By Ripcord
Some here at TTAG can be quick to voice our criticism of the NRA. When we think they are slow to react or we think their message is off. But we should also take time to pat them on the back when they get it right. And they did just that in Illinois this week. In a showing of forward thinking, NRA arranged for a shoot and demonstration of suppressors for the capitol press corp. NRA has been working with the American Suppressor Association to legalize suppressors in the Land of Lincoln. Bills have been filed and they continue to work on the issue at the state capitol . . .
In an effort to head off the typical anti-gun talking points and hype about the evils of those things called “silencers”, the NRA gathered up almost a dozen willing reporters and let them hear for themselves what the fuss is all about. The results — no less than six news stories about the event — every one of them fair or balanced to positive. Not a negative story in the bunch.
One statewide story headline was: “Gun silencers demonstrated for media.” The Springfield newspaper put up a video showing side by side comparisons of firearms both suppressed and un-suppressed.
That seems to be a completely fair way of showing the public what suppressors actual do while dispelling the Hollywood myths about them. That didn’t go unnoticed by the participants. After hearing the suppressed version of several firearms, one TV reporter said that she felt she’d been “lied to” by what what’s portrayed in the movies .
Game, set, and match.
With that statement from the “mainstream” capitol media, the NRA accomplished everything they set out to do. If nothing else, the day was a success. The had broken through the ice and made a lasting impression on a group who regularly covers the gun issue at the state capitol. If no one else said it, we bet they were all thinking it.
The Ch 20 news story is here: http://www.wics.com/news/top-stories/stories/gun-advocates-push-suppressors-22593.shtml
As a kicker, the anti-gunners got 1 stinking lackluster comment in one story … which was nicely countered by a LEO:
Opponents of the bill say silencers could increase crime and make it harder for cops to catch shooters.
Evan Wilkins works as a patrolmen for two police departments here in central Illinois. He says he doesn’t see that happening.
“These aren’t exactly quiet like the Hollywood-type suppressors that you might see, but these are still pretty loud. But if you’re relying on hearing a gun shot, you’re already behind,” said Wilkins.
So while the gun-haters are left scratching their heads about what to do to fight the tide, the NRA got a couple of hours of quality range time with media members to let them shoot and answer all their questions. And NRA wasn’t reduced to spouting a bumper sticker slogans on a complex subject. They did what almost never happens with the media – they got to explain the issue in depth and answer every question. And did intelligently, thoughtfully and professionally.
One of the participants who was there runs an Illinois version of C-SPAN. They put up a short unedited video of parts of the talks and shoot. It underscores the value of these types of events. You see press people not looking like network anchors, but in jeans and casual clothes having fun at the range and LEARNING about the issue.
Four video stories, including local news, at least two radio stories, and statewide distribution on a print story. Not bad for an afternoon at the range on an issue like suppressors. The anti-gunners now have a much bigger hill to climb when they spew their distortions and scare-mongering. They will now face an educated audience of reporters. That’s not something a press release is going to overcome.
Atta boy, NRA. Keep it up.
Good stuff. Suppressors work but they are not magical. There is alot that goes into how loud a report is or isn’t. The .45’s was where the difference was most pronounced. The shotgun . . . made very little difference to my ears.
Interesting… when I was posted up 2 tables down from a guy using a silenced 12g shotgun, I heard an amazing difference. With my e-ears on his shotgun didn’t even activate the cut-out. Without them it was loud in the sense of someone talking loud… but not ear-ringingly loud. I guess that is the whole point, though. It made me start to think that maybe the $1200 + $200 tax stamp for a shotgun silencer might be worth it after all…
If we’re talking about the Salvo 12, there’s some considerations with it you should think about.
It attaches via a choke adapter. I don’t feel that that’s very strong of an attachment, especially considering the weight of the beast.
Inside are rails, not a solid tube. Slugs are an absolute NO. Unwadded shot can’t be used either, so no gas seal shot. It works by having the fingers of the wad ride along the rails to keep the shot from going into the cavities. What if all the shot doesn’t fit inside the wad?
Did you know that there are some lethal weapons which are perfectly legal and SILENT?! And, there is no regulation put in place to control these silent killer. Untold numbers of criminals have free access to these weapons that put each and every one of us at risk and make it harder for law enforcement to catch these criminals and makes it easier for them to to go on murderous rampages.
Here are the worst offenders: knives, baseball bats, hammers and lastly bare hands.
When will America wake up and regulate these deadly killing instruments?
And farts. Don’t forget those killer SBDs.
NJ next please… One can dream.
Ha I was thinking the same thing. I would put some money on it that nj.Com would find a way to put a negative spin on the event.
Has anyone thought of looking for some congress-critter who is interested in raising tax revenues and also reasonably friendly to guns? Once you find some such guy, call and talk to his aid who works on gun or revenue matters. Explain that the list of States do not allow silencers, SBSs or SBRs. As a consequence, citizens resident in these States are unable to buy ATF NFA Tax Stamps on all these items.
Show them the growth in applications for Form 1s and Form 4s with the ATF. Explain that the outstanding beef the taxpayers have with respect to these applications is the time it takes to process them. I.e., stamp collectors begrudgingly pay the $200/stamp; they just want to be able to get their stamps faster.
The ATF has cooperated by employing more people to process applications and automate the application process. That’s encouraging. Now, we need to get these several States to get in-line.
The historical record since 1934 is perfectly clear. Registered NFA firearms are hardly ever involved in crime. We need a new law enforcing the 2A and the 14A baring States from depriving their citizens of the Right to Silence and Saw-Off their Arms in accordance with Federal law.
Derp me.
Add machine guns, both new manufacture and state-level bans (South Carolina) and we’d really be happy.
Good show!
I wonder if we might get the greatest bang-for-our-buck if NRA and other organizations (national and local) brought media types to the range for a show-and-tell on particular topics.
I have no illusion that we could ever reach the MSM who are already bought-and-paid-for by Bloomberg.
Now, think about all the other reporters and producers who are trying to make their great climb up the 4th-Estate ladder. They have two choices:
1. – follow the elder sheep and bleat the same message they are bleating; or,
2. – discover a new angle that might get some air-time/news-print in a hungry secondary station/rag.
The pre-school up-and-comming J-school grads will mostly pursue Choice 1. The really hungry independent thinkers might be game for Choice 2. A few of these free-thinkers/-writers might begin to break the hegemony of the Red-Wall-of-Progress.
Reasonable and balanced reporting. I’m in Iowa and still waiting for suppressors to be legalized here….I’m gonna be ticked if Illinois gets their act together before Iowa!
Nice. But in Illinois, the Chicago Machine runs the state, so good luck.
Oh, and BTW, Chicago’s bonds were just downgraded to “junk” status by Moody’s with a negative outlook, and Gov. Rauner says that the state is too broke to bail Chicago out. Woo-woo!
Schadenfreude may not be the classiest human feeling, but it sure is fun.
Here in Washington (the good one, not DC) we got suppressors legalized to use (they were already legal to own) and SBRs legal to own and use with a fairly left leaning democrat controlled legislature and governor.
Apparently, when they explained to the gun control proponents in the legislature how much federal regulation there still is on an NFA item and how suppressors would improve safety and placate people who live near ranges, the legislators had trouble complaining.
Then call it Karma and let the joy roll in unencumbered.
You, sir, are a bold renegade who carves a Z with his blade.
No, Senor, it is a letter 2.
Well, except that the Chicago Machine doesn’t control either house of the legislature or the governor’s mansion. There is more than enough support for this to pass and get signed.
Mike Madigan IS the Chicago Machine, and he rules both the House and the Senate with an iron fist, and has for nearly a quarter century. If this passes out of committee, it will be because Madigan gained a concession from someone in order to allow it. It may happen, if it does I think the Governor will sign it. It’s a 50/50 deal at the very best.
Madigan already threw the Chicago machine under the bus once. Given Chcagos’s financial straits he’s going to have higher priorities than blocking a minor firearms bill that happens to be extremely popular.
No firearms bill is minor to a progressive tyrant like Madigan. If he allows it, it will be because he traded it for votes on one of his bills, or some other favor. It’s the Chicago Way.
The Chicago Machine, Speaker Mike Madigan and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel didn’t put Duty to Inform w/ criminal penalties in Rep. Brandon Phelps HH183 carry bill, NRA contract lobbyist Todd Vandermyde did. Then we had the spectacle of black caucus Reps. LaShawn Ford and Will Davis debating Phelps on the IL House floor to remove DTI because it would lead to profiling!
Now the Hick from Harrisburg and his pet rat Vandermyde want to legalize suppressors, while the carry bill has Duty to Inform with criminal penalties, an UNLIMITED state & federal privacy waiver, and hundreds of gun-free zones. The worse the carry bill and the more armed citizens get arrested and killed by police criminals, the more job security for the rat lobbyist who betrayed every NRA member in IL.
No manner of video can ever demonstrate what a suppressor can and cannot do, because the audio recording incorporated will not and can not reproduce the reports which can instantly damage your hearing, permanently. The only way to understand the question is IN PERSON, LIVE. I’ve seen video demos in which suppressed and unsuppressed sounded exactly the same. Inviting a jillion people, press, politician, pro and con, and letting them hear for themselves the same weapon and same ammunition with and without a suppressor is an extremely intelligent way to approach education.
“No manner of video can ever demonstrate what a suppressor can and cannot do, because the audio recording incorporated will not and can not reproduce the reports which can instantly damage your hearing, permanently. The only way to understand the question is IN PERSON, LIVE.”
I think I have an idea for a work-around.
Demonstrate a standard walk-behind lawnmower with the muffler removed.
Re-install muffler and fire it up again.
That’s a rough simulation of a firearm silencer.
Still plenty loud and in no way Hollywood movie pew-pew silent.
Point out Federal law requires lawnmowers have mufflers for ear safety and don’t you think the same should at the least be an option for gun owners?
You could do this demonstration in every State that is NFA ‘Verboten’.
Just sayi’n, dawg…
Wow…that video was completely objective…about GUNS! I’m shocked, and in a good way.
I work for one of the Media outlets that was there.. I can tell you the reporters and photographers here Always enjoy stories where they get to shoot.
If there are any true reporters left in your organization, they could do every gun owner in IL a favor by looking into Vandermyde’s association with the Intl. Union of Operating Engineers local 150 in Countryside, IL. Vandermyde worked for President William Dugan when Dugan was convicted by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in 2010. After 2010 Vandermyde does not appear as a registered lobbyist in IL Secretary of State records for local 150, only for NRA.
Many IL State Reps. are aware of Vandermyde’s background and associations, and find it strange that NRA would employ someone who sells out NRA membership and has possible criminal associations.
Duh. It’s sad that we have reporters who write stories on stuff they know nothing about, such as guns and gun laws.
Well done NRA!
And a golf clap to the reporters.
Carry out a similar information campaign for our federal legislators to get suppressors out of the NFA
one can dream
Why did they not do this in MInnesota for our idiot governor?
Because your idiot Governor is an idiot.
The local reporters tend to be objective (unlike their national counterparts) and most of them admitted to having their perception about suppressors changed by the demonstration. Most of the blowback on Facebook has come from fellow shooters (probably pretenders) who claim they have no legitimate use. I believe if we can get a vote on the floor, it will pass.
It was good demonstration and Todd Vandermyde and the NRA are to be commended.
Todd Vandermyde is not “the NRA.” He is a freelance contract lobbyist who is paid by 1099, not a a W-2 employee. No one knows if Chris Cox or Chuck Cunningham at NRA/ILA have ever set foot in the state of IL to see what he is doing.
Vandermyde is the rat who placed Duty to Inform w/ criminal penalties in Rep. Brandon Phelps HB183 carry bill. NRA might want to look into Vandermyde’s employment with the Intl. Union of Operating Engineers local 150 in Countryside, IL, where he worked for President William Dugan, before Dugan was convicted by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in 2010. A lobbyist with possible organized crime associations is not good for NRAs image.
What, no revolvers?
They left their nagants at home.
Wow. A TTAG article not low-mouthing the NRA.
Hey handguns in Chicago,concealed carry. silencers,fair and balanced reporting…Is the end of the world here? As a resident of Illinois I approve this message. I went by a local gun shop today(in Cook co.) and they are fighting the $25 Cook co. slush fund(er “violence” tax) on every gun sold. Good luck on repealing any tax…
You are in Bizarro Illinois. Which is a long way from Sanity.
Don’t forget SBRs.
Now just to get rid of that damn tax stamp and lower MSRPs…
Todd Vandermyde is a great spokesman and leader in the guns rights movement in Illinois. Between Velinda and Todd they have helped organize a powerful civil rights group that I’ve not seen replicated in other states.
Todd is a take no prisoners stud and Velinda is a tireless work horse (not a feminine analogy for such a lady – but an apt one). HATE living in downstate Chicago, but very, very lucky to have these two on our team.
(Tod is the primary shooter in the above video. Told you that so next time you meet his back you will recognize him.)
Todd Vandermyde is the traitor who placed Duty to Inform w/ criminal penalties of 6 MONTHS or 1 YEAR in Rep. Brandon Phelps “good” NRA backed HB183 carry bill, because the IL Chiefs of Police wanted it.
Tim McCarthy was President of the IL Chiefs when Vandermyde cut the deal. That’s the same Tim McCarthy who was a Secret Service agent when President Reagan was shot, and the same Tim McCarthy who does press appearances with Jim & Sarah Brady to promote gun control.
Lied to by a movie? That’s what they ARE! 90 minutes plus of PURE FICTION!
The Lib anti-gunners rely on uninformed people’s reaction to their lies. Period. The key is education.
Bravo!
Great job NRA and ASA. I am sure a lot of work went into making that event work so well.
Lesson learned, copy what works, wax on, wax off.
B-b-but the NRA will sell us out, isn’t 50% black, and Wayne is a mean old fogey!
And so the antis score another point by having us fighting among ourselves.
You know, no individual can do anything to help us preserve our rights, it has to be a team effort and as long as some of us spend more time dissing each other than fighting the real enemy, they win.
I think he was being sarcastic given some of the TTAG stories lately.
Yeah, I can see that now. I may have even relied to the wrong post. But either way, apologies to nynemillameetuh and my thanks to BlueBronco for pointing it out.
Gotta stop drinking rum before answering the posts. 😉
MarkPA
That’s a good idea. TTAG aught to auction off a gun range date with a Hollywood celebrity and send the proceeds to a charity of some kind. I think that would bring some good publicity for the celeb, TTAG, and also the firearms hobby in general. Everybody wins.
AWEsome. Please please keep it up. 😀
About time the NRA works to undo the damage the did back in testify back in 1934 no one needed suppressors. Maybe when the are once unrestricted again i might consider rejoining them again
Well done, NRA. Well done.
Valinda Rowe is mentioned in Otis McDonald’s book as one of the people who recruited him for the Supreme Court. When the U.S. Federal Court in Chicago forced the IL legislature to pass a concealed carry bill in Dec. 2012, Valinda didn’t make a peep about Duty to Inform after NRA lobbyist Todd Vandermyde placed DTI in Rep. Brandon Phelps HB183 carry bill.
Valinda and her crowd of retarded hicks from southern IL don’t really care about black people from Chicago, and her state Rep. Phelps lives 30 miles from her house in Harrisburg down in far southern IL. Valinda is a tired middle aged woman who does the grunt work for Vandermyde and Phelps. Her main role seems to be misleading her own followers to prevent them from figuring out that the NRA lobbyist sold them out.
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