AFS, your position is short-sighted, if not entirely inaccurate. Yes, OC was thrown under the bus... after it became obvious that it couldn't pass. It enjoyed no popular support. If you really want OC to pass, then you and your friends need to drum up the grass-roots support before legislators try to put legislation forward. The reverse order tends to fail with a boring regularity.
machiasmort, your position is also weak, IMO. I am not a fan of OC, for tactical reasons, but I also think gun owners should prevent a more unified front. How many times have we had handgun rights chiseled away, because bolt-action rifle and shotgun hunters weren't concerned about handguns? Antis love divide and conquer... hey, it worked for Julius Caesar against the Gauls, and it still works today, against all sorts of groups - including gun owners.
I think OC should be legal, but I generally would not exercise OC myself.
And I think that anybody who really wants to get OC in their state, needs to everything they can to gain popular support first, so when legislators test the waters, they actually think they can pass the bills.