Rich,
Your first post alluded that the you were concerned that a group that might, in the worst of all "constructions" aid those who would stand armed and physically oppose the goverment, and that you felt that allowing us to post invitations to join this group on this board would somehow involuntarily mean that this would be the intent of all of the members of TFL. It occurs to me that TFL is some assemblance of a group in itself, and people often post whimsical notions of overthrowing this or that, or taking a stand and such.
Let's just look for a minute just at the signatures of the members of this board.
Off the top of my head I can think of...
"shoot to kill, they'll stop when they're dead"
"If you can't beat city hall, at least deficate on the steps"
"Aim for the head, they wear body armor"
"Take my guns..Lead First!"
I'm sure you could browse a little and come up with some even more interesting sig's than that.
Then there's the liberty sig's like
"give me liberty or give me death"
I suppose that this is somehow translated on this site to mean death from licking stamps?
And then there's the latin. I don't read latin, but am I to believe that this latin trasnlated means something like...
"it's hammertime!"?
That's just the sig's, I wont even bother going into the text that is often discussed on TFL.
Is there no fear of these people mis-representing your site?
Let me ask you this then since you believe that C.A.N. has taken a more hard-core stance..
How many men in the MO 51st Militia are card carrying NRA members? Are you? How about Miss Demeanors (who I am a fan of)? Did She just join the 51st somehow by association?
I think not.
Does your (TFL) "group" have a variety of opinions expressed by it's members, ranging from mild, to extremely hot? Are they still considered TFL members? What do you do if someone here has a hot opinion as is also promoting that you join the GOA? Do you kick them off, and send a letter to the GOA voicing your dis-approval?
How can you possibly expect C.A.N. to regulate the opinions expressed by IT's members? Like any group, it consists of a wide variety of people with varying opinion as well.
How many times have I read people exclaim that they wish their beloved NRA would take some sort of action. Many.
Do you stop promoting the NRA because of that person's ideas?
Let's say, for the sake of your arguments (Dennis, and Mykl included), that C.A.N. did only have one purpose, and that this purpose was indeed to aid an armed conflict against the govenment should that day ever come.
Would this be the first time that you have allowed such a thought on this board? Or is it that jabber-Jabbering about it is fine, but any group that takes a direction to prepare to do so is a threat?
If you feel that this topic is tabboo on this board and opens TFL up to lawsuits, and government scrutiny, then I understand.
I could dredge up quotes about "Freedom" and "Safety" and "deserving neither", but I wont <wink>. If that is how you like to play, then fine. Safe is good too I guess.
I could let it go at that, but wait.. what is this?...
I browse through the topics for 15 seconds and I find this>>>>
http://www.thefiringline.com:8080/forums/showthread.php?threadid=24388
The title of this topic is...
"Man in Ca. defies state registration. Will he stand alone? "
To make a long story short, this topic is about a man who sends a letter to his rep declaring that he will willingly break the law by not registering his firearm. A FELONY!
The topic asks "will he stand alone", and a long list of 2 or 3 word replies follows including Dennis "Will he stand alone? NO"
Now I would like to know what Dennis meant by this? I guess I would have to conclude from his post in this thread, that he will stand with the guy "in spirit", or stand with him by writing letters to his reps. I couldn't possibly read into this that he means that he would go out with GROUP of gun owners and protest?
Then it gets better, Rich, you also reply to the topic "If it turns out to be a for real act of civil disobedience, I'm way in."
These posts made by the two of you were made YESTERDAY. The same day we got involved in this discussion.
Ok fine, for the sake of argument, let's just say that what you guys meant was that you would stand...literally. Just go over there and stand..in place. Well, your standing there might have more impact if you had other people there to stand next to you too. Might even keep you a bit warmer. Don't you think this would be a great way to use C.A.N.? And that it is also an action that is appropriate to the situation? I don't know if you live in CA or not, but if you didn't, the local C.A.N. group may even be able to put you up.
I certainly would take you in my home.
Will the NRA do this? Will the GOA do this?
Will Mykl's "Multi-Level Government do this?
Hell, I'd probably take you out for a drink afterwards and show you the town.
Ironically, that same topic is at AR-15.com and I (the founder of C.A.N.) posted a lengthy essay on why I thought it was a bad idea to incriminate yourself over registration, while you two "mild" TFL captains voiced your desire to "stand" up for a man committing a felony.
Am I to understand now that that I should view all TFL members as having this opinion?
You can find my take on the topic here:
http://forums.ar15.com/Forum3/HTML/005124.html
Rich, I will absolutely respect your request to halt what you term as "recruiting" here at TFL. However, I feel that you 3 have been hipocrates, and that you gave a group that really is intentioned to help out, a very raw deal. Forgive me, but I have lost some respect for you here and I DO care what you think.
I still have not slept over this.
In closing, I do admire the fact that you at least had the balls to weather out this conversation and did not just lock it, or delete it as the Rosie boards used to do.
For that, you are men in my eyes. Hypocrates yes, but still men.
Thank You.
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To the C.A.N. operators:
Please honor the request of the heads of this board and to not post invitations to join C.A.N. on TFL.
People interested in joining C.A.N. should look for us on the other boards.
Thank You
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SameShot, Different day
[This message has been edited by SameShot (edited November 16, 1999).]