SCENE: At the Minnesota State Capitol. Mitch BERG, laptop in hand, is walking between the House and Senate chambers when he encounters Dorbert AARONSON, chairman of the group “Gun Owners of Minnesota”, a non-profit incorporated in Des Moines, Iowa.
AARONSON: Excuse me – do you know the way to the Minnesota state capitol?
BERG: Er – you’re in it.
AARONSON: Ah. Sorry. I just got into Des Moines,
BERG: Saint Paul.
AARONSON: Right. Saint Paul. I”m here for a hearing on a gun rights bill.
BERG: Ah. So am I. The Constitutional Carry bill.
AARONSON: Yeah. We’re supporting the bill that we drew up. It requires immediate dropping of all firearms regulations.
BERG: Wow. Who’s carrying it?
AARONSON: Nobody has the balls to carry this bill!
BERG: Wow. So how’s it ever going to pass?
AARONSON: It’s not supposed to pass. It’s supposed to educate the voters.
BERG: Educate them…that the way to change policy and win freedom is to demand things that are politically impossible?
AARONSON: You have to have the courage to demand the impossible, and nothing less! It’s called the Politics of Confrontation, and we are masters of it!
BERG: Masters of…what? What bills are you behind the passage of?
AARONSON: We passed “Shall Issue” carry permitting in 2003…
BERG: No, you didn’t. That was GOCRA!
AARONSON: We passed the Capitol Carry, Silencers, the prohibition against confiscating guns after natural disasters…
BERG: All of those were the result of GOCRA, MNGOPAC and the MNGOC. Your group had nothing to do with any of those!
AARONSON: We educated voters to demand nothing less than everything!
BERG: But by demanding things that can not ever pass, you open the door for our rights to be further
AARONSON: Anything less than everything is nothing, and anyone who settles for anything less than everything is a complete sell-out!
BERG: You mean the legislators bringing the bills today…?
AARONSON: Sellouts! Cowards! Worthless collaborationists!
BERG: So in other words, you and your group are focused exclusively on things that can only be reached incrementally – and you reject incrementalism. Which means the goals can never be reached.
AARONSON: Only by people who are worthy!
BERG: Huh. But if it can never be reached, and you keep fundraising forever on the issue…
AARONSON: Pretty sweet deal, huh?
BERG: Huh. Yes. Yes it is.
AARONSON: See this watch? It’s a Rolex, wrapped around another Rolex.
BERG: Pretty cool.
And SCENE.
(NOTE: Any similarities between the fictional character above and the Iowa-based “Minnesota Gun Rights” are purely coincidental, and probably unintentional. Honest).
Aaronson reminds me of the guy that wanted to fight as long as his buddy was also in the fight. When it was actually time to fight he held his buddies coat while he did the actual fighting. When his buddy prevailed Aaronson took credit for the victory.
As my wife pointed out yesterday, if MGR was responsible for “forcing” Cornish to hold yesterday’s hearings with their meeting2 days ago then 1) Why did Rep. Nash thank Chairman Cornish for scheduling this hearing when he first proposed these bills weeks ago? and 2) Why didn’t anyone from MGR get on the testifier list? Heck, even the NRA guy was on the list so he could testify that the NRA was present to support these bills.