The good news is that late Friday evening I watched as anti-gun measures House Bill-111 and Senate File-109 died a quiet death in both houses.
This happened ONLY because of Second Amendment advocates like you!
Despite the fact that the gun control crowd was pushing hard — your barrage of calls and emails in opposition could not be ignored — especially during an election year.
But here is where it gets really ugly…
As you know with only 8 Democrats being elected to the House — WyGO’s pro-gun sponsored legislation to repeal gun free zones HB-119 was killed on the initial vote on Feb, 13.
The killing and gutting of pro-gun bills has become the mode of operation, and this is the third year in a row where a majority of Republicans in Cheyenne continue to reveal their true stripes.
The House Republicans that voted NO on pro-gun HB-119 were as follows:
Representatives Rosie Berger, David Blevins, Rita Campbell, Richard Cannady, Elaine Harvey, Dan Kirkbride, Michael Madden, Bob Nicholas, David Northrup, John Patton, Jerry Paxton, Albert Sommers, and Dan Zwonitzer.
Yes, HB-119 was swiftly killed on introduction. Hmm…and who can count the votes better than insiders?
You see, during a short 20 day session, 40 votes are required to introduce a bill.
And as I looked on during the initial vote on HB-119, it was as if Republicans were flipping a coin deciding just who would change their vote to no — so the bill would be just under the threshold to kill HB-119. And 39 votes killed the bill.
In my personal experience, I can tell you that legislators quickly learn to ‘game’ the system.
And that’s exactly why I am in Cheyenne watching every step as legislation moves through the process.
All we have to do is look back in time…
In 2013 in the House a ‘voice only vote’ on similar legislation to repeal gun free zones HB-105 was gutted by, you guessed it, a band of anti-gun Republicans.
This forced the minority of pro-gun champions to bring an amendment on the floor to ‘restore’ the bill after it had been gutted — and they also called for a recorded vote.
The gun-control crowd in Cheyenne hates it when this happens because it exposed the field of “Republicans” that would rather keep victim disarmament zones in Wyoming.
The “Republican” gun control votes were as follows:
Representatives Eric Barlow, Rosie Berger, David Blevins, Gregg Blikre, Kermit Brown, Rita Campbell, Richard Cannady, Kathy Coleman, John Eklund, Mike Greear, Matt Greene, Steve Harshman, Elaine Harvey, Hans Hunt, Lynn Hutchings, Norine Kasperik, Dan Kirkbride, Sam Krone, Lloyd Larsen, Tom Lockhart, Tom Lubnau, Michael Madden, Glenn Moniz, Bob Nicholas, David Northrup, John Patton, Jerry Paxton, Ruth Petroff, Mark Semlek, Albert Sommers, Tim Stubson, Matt Teeters, Tom Walters, Sue Wilson, Dan Zwonitzer, Dave Zwonitzer.
Sadly the NRA will give many of these same gun control incumbents an “A” rating because of the NRA’s own ‘safe incumbent policy’.
I refuse to play this same perverted political game.
Instead my plan is to keep a meticulous record on how they vote, so folks like you can make informed decisions about who they send to Cheyenne.
Of course you and I know that all of this hard work will be meaningless — if pro-gun supporters never receive the truth on how things really work in Wyoming’s Capitol.
I have the solution to this dilemma, but I cannot get the job done without your support.
WyGO is truly the ONLY pro-gun organization on the ground in Cheyenne, and we have been compiling the voting records of anti-gun politicians for over 4 years.
The difficult task continues to be getting the truth into the hands of as many ‘pro-gun’ supporters in Wyoming as possible.
And if 2014 is going to be year of information to pro-gun citizens of Wyoming — we must roll out an ‘in their face’ program that reveals exactly how the politicians vote in Cheyenne.
The activists on other side have been gaining ground stemming from one simple premise…
In 1966 a national figure and anti-gun politician, said, “money is the mother’s milk of politics.”
Almost five decades later, Obama is a testament to those very words.
To defend freedom in Wyoming, we too must take this statement on the “mother’s milk” seriously.
I will make a promise to you, that I will work hard to accomplish WyGO’s goals.
But the fact remains, that 20,000 cartons of envelopes sitting in my office — will not mail themselves, and new members names will not magically appear in our mailing list.
Aggressive mail campaigns will only ‘fly out the door’ on the sustained monetary support of an organizations members.
So please, if you want to truly stop the anti-gunners in their tracks, consider becoming a ‘monthly’ financial sponsor of Wyoming Gun Owners, with a monthly gift of $125, $100, $50, $20 or whatever you can afford.
Or, if you would rather give at one time, consider giving $1500, $1000 or $500.
Benjamin Franklin once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
And I hope you agree with Ben by agreeing to support WyGO financially today.
To Liberty,
Anthony Bouchard
Executive Director
Wyoming Gun Owners
P.S. The Republican anti-gun majority has been killing pro-gun legislation now for three years in a row.
And now I’m on a mission to get this sad truth into the hands of as many Second Amendment supporters in Wyoming as possible. But I cannot do this without you.
If you want to truly stop the anti-gunners from being in control in Cheyenne, consider becoming a ‘monthly’ financial sponsor of Wyoming Gun Owners, with a monthly gift of $125, $100, $50, $20 or whatever you can afford.