How to Fight For Your Firearms Rights: Persistence, Publicity, Patience

Tom Gresham’s Gun Talk claims to be “the only nationally syndicated radio talk show about firearms, shooting and gun rights.” While the folks over at Sirius XM’s Cam and Company might disagree (specifically Cam), Tom’s got it going on. I especially like his “Truth Squad.” Well, I would wouldn’t I? In his latest email blast the Tomster shows us how it’s done, fighting-for-gun-rights-wise. Make the jump to savor the victory created by his campaign to remove a prohibition against firearms advertising by an Alaskan internet provider . . .

“Here’s [our] the latest success: I received a note from Ben, in Anchorage, AK, saying that Alaska Communications Systems, a wireless and internet provider, had a section of its user agreement where it prohibited advertising guns and ammunition. I confirmed this. It was under a section titled “Wireless Date Use for Illegal Purposes is Prohibited.” Under that section, we find, “Some examples of prohibited illegal conduct or interference include:… Advertising a lottery, ammunition, firearms, tobacco, alcohol, illegal drugs and drug-related paraphernalia.”

Ben had tried to talk to someone… anyone… at ACS. Customer Service sent him to Legal, where he was on hold for 45 minutes. He finally left a message. No one ever returned his call. I was to discover this seems to be standard at ACS.

So, I called ACS, and finally worked my way to the public affairs office. The person I needed to talk to, Heather Cavanaugh, wasn’t in, I was told, so I left a voice message for her. No call back. The next day, I left another voice mail message for her. No call back. At this point, I’m getting the idea that they are going to ignore me. After all, why should they care about someone from Louisiana, right? Wrong. I did some digging and found press releases from ACS, and they contained the cell phone number of Ms. Cavanaugh. I started calling her cell phone. She never answered. She also did not return the call after I left several messages. My impression is that she was determined to ignore me, thinking I’d go away.

Next, I called friends in Anchorage who have been in the public relations business there for four decades, and who also work in the telecommunications industry. Yes, they confirmed, Cavanaugh was the right person. So, I contacted KBYR, the radio station which carries Gun Talk in Anchorage and on the North Slope. Sure, they said. We’d love to have you come on a local show to talk about this.

I left another message for Ms. Cavanaugh saying I was going to be talking about this on a major radio station (in addition to my show on that station). THEN I got a call back. She hadn’t gotten any of my messages, she said.

After that, it took about 24 hours for ACS to admit that they had made a mistake in prohibiting advertising legal and constitutionally-protected items. They didn’t know who had put that into their user agreement, but they would remove it.

Thanks, Ben, for not just shrugging this off. This is the true Truth Squad mindset.”