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Pro-gun groups in big squabble
Not all pro-gun groups are alike. They may look to outsiders like peas in a pod, but they go after each other like those long-ago podmates, Trotskyites and Stalinists.
Nothing brings their feuds to the surface faster than the suspicion that one is claiming credit for the work of another.
That's what happened in the wake of the booing of Gov. Bill Owens at the Republican State Convention June 3 and the election of a preponderantly pro-gun slate of delegates to the GOP National Convention in Philadelphia.
That evening an exultant Bill Dietrick, legislative director of the Colorado State Shooting Association (CSSA), e-mailed a memo to members on the events of the day and seemed to be taking a fair amount of the credit, if that's the word, for the embarrassment of Owens and the delegate election. His memo was reported in this corner Sunday.
My telephone and computer quickly filled up with protests from the other side, namely the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (RMGO) and another militant group called the "Tyranny Response Team."
The CSSA — the state arm of the National Rifle Association — "didn't plan for anything," huffed Dudley Brown, head of the RMGO. "They just had a little booth there."
Brown said it was his group that handed out the suggested slate of pro-gun delegates, not the CSSA. "I was very surprised the state party didn't stop us," he admitted. Coincidence or not, 11 of the 12 candidates were elected delegates — and the 12th was chosen first alternate. Pro-gun was at least as important as pro-life as the litmus test for delegate selection this year.
"It wouldn't bother me if Bill Dietrick claimed credit," Brown continued, "if they hadn't been bitching and moaning and screaming about us being so harsh on politicians and being too radical. All of a sudden they're our best buddies."
Brown said he's happy to have Dietrick's group on board now — so long as it doesn't claim credit for things it didn't do.
Bob Glass of Longmont, a founder of the Tyranny Response Team, was equally contemptuous of the CSSA, which is far too closely linked to the Establishment for his taste. Indeed, he even seemed to pity Dudley Brown for still "lobbying the politicians," instead of practicing "in-your-face activism" like his group, which has protested both Bill Owens and Bill Clinton in recent months.
But he considers himself a friend of Brown "and we've joined forces on a number of occasions."
"Neither Bill Dietrick nor the CSSA had anything to do with the events that took place at the Republican State Convention," Glass said. Dietrick was guilty of "an outrageous lie" and has been "viciously attacking both our groups ever since we started."
It's all about money, Glass suggested. "The gun-rights business is a big business." When groups too radical for the NRA take to the Capitol or the streets, the NRA's "first reaction is to attack us," he said.
But if the rivals prove to be successful, they say to themselves, "we'd better jump on the bandwagon," according to Glass. "I think it's absolutely despicable."
He claims his organization "has never asked anybody for a dime. We don't want your money; we want your body. We want you to join us in the streets."
So that's the current feud. Promoters of the gun-show initiative in Colorado can only take comfort in the fact that the various gun groups opposing them seem to be organizing their firing squads in a circle.
Peter Blake's column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Reach him at (303) 892-5119 or pblake2@aol.com
Pro-gun groups in big squabble
Not all pro-gun groups are alike. They may look to outsiders like peas in a pod, but they go after each other like those long-ago podmates, Trotskyites and Stalinists.
Nothing brings their feuds to the surface faster than the suspicion that one is claiming credit for the work of another.
That's what happened in the wake of the booing of Gov. Bill Owens at the Republican State Convention June 3 and the election of a preponderantly pro-gun slate of delegates to the GOP National Convention in Philadelphia.
That evening an exultant Bill Dietrick, legislative director of the Colorado State Shooting Association (CSSA), e-mailed a memo to members on the events of the day and seemed to be taking a fair amount of the credit, if that's the word, for the embarrassment of Owens and the delegate election. His memo was reported in this corner Sunday.
My telephone and computer quickly filled up with protests from the other side, namely the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (RMGO) and another militant group called the "Tyranny Response Team."
The CSSA — the state arm of the National Rifle Association — "didn't plan for anything," huffed Dudley Brown, head of the RMGO. "They just had a little booth there."
Brown said it was his group that handed out the suggested slate of pro-gun delegates, not the CSSA. "I was very surprised the state party didn't stop us," he admitted. Coincidence or not, 11 of the 12 candidates were elected delegates — and the 12th was chosen first alternate. Pro-gun was at least as important as pro-life as the litmus test for delegate selection this year.
"It wouldn't bother me if Bill Dietrick claimed credit," Brown continued, "if they hadn't been bitching and moaning and screaming about us being so harsh on politicians and being too radical. All of a sudden they're our best buddies."
Brown said he's happy to have Dietrick's group on board now — so long as it doesn't claim credit for things it didn't do.
Bob Glass of Longmont, a founder of the Tyranny Response Team, was equally contemptuous of the CSSA, which is far too closely linked to the Establishment for his taste. Indeed, he even seemed to pity Dudley Brown for still "lobbying the politicians," instead of practicing "in-your-face activism" like his group, which has protested both Bill Owens and Bill Clinton in recent months.
But he considers himself a friend of Brown "and we've joined forces on a number of occasions."
"Neither Bill Dietrick nor the CSSA had anything to do with the events that took place at the Republican State Convention," Glass said. Dietrick was guilty of "an outrageous lie" and has been "viciously attacking both our groups ever since we started."
It's all about money, Glass suggested. "The gun-rights business is a big business." When groups too radical for the NRA take to the Capitol or the streets, the NRA's "first reaction is to attack us," he said.
But if the rivals prove to be successful, they say to themselves, "we'd better jump on the bandwagon," according to Glass. "I think it's absolutely despicable."
He claims his organization "has never asked anybody for a dime. We don't want your money; we want your body. We want you to join us in the streets."
So that's the current feud. Promoters of the gun-show initiative in Colorado can only take comfort in the fact that the various gun groups opposing them seem to be organizing their firing squads in a circle.
Peter Blake's column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Reach him at (303) 892-5119 or pblake2@aol.com