, fundraising files, and an evaluation of talent. Understanding how this works will prevent any wilting from the hot pressure of politics. Besides, the Left getting their panties in a bunch because parents are justifiably getting loud these days just demonstrates what a bunch of whiny, insecure adolescents they are.
In closing, GOC sends a big THANK YOU to Joseph D. Bastrimovich of National Park New Jersey, not for his defamatory remarks (read them HERE) about concerned parents, but for providing a brand new forum for GOC to highlight the value of Confrontational Politics (to his credit, Bastrimovich did link to a superb article on Richardson’s passing.) But to see what all the fuss is about, you can secure your own copy of Confrontational Politics at the GOC store HERE.
GOC is encouraged by a newly energized electorate and is pleased to announce that we will be re-launching our Confrontational Politics workshops. For more information, contact us at (916) 984-1400 or email at laurie@gunownersca.com
U.S.A. -(AmmoLand.com)- California banned the use of traditional ammunition statewide in 2019, but anti-hunting activists continue to blame traditional ammunition made with lead components for the deaths of the scavengers.
Mike Stake, a wildlife biologist with the Ventana Wildlife Society in California, told KCBX that of the 13 deaths of California condors in 2020, nine were attributed to lead poisoning. Anti-hunting activists have long blamed traditional ammunition for the condor deaths. They theorize that these scavengers would feed on animal carcasses or even gut piles left behind by hunters ingesting lead fragments from hunters’ ammunition as the source of lead poisoning.
That caused California lawmakers to pass a law in 2013 that began a phased traditional ammunition ban for all hunting in California. The ban was fully implemented statewide by July 1, 2019.
For two years, no hunters have been allowed to use anything but more expensive alternative ammunition. California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife reported 98.89% hunter compliance with the regulation. If hunters aren’t using traditional ammunition, how do anti-hunting activists still blame traditional ammunition for lead poisoning in California condors?
Are Hunters to Blame?
Ventana Wildlife Society didn’t study why condors are still getting sick from lead, despite it being banned for hunting. Instead, they speculate. Without proof, Stake told KCBX that hunters must be skirting the rules since ammunition is in high demand these days.
“But the law does permit the sale and purchase of lead ammunition because it’s still legal to use in target ranges where wildlife is not the target,” KCBX reported. That’s right. They are now saying condors must be consuming lead from hunters who break the law, even though California authorities say this isn’t the case, or condors are eating lead out of the berms and fields of gun ranges.
That’s a stretch unsupported by any science, but not one that anti-hunting and anti-gun activists haven’t already made. The original data upon which California based the law to ban traditional ammunition for hunting is suspect. Hunt for Truth Association pored over the reports submitted to California lawmakers and found those reports were deeply biased. The condor population did crash, but it wasn’t due to hunters using traditional ammunition.
A combination of habitat destruction and “use of DDT, other organochlorine pesticides, and certain rodenticides throughout the remaining condor habitat in Central and Southern California had serious and significant impacts on condor populations.”
The group’s research looked directly at data regarding condor consumption of lead. It found that it wasn’t as easy as singling out lead fragments from animal carcasses leftover by hunters.
Questioning Data
“While some researchers maintain that lead ammunition from gut piles or game carrion left in the field by hunters is the primary source of lead exposure to condors, there is compelling evidence of alternative sources of lead in the environment,” Hunt for Truth reported. “Such alternative sources of lead include paint chips from old buildings, legacy leaded gasoline in soils, mining wastes, old insecticides, and micro trash.”
Two condors that were studied were actually observed eating paint chips from a fire lookout tower. Those condors were later observed regurgitating those paint fragments to feed their chicks.
“Rarely, if ever, has an actual projectile fragment been found in the digestive tract of a California condor,” the report continued. “However, objects that were thought to be projectile fragments were subsequently found to be pieces of gravel or a ‘woody’ substance, not from ammunition.”
Hunt for Truth didn’t pull punches on questioning the studies.
“Hunt for Truth has discovered that many of these researchers ‘cherry-picked’ this information, deleting it and often refusing to present the underlying information to scientific peer review, policymakers, and the public at large. This activity by the researchers calls their very claims and conclusions into serious question,” the group stated in the report. Information about condor deaths was intentionally suppressed by the Obama-era U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) and not provided to California legislators when they were considering expanding the ban statewide because it did not support the narrative that hunters were to blame.
Still, falsely blaming hunters for using traditional ammunition two years after the ban was in effect even after California authorities conclude hunters are complying isn’t just bad form. It’s bad science. Making unsubstantiated claims based on hearsay is antithetical to setting science-based policies.
California hunters stopped using traditional ammunition two years ago. If condors are still getting sick from poisoning, it’s not because carcasses have been lying in the wild for over two years. Something else is going on and it’s time anti-hunting activists come clean on their agenda.
About The National Shooting Sports Foundation
NSSF is the trade association for the firearm industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of thousands of manufacturers, distributors, firearm retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations, and publishers nationwide. For more information, visit nssf.org
